BBC Children’s and Education has greenlit a pair of new domestic live-action projects, as well as renewing King Bert Productions’ teen period drama Malory Towers for two more seasons. 

West Yorkshire-based CanCan Productions has been commissioned to produce basketball comedy series High Hoops (pictured, 10 x 30 minutes), originated by writer/creator and lifelong player/coach Sinead Fagan. The concept stars a confident but accident-prone basketball player who moves to a new school and joins its sub-par team. She has to try and turn their season around in this story about finding your place and not giving up. CanCan’s Dominique Molloy (CBBC’s So Awkward Kids Camp) is producing the show, with Ian Curtis (Horrible Histories) on board to direct and APC Kids managing global sales. 

BBC Children’s has also ordered a 90-minute TV movie adaptation of Jaqueline Wilson’s novel The Primrose Railway Children, which was inspired by Edith Nesbit’s classic 1906 novel The Railway Children. This in-house production from BBC Studios Kids & Family revolves around a family living comfortably in Glasgow that suddenly has to up and move to Scotland’s remote highland region. It will be distributed internationally by BBC Studios. Both High Hoops and Primrose Railway Children are set to launch on CBBC and iPlayer later this year. 

On the renewals front, Britain’s pubcaster has come back for two more seasons (20 x 25 minutes) of Malory Towers. King Bert Productions’ period drama set in an English girls boarding school just after World War II is a co-pro with BYUtv and WildBrain (which also distributes the show worldwide). Season five launched in May, and the sixth and seventh seasons are due out on CBBC and iPlayer in 2025.