Throwing out the old show-biz adage “never work with animals or children,” BBC Studios Kids & Family and Sky Kids are teaming up for their first ever co-production: Rebel Kids’ Funny Talking Animals.  

This 26 x seven-minute preschool series blends real wildlife footage and CG animation to make the animals talk, and all of the funny dialogue comes from actual conversations between four-year-old kids (think Mittens and Pants). In each episode, the animals converse with each other about everything from their favorite fast foods to dealing with monsters under the bed. Scottish comedian: Iain Stirling also provides some narration and commentary in the episodes. 

BBC Studios is distributing the series internationally. Half of the episodes have finished post-production and the other half are in the animation process. The series could begin airing in June. 

The idea for the show evolved out of the shared work history of the series’ creators. Earlier in their careers, Aaron Paul (Rebel Kids’ co-founder and CEO) and Stuart Garlick (its co-founder and creative director) were part of the BBC’s natural history unit. At the time, the studio was collaborating with WildBrian on a talking-animal show, namely the 2016 CBBC series The Zoo. Inspired by the success of that program, the duo set out to fill a gap they saw in this genre of kids TV. 

Bristol-based Rebel previously mined versions of the talking-animal niche with the series Silly Animals (20 x six minutes), where a dog (voiced by a comedian) narrates clips of funny animal antics. Sky premiered Silly Animals in 2021. 

Funny Talking Animals image, courtesy of Rebel Kids.

But the goal with Funny Talking Animals was to meet a need broadcasters have been making increasingly clear: they want programming that lets kids relate to what they see and hear. Paul and Garlick took that directive to heart and pitched Silly Talking Animals at Kidscreen Summit in 2023.Sky Kids and BBC Studios both embraced the humor and simplicity of having kids be the voices of these young animals, says Garlick.  

Cecilia Persson, managing director of BBC Studios Kids & Family, and Lucy Murphy, director of kids content, Sky, share an excitement with the concept and with the chance to co-produce together. 

“Both ours and Sky’s ambitions for the series were closely aligned, making for a very collaborative partnership, and the team at Rebel Kids are exceptionally creative and a great set of people to work with,” says Persson. “We always look to support UK-based indies so are thrilled to have Rebel Kids on board as a new partner for BBC Studios. Funny Talking Animals is a brilliantly funny and super cute series with beautiful wildlife footage which we know will resonate with global audiences around the world and we can’t wait to share it with them.”

According to Murphy, “The show appealed to Sky/BBC Studios as soon as we saw the pitch.” She adds that “We’ve worked with Rebel before on a couple of “animal comedy” shows and the CG technology has vastly improved recently when it comes to creating movement of mouths on premium wildlife footage. It also gave us a great opportunity to chat with kids all over the UK and get their hilarious thoughts on so many topics and get a snapshot of their lives right now.”

Between May and July of 2024, Rebel filmed interviews with pairs of kids in elementary schools across the UK, including Northern Ireland and Bristol. This helped the series reflect different accents and points of views of kids across the region, notes Paul. The producers also looked for kids from various socio-economic backgrounds and for kids those with disabilities, in order to be sure they included a variety of views and voices. It’s not visible on screen, but one of the kids they talked to is on the autism spectrum and another has cerebral palsy. 

Rebel is just scratching the surface of this comedic goldmine of mixing cute animals and kids’ humorous and unfiltered thoughts, says Paul. And since the kids’ conversations revolve around universal topics, there’s potential to dub the series and sell it abroad, or create new versions featuring kids in the US and other parts of the world.

Another exciting aspect of this series is the fact that it’s the first co-pro between BBC Studios and Sky Kids, adds Paul. 

“I hope this is setting a precedent for more collaboration,” he says. “Co-pro is king, and instead of shying away from it, we should be embracing it and working together.” 

In other Sky Kids news, the broadcaster has renewed Aardman’s The Very Small Creatures and BooSnoo! from Visionality Media and Mackinnon & Saunders for third seasons. And the new Sky original Happy Town (25 x seven minutes) premieres February 17. It’s an animated series about a hedgehog and a ladybug who help others keep the light of Happy Town bright.