The Isle of Man-based animation house is developing two traditional cel-animated and one CGI series.

Charlie Gumshoe is geared to the six to 10 set and follows the adventures of a regular kid who becomes a P.I. in his mind. ‘Once he’s at school, things start to worry him,’ explains Lough House managing director and GM Phil Slattery. ‘He wonders `why did the chicken cross the road, did it go on its own, or was it pushed?” The voiceover is done à la Humprey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon, which gives the series a humorous edge, Slattery says. The 10 x half-hour series comes with a price tag of about US$2.4 million, with delivery of the first 13 episodes within 12 months of greenlight, and the rest to follow eight months later.

The Toolstreet Gang is a CGI series for preschoolers starring the contents of your average well-stocked tool box. A hammer, a spanner and a pair of pliers, for example, set about to fix something that’s broken in each episode. The trouble is, things typically go amiss and the fix-it crew runs amuck. ‘We physically built the setting as a stage set, filmed [the tools], then digitized them, which gives an incredible depth to the background,’ Slattery says. Lough House originally made a pilot of the show skewed to an older crowd, but has since rejigged it for a younger set. The series, for example, is light on dialogue to appeal to preschoolers. ‘There are lots of oohs, aahs and eeks.’ The 52 x five-minute series is a co-pro with Paris-based animation company Cymax, which retains all French-speaking rights. The budget runs between US$3.6 million and US$4 million.

The Backyard is a 26 x seven-minute family-targeted series created by John Herdman, an Isle of Man artist. Slattery describes The Backyard as a Tom & Jerry-style toon. Budgeted at about US$1.5 million, the cel-animated series is set in a typical back yard. ‘Two slugs get most of the wise-crack lines,’ Slattery says. The series is from the P.O.V. of the animals, always. ‘You only see humans from the knee down.’

Lough House is looking for co-pro partners and broadcasters for all three series.