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Kindle Entertainment, the BAFTA award-winning independent production company, announces that it has been commissioned to make a third series of the RTS award-winning CBeebies show Big and Small. Featuring the voices of Lenny Henry and Imelda Staunton, each story revolves around the comedy of Big and Small’s contrasting approaches to life, and so encourages young children to appreciate that people have many different ideas and opinions. It regularly achieves the highest rating in its timeslot and has been seen by 38% of all children in the UK aged 4-6. The series continues to enjoy support from the BAFTA award-winning CBeebies website which attracts around 900,000 unique users every week (www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/bigandsmall). Kindle Entertainment is delighted to be making more Big and Small episodes which are being co-produced with Belfast-based Sixteen South, whose other productions include CBeebies’ shows Sesame Tree and Big City Park. Filming will begin in Northern Ireland later this year. The production has received funding from Northern Ireland Screen. Kindle Executive Producer Anne Brogan said, ‘It’s fantastic to be able to revisit Big and Small’s world and have the opportunity to create more laugh out loud stories for them’. Colin Williams, Executive Producer for Sixteen South, adds: “We’re absolutely delighted to be joining the Big and Small family and pleased to be bringing the production of such a well-loved show to Northern Ireland. Our new partnership with Kindle is an exciting development for us and for the growing film and TV sector in Northern Ireland.” Big and Small is backed up by a strong licensing programme, which features licensees such as HarperCollins, Paper Projects, C & M Licensing and Little Star Creations and the characters are featured regularly in pre-school magazine favourites CBeebies Weekly and BBC Toybox Magazine; their very successful iPhone application has now sold over 13,000 copies and is consistently in the top 20 apps on the iTunes Lifestyle chart. Rainbow Productions operate a Big and Small costume character which has made a number of high profile public appearances recently. The announcement of the third series has been accompanied by a strengthening of Big and Small’s online presence. The show now has fan followings on the major social networks - Facebook, Twitter and Youtube – as well as an online shop that sells the Big and Small licensee merchandise directly to consumers (www.bigandsmallshop.co.uk). The characters also have their own website at Kindle Entertainment (www.kindleentertainment.com/bigandsmall/). By the end of the third series, there will be 78x11’ episodes of Big and Small, which will keep the hilarious twosome on our screens for a long time to come. This is good news for big and small viewers alike. |
