Ö÷²¥´óÐã

From an infamous schoolboy to comedy babies, Children's Channel of the Year, CÖ÷²¥´óÐã, has ordered a raft of diverse new programmes across its drama, documentary, comedy, and natural history genre.

Announced by CÖ÷²¥´óÐã Controller, Anne Gilchrist, at The Children's Media Conference, Showcomotion, in Sheffield, the new commissions include a Simon Nye adaptation of children's classic Just William; a new wildlife series which sees children explore behind-the-scenes of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's new natural history blockbuster Life in Inside Life; an innovative new comedy which stars a pair of 10-month-old babies with the heads of two men in their mid-twenties in Big Babies; and a hard-hitting new single documentary strand series.

Anne Gilchrist says: "These new commissions reflect the originality and diversity of the CÖ÷²¥´óÐã schedule and reinforce our commitment to working with the most innovative new and established creative British talent around."

Simon Nye (Reggie Perrin, Men Behaving Badly) waves his comedy wand over Richmal Crompton's timeless classic about an irrepressibly mischievous 11-year-old in Just William.

Set in England in 1952, this adaptation for Sunday afternoons sees the world's most-famous scruffy schoolboy in a new series of appalling scrapes.

Just William is a CÖ÷²¥´óÐã production for Ö÷²¥´óÐã One, executive produced by Steven Andrew with Martin Jarvis as consultant. The series is due to transmit in 2010.

Combining live action, puppetry and CGI, Big Babies is a new 26 x 15-minutes comedy series about two babies with the heads of grown men which will air next year.

Rocco and Brooks are two babies who would happily sit and watch television all day if Brooks' mum didn't take them out for excursions in their double buggy. But when the kids are away the toys in their nursery come out to play and that's when the trouble really starts.

Big Babies is the creation of comedy collective Broken Biscuits led by John Riche and Spencer Jones, with Sharon Horgan (Pulling, Free Agents) acting as programme consultant.

The executive producers are Jack Cheshire for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Comedy and Japhet Asher for CÖ÷²¥´óÐã.

In Inside Life, CÖ÷²¥´óÐã goes behind the scenes of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Natural History Unit's landmark new series, Life, to find out just what it takes to get footage of the world's most extraordinary wildlife.

From Madagascar to Patagonia, this 10 x 30-minutes series for this autumn sees 10 CÖ÷²¥´óÐã agents go on a global adventure to get the inside track on the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's new natural history blockbuster.

A CÖ÷²¥´óÐã production, Inside Life is executive produced by Wendy Darke.

Following the success of its homelessness documentary series, Sofa Surfers, which aired earlier this year, CÖ÷²¥´óÐã has commissioned a 6 x 28 issue-led single documentary series, with each programme reflecting a different aspect of children's disparate lives in the UK today.

The strand will feature programmes from independent and in-house documentary makers.

The team behind the highly-acclaimed Amazon with Bruce Parry from independent production company Indus Films will make two films – one about a rite of passage for boys in a Coventry school and another one about a group of traveller children in Essex.

Both of these films will be executive produced by Steve Robinson and Chris Morris.

Children's indie, The Foundation, have teamed up with documentary maker Mick Robertson to produce one about Young Mayors; and Welsh indie Boomerang will be following three children whose parents are in prison. Alison Gregory will executive produce the strand which will transmit next year.

Notes to Editors

CÖ÷²¥´óÐã won the Children's Channel of the Year Award at the Children's BAFTAs in November 2008 and was named Children's Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards in June 2009.

Figures show that CÖ÷²¥´óÐã is one of the most-loved channels for children, and it reaches more six to 12 year olds than any other children's channel in the UK.

Almost a third of all six to 12 year olds in digital homes in the UK tune into CÖ÷²¥´óÐã on a weekly basis.

VT