It's been a busy week in TV land, what with so many big drama series coming to an end. Amid all the madness, we've finally had time to catch up with the production side of things, and come across some rather interesting news about David Attenborough and Richard Ayoade in the process.
We'll start with Sir David, who is without doubt one of the best documentary making naturalists on the telly these days. We're going throw it out there and say he's probably one of the best ever. Anyway, you'll be pleased to hear he's just secured a second big series on UKTV channel Eden.
Attenborough has signed a deal with the channel that will see him bring Natural Curisoities back to the small screen, and time time around there will be ten 30-minutes episodes for us to indulge in. If you're not familiar with the series, then here's the general gist: In each episode Attenborough examines random creatures that are linked together by a common theme. It's basically the show that will link a rhino and a hedgehog. As you do.
Speaking of the weird and wonderful, IT Crowd star Richard Ayoade is doign a bit of Kids TV, Yep, you read that right. Richard is teaming up with Caroline Aherne (of Mrs Merton and Royle Family fame) among the voice cast of a brand new BBC animated comedy.
Strange Hill High (we just saw Grange Hill the first time we looked) is the brainchild of Simpsons and Futurama writer Josh Weinstein. Based at an "all-but-forgotten inner-city school filled with fantastical secrets and outlandish mysteries" the series will tell the tale of the quick-witted and street smart Mitchell Tanner (Doc Brown), his friends Becky Butters (Emma Kennedy) and class nerd Templeton (Richard Ayoade).
It's not your average run-of-the-mill animation though: It'll be filmed using a technique called "hypernova", which combines Japanese vinyl toy design and puppetry with stop-motion animation and CGI. Simples. Or not. "I've worked in animation my whole life and I've never seen a show as groundbreaking as Strange Hill High. And when the ground breaks at Strange Hill, you never know what will come out", Weinstein said.
