It's not often we can claim a great original cartoon series on these shores (although who could forget Bouli), however there's a new little lady in town these days by the name of Bella, and herself and her bear BB are proving very popular with the Irish youngsters.
BB first came to be as the world's first Irish speaking toy, and now it's come to animated life on this TG4 series. The cartoon is aimed at helping preschool kids learn, with each episode carefully constructed as a fun, interactive experience while, crucially, avoiding any sense of didacticism. This approach is adopted by all successful pre-school children’s programmes and is used to great effect in this vibrant, charming series.
It's not just a wealth of Irish vocab the little ones will learn either, BB agus Bella is filled with broader learning potential in how it deals with environmental awareness, sharing, friendship as well as basic understanding of shapes, colour, time, sounds. Sure who needs Barney when you've got BB?
Best part of it all? The entire series is produced here in Ireland by some of our very best local talent, including director Kealan O'Rourke and producer Brian Willis from Igloo Films.
BB agus Bella airs Saturdays at 9am on TG4.
