Jamie Rix

Monday, February 06, 2012

“Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” Delivering Great TV Ratings For NickToons UK

According to this Nickelodeon UK News article on Broadcast about the animated Nickelodeon UK and Ireland show “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” winning the Broadcast Award for “Best Children’s Programme” at the recent “Broadcast Awards 2012” ceremony on Thursday 2nd February 2012 at London, UK’s Grosvenor House Hotel, “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids”, a animated series of cautionary grizzly animated tales for lovers of squeam, guaranteed to spook even the naughtiest kids, with tales of how misbehaving children get their comeuppance, is delivering great ratings for Nickelodeon UK’s animation channel, NickToons UK and Ireland, and is a regular fixture in NickToons’ and/or NickToon Replay’s top 10 rated programmes since “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” premiered on Nickelodeon UK and NickToons UK in March 2011:

Best Children’s Programme

Grizzly Tales

Grizzly TV for NickToons and ITV Global Entertainment

The 26 Grizzly Tales try to effect change in kids’ bad behaviour by both amusing and terrifying them – “a brave, raw and original approach”, according to our panel.

The 11-minute tales often stray dangerously close to TV horror for kids but by carefully balancing content and taste, they manage to get the tone pitch perfect.

“It is unusual for children’s TV to produce such daring, funny and outrageous storytelling,” said one judge. “And that deserves to be celebrated.”

However, another judge added that even with its daring approach, it remains “absolutely child-focused.”

Episodes such as Death By Chocolate and Sick To Death sum up the series’ distinctive feel. The latter tells the story of a foul little girl who screams herself sick to get her own way… until, that is, she meets the super-sucking power of the new Shark Deluxe vacuum cleaner, which polishes her off in one guzzling gulp.

Based on the books by Jamie Rix, who also scripts the series, the panel also noted how “the author’s spirit shines right through it”.

Grizzly Tales originally aired on ITV1 and CiTV, where it was one of its highest-rating series. When it unexpectedly came up for grabs, Nickelodeon was quick to make an offer.

The new series was redeveloped in both content and design, with Nickelodeon keen to build on the shows’ edge and dark humour.

Voiced by actor Nigel Planer, mixing 3D and 2D animation, the main body of each episode is produced in Flash by Honeycomb Animation. The panel said that despite the limited budget, the series was “exceptional”.

And it’s proved to be a hit with the target audience, becoming a regular fixture in NickToons’ and/or NickToon Replay’s top 10s since its launch in March.

“Great storytelling made with love” is how one judge summed it up.