Guests in attendance included the cast of Hollyoaks and Coronation Street, star of Killing Eve and Actor (Female) winner Jodie Comer and legendary actress Lesley Manville, who picked up the award for Comedy Performance - Female for Mum.
Jodie Comer's iconic performance in Killing Eve won her the Actor - Female award, with Lucian Msamati winning the Actor - Male award for his harrowing and extraordinary portrayal of Tobi in Kiri.
Millions of children owe a debt to Kay Benbow, the former CBeebies Controller, who has died at the age of 62.
She helped to bring to the screen numerous shows that engaged and educated generations of youngsters, including In the Night Garden, Octonauts and Tweenies.
Kay was renowned for creating ambitious children’s television – from commissioning TV’s first animated autistic character, Pablo, to introducing the CBeebies pantomime, to an adaptation of The Tempest performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Making their debut are animated shows Vida the Vet and Lu & The Bally Brunch. Vida is a 10-year-old girl who, along with her hamster Popcorn, helps treat the animals of Sweetwood, which they enter through a magic door in their garden.
Lu & The Bally Brunch follows three-and-a-half-year-old Lu, a ladybird trying to get by in pre-school. She quickly befriends six other tots, and begins to learn about what it is to get along with other bugs.
The series, aimed at five to seven-year-olds but beloved by all ages, documents the misadventures of a Blue Heeler puppy living in Brisbane, Australia.
Bluey lives with her mum, dad, and little sister Bingo, and their penchant for fun drags the whole neighbourhood (made up of a variety of dog breeds) into their energetic games.
A new series, Thinkingblocks, will air on CBeebies to teach coding to preschool viewers. The programme is part of the Blocks franchise, for which there is a four-year output plan. A second series of Colourblocks has been commissioned, along with additional series of Numberblocks and Alphablocks. The programmes feature titular blocks who team up to learn essential skills, including literacy and numeracy, and are produced by Alphablocks Ltd and Blue Zoo.
Just three days into 2021, the BBC secured its first big hitter of the year: A Perfect Planet, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, drew in 6.2 million viewers. That’s on a par with previous series premieres such as Seven Worlds, One Planet (6.8 million), Dynasties (5.7 million viewers) and Blue Planet II (10.4 million).
The platform will include a wide range of both entertaining and educational series and films from the CBBC and CBeebies, as well as other suitable BBC programming.
To access the site, users simply have to select the monster shaped ‘children’ button when asked who’s watching.
The categories have also been simplified to make it easier for child viewers, who will find their favourite series divided into Trending, Drama, Funny and Cartoons. Live broadcasts of the CBBC and CBeebies channels can also be easily accessed.
In March 2018, CBeebies pulled off a spectacular staging of The Tempest, a pacy version that preserved all the best “O brave new world” lines, while gripping its audience of under-sevens.
Steve Smith, the founder of London-based animation studio Beakus and Olobob Top producer, described the hard work and personal risk involved in getting an animation idea commissioned for television. He discussed the development of the characters, how the animations were refined to make the production process manageable and gave the audience a glimpse into the incredible amount of planning required in producing a series.
The announcement follows the launch of BBC Kids skill on Amazon Echo devices earlier this year.
By simply saying “Open CBeebies”, parents and children are able access a selection of bedtime stories with a variety of adventures to enjoy.
