New CG-animated underwater adventure series co-produced by Canada’s DHX Media and Australia’s A Stark Production set to air on CBBC this March.
PARIS & LONDON -- Technicolor, an underlying rights holder in The Deep, and DHX Media Ltd have finalized an agreement with the UK’s BBC to air the underwater adventure series on CBBC beginning this March. The announcement was made by Alison Warner, VP, IP Sales, Acquisitions and Co-Productions at Technicolor and Josh Scherba, SVP, Distribution at DHX Media.
Based on the Aurealis Award-winning graphic novel series created by award-winning best-selling comic book author and playwright Tom Taylor (Earth 2, Superior Iron Man, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Star Wars: Blood Ties), illustrated by James Brouwer (Justice League Beyond), and published by Gestalt Comics, The Deep offers strong family appeal. Taylor serves as co-creator and lead writer of the series and Brouwer serves as co-creator and art director.
“CBBC is poised to take the plunge into The Deep and join the Nekton family on their thrilling aquatic adventures as they uncover the mysteries of the undersea world,” commented Cheryl Taylor, Controller, CBBC. “This beautifully animated series is action adventure with a real heart.”
The Deep follows the adventures of the Nekton family, a brilliant team of underwater explorers. With state-of-the-art technology and an unquenchable thirst for discovery, the Nektons explore the mysterious depths of the ocean, where most of our world lies unexplored and unexplained. While others look up to the stars, this family knows that an infinite number of things shine brightly in the darkness below. The deep is a place where leviathans swim through sunken cities, where pirates lurk amidst floating black markets, and where a mysterious group of Guardians hide long lost secrets.
“CBBC is the perfect partner to bring The Deep to families and their children across the UK, and we are delighted that they are on board,” added Warner. “The Deep is a classic adventure story with solid appeal for co-viewing audiences with a strong cohesive family, who live and work underwater in a state of the art submarine, exploring uncharted areas of the earth’s oceans to unravel the mysteries of the deep sea. There’s really nothing else on air like it right now and Technicolor is proud to have it be the first of many more of our children’s IP programming to roll out this year.”
“The Deep is a terrific animated family series and we are excited that CBBC has picked it up for broadcast in the UK,” added Josh Scherba, SVP Distribution at DHX Media. “We’ve seen tremendous interest in The Deep worldwide and we look forward to further distribution announcements with Technicolor and A Stark.”
CBBC joins an esteemed line-up of broadcast partners for the series, including Australia’s The Seven Network and ABC3, Super RTL in Germany, Ketnet in Belgium, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, YLE in Finland, and Canada’s Family CHRGD. The series premiered on Seven Network on November 30, 2015; on Family CHRGD on January 1, 2016; and on Super RTL on February 19, 2016, also in a prime-time slot at 7pm.
26 half-hour episodes, of The Deep are currently in production targeting kids 6 to 12 years old and their families. Technicolor is the underlying rights holder to The Deep and will oversee the series roll-out and brand licensing extensions; Australia-based A Stark Production (scripts, design and music) and Canada-based DHX Media (animation, voices and post-production) are the co-production partners; with distribution handled by DHX Media.
Source: Technicolor
