Pocoyo

Pocoyo is a Spanish pre-school animated television series created by Guillermo García Carsí, Luis Gallego and David Cantolla, and is a co-production between Spanish producer Zinkia Entertainment, Cosgrove-Hall Films and Granada International. Two series have been produced, each consisting of 52 seven-minute episodes. English actor and comedian Stephen Fry narrates the English language version, Marco Balzarotti narrates the Italian version, José María del Río narrates the Castilian Spanish version and Adal Ramones narrates the LATAM-Latin American Spanish. Set in a 3D space, with a plain white background and usually no backdrops, it is about a young boy dressed in blue, who is full of curiosity. Viewers are encouraged to recognise situations that Pocoyo is in, and things that are going on with or around him. The narrator usually speaks explicitly to the viewers and to the characters as well. Each character has its own distinctive dance and also a specific sound (usually from a musical instrument), and most episodes end with the characters dancing. Many episodes also involve parties. In the United Kingdom, it was originally broadcast on CITV, a children's strand on the ITV network. In September 2007, Five acquired terrestrial rights in the United Kingdom to the first and second series, making it part of the Milkshake! strand. The show, however, will continue to air on the CITV Channel. Other broadcasters in the English speaking countries include RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland, Nick Jr. in the U.S. nationwide and local station WNYE-TV in the New York City as well as KLCS-TV channel 58-2 in Los Angeles, Treehouse TV in Canada, ABC in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand. In Spain, TVE2 broadcast the second series in Spain starting in April 2008. A future third series is on hold as the makers wish to embark upon other projects, one of which may be a Pocoyo movie. In June 2006, Pocoyo was awarded the Cristal Award for the Best TV Production at the 30th Annecy International Animated Film Festival.