Children’s production and rights company Hoho Entertainment (Cloudbabies, Abadas) is teaming up with Martin Gates Productions (MGP) and Cloth Cat Animation for a brand new series of animated stories based on Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. The new series of 52 x 11’ will be entitled Wind in the Willows: Mole of Mole End.
Part of Britain’s great literary heritage, the riverside adventures of Mole, Rat and Toad have been enchanting children for generations. MGP’s 1994 30 minute special Mole’s Christmas became the UK’s most exported TV show from 1993–2003, selling to 213 countries . Harking back to a gentler era of altruism, good manners, community and citizenship, the values in The Wind in the Willows continue to endure.
“We have lived with this beautiful book for so long, it has become part of the fabric of our lives,” says Martin Gates. “Twenty years on, we feel the time is right to breathe new life into the stories for a whole new generation of children, rediscovering beloved old characters and introducing some new female ones including adventurous Squirrel, resourceful Rabbit and the scheming Chief Weasel. There are just so many more stories to tell.”
Wind in the Willows: Mole of Mole End has been developed by MGP with Hoho Entertainment’s Oliver Ellis who has been responsible for rebooting classic children’s brands, The Basil Brush Show and Postman Pat. He says: “We are currently in development on the bible and scripts and will have a trailer ready for early next year. It’s an exciting project to work on because its heritage is so rich and the characters so familiar.”