Straandlooper’s preschool co-production Lifeboat Luke has sold to M-Networks in South Africa.
The deal for the series of 52 five-minute episodes was arranged by Monster Distributes. The show has already been sold in markets such as the United States, Denmark, Slovenia and 22 territories in the Middle East via the Al Jazeera network.
Lifeboat Luke was created by Alastair McIlwain in 1992 and presented at Cartoon Forum. McIlwain, series producer Richard Morss and producer Darryl Collins crafted the first 13 episodes with Belfast-based Banjax, before splitting and entering a co-production arrangement with Kavaleer in Dublin, which provided the animation for a further 39 episodes, completed last year. Morss and McIllwain, and their new animation house Straandlooper, handle production, directing, storyboards, scripts and all the work up to layouts.
Set in the magical town of Donaghadoo, the search-and-rescue preschool toon is fast, fun, full of visual jokes and eccentric characters with strong sea safety messages for children running through the episodes. The producers of the series have an exclusive partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Lifeboat Luke‘s tie-in book and DVD were also successfully released following the show’s debut on RTE2 in Ireland. According to Morss, Straandlooper and Monster Distributes are planning on producing a new half-hour special featuring the popular character and will be shopping the title at the upcoming MIPCOM market in France next month.
To find out more about the show, visit www.lifeboatluke.tv.
