So a woman walks into an office. And this man hands her a
sheep and says: "Do you think you can do something with that?"
I know. The above sounds like the set-up for a pornographic
joke. But this actually happened to Jackie Cockle, the producer of Bob the Builder,
back in January of 2007. When she met with Miles Bullough, the head of
broadcast / executive producer at Aardman Animations.
Only the sheep that Miles handed Jackie wasn't a live one. It
was a tiny teeny clay one named Timmy. One of the co-stars of Playhouse Disney's
popular "Shaun The Sheep" TV series.
The cast of "Shaun the Sheep." (That's Timmy in the lower right-hand corner)
Copyright Aardman Animations Ltd. All rights reserved
"Aardman was toying with the idea of producing their first-ever
preschool series. So they placed an ad in the trades," Cockle said. "I
responded to that ad and then met with Miles in Bristol. And that's when he
introduced me to Timmy."
Now given Jackie's years of experience with preschool shows
(Cockle got her start in the biz building props for Wind in the Willows
& Noddy.
And then – over time – moved up the animation food chain to the point that she
was directing, developing and producing shows like Rubbadubbers
and Pingu), you'd
think that she'd be the perfect person to create this "Shaun the Sheep"
spin-off. But even so, when Cockle shared her vision for "Timmy Time" (i.e. a
show with no dialogue that was bright, colorful and stylized), Miles and his
team didn't immediately spark to this idea.
"Aardman was initially scared of 'Timmy Time' because it was
so different from what they've done previously. But Miles eventually gave me
the go-ahead," Jackie continued. "And – in the end – I think that we were both
pleased with the way that this show turned out."
Jackie Cockle, the creator, producer and supervising
director of "Timmy Time." Copyright Aardman
Animations Ltd. All rights reserved
Of course, what really helped here was Cockle's previous
experience with producing preschool shows. Which meant that she was able to quickly
assemble her "Timmy Time" production team. Hiring just the right number of
animators & set builders so that production of Aardman's first-ever preschool
series could go as smoothly as possible.
"It's kind of a balancing act. Aardman's known for its
beautiful production values. But at the same time, 'Timmy Time' is a TV series.
Which meant that – for the first season of this show – we had to complete 52 10-minute-long
episodes," Jackie explained. "That's over 8 hours of stop-motion. Which is why we
were lucky to have the experienced crew that we did. Who could each produce a
minute of polished stop motion every day."
Another thing that sped things along was that each episode
of "Timmy Time" (before it went into production) had a completed script. Which –
given that this show doesn't actually have any dialogue – was something of a
challenge to write.
Copyright Aardman Animations Ltd. All rights reserved
Which isn't to say that "Timmy Time" is a completely silent
show. All of those baby farm animals that Timmy goes to preschool with make noise.
And finding just the right vocal performers to do all of that yipping, quacking
and meowing for these preschoolers proved to be something of a challenge for
Cockle.
"That was actually the toughest part of producing this show.
It took us three months to pin down all of 'Timmy Time' 's voices," Jackie
stated. "We were looking for voices that were characterful, unusual and appealing.
And finding just the right snuffly, barking sound for Stripey the Badger was really
tough."
And – in one case (i.e. Yabba the Duck) – finding just the
right voice for that character ultimately proved to be impossible. Which is why
Cockle wound up doing all of the quacking for that duck.
Copyright Aardman Animations Ltd. All rights reserved
"This is the first time that I've ever done a voice of a
character on one of my shows," Jackie said. "But during auditions, when we were
bringing people in to try out for that character, I'd do Yabba's voice for them
as I envisioned this duck sounding. And they'd then quack back at me. But it
just didn't sound right. Eventually the folks at Aardman convinced me – rather than
bring in any more actors to audition for Yabba – that I should just do all of the
duck's quacking."
But in the end, all of this extra effort paid off. For from
the moment that this "Shaun the Sheep" spin-off premiered in the UK on CBeebies in April of 2009, "Timmy Time" has
been this huge success. Viewers were quick to embrace this warm & funny
preschool show. So much so that Aardman Animation already has Season 2 of "Timmy
Time" in production.
But from Cockle's point of view … While it's great that
Aardman's first pre-school show is so popular (which is why Playhouse Disney – hot
on the heels of "Shaun the Sheep" 's success – decided to acquire the US
broadcast rights for "Timmy Time"), what
makes Jackie happy about this particular show is it's actually smoothing the
way for many kids who have yet to head out for preschool.
Copyright Aardman Animations Ltd. All rights reserved
"So many of the problems that Timmy faces are the very same
things that young kids deal with when they enter preschool. How to get along
with others. How to share your toys. Why it's important to clean up after
yourself," Cockle explained. "That 'Timmy Time' can teach these sorts of
lessons in a non-preachy way but still have that same sort of charm & humor
that we've come to associate from Aardman … That's what I consider 'Timmy Time'
's greatest success to be. Which is why I'm so proud of what we've done with this
show."
So if you'd like to get in the sweet charms & sheep
thrills that are associated with Aardman's new stop-motion animated TV series,
be sure and check out "Timmy Time." Which premiered on the Disney Channel this past Monday and now airs on Playhouse Disney weekday
mornings at 7/6c.