| Chapman Entertainment Limited[1] | |
| Former Name: | Chapman Productions Limited (2001-2004)[2] |
| Industry: | Television production |
| Fate: | Dormancy, assets acquired by DreamWorks Animation |
| Successor: | DreamWorks Classics |
| Defunct: | [3] |
| Founded: | [4] |
| Founders: | Keith Chapman Greg Lynn Andrew Haydon |
| Hq Location Country: | England |
| Brands: | Fifi and the Flowertots Roary the Racing Car Little Charley Bear Raa Raa the Noisy Lion |
Chapman Entertainment Limited was a British television production company founded by Keith Chapman and Greg Lynn and based in London. The company focused on producing content aimed at pre-school audiences.
The company was founded by Greg Lynn in London in 2001, together with Keith Chapman and Andrew Haydon, a former managing director of John Reid Entertainment, an artist management company. The company was created for the purpose of exploiting both the intellectual property rights of Chapman's creations and also those of interested third parties.[5]
The company is structured to allow greater rewards and input to property creators. This developed from Chapman's own frustrations at his lack of involvement with his Bob the Builder character. He created the character in the early 1990s and struck a deal with HIT Entertainment which saw them develop the character. The project was handed over to HOT Animation, specifically Jackie Cockle and Curtis Jobling, who took the basic title and premise of the show and ran with it, developing the project in-house from a blank canvas. The resulting show was commissioned by the BBC Children's department.
On 1 September 2004, the company entered into a distribution deal with Target Entertainment, where the company would handle distribution rights to Fifi and the Flowertots outside of North America and the United Kingdom, which Chapman would continue to handle.[6] The global launch of Fifi and the Flowertots began in May 2005 with its initial run on Five's Milkshake! and Nick Jr. The show has been sold into over 100 territories worldwide. Fifi and the Flowertots features the voices of Jane Horrocks and more.[5] [7]
In May 2007, Chapman Entertainment launched their second show, Roary the Racing Car on Five's Milkshake! and Nick Jr. The idea for the show was suggested by Brands Hatch employee David Jenkins and features the voices of comedian Peter Kay and more with racing driver Sir Stirling Moss as the narrator.[7] [8]
On June 5, 2008, the company announced that they would open a standalone studio in Altrincham, Cheshire, with the second series of Roary the Racing Car to be the first show produced within the studio.[9]
On 30 September 2009, the company announced the pre-sales for Little Charley Bear and Raa Raa the Noisy Lion to CBeebies in the UK, with HIT Entertainment functioning as the former show's distribution agent.[10] [11]
In July 2011, Chapman Entertainment announced the departure of their MD Greg Lynn ahead of massive company redundancies, "soaring costs and challenging trading conditions" were listed as the reasons for the redundancies.[12] [13] The following month, the company announced that they had placed itself up for sale, blaming poor toy sales as the main cause.[14]
On 28 February 2012, Chapman's distributor Target Entertainment was placed under administration by its owners Metrodome.[15] Chapman secured a new non-US and UK distribution deal with Cake Entertainment for its entire catalogue the following month.[16] In November 2012, Chapman Entertainment announced the company being placed into administration, again blaming poor toy sales as the main cause.
In September 2013, DreamWorks Animation (which would be acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016) acquired Chapman Entertainment's content library. The acquisition added to DreamWorks' growing library of family entertainment brands that also included properties gained when it acquired Classic Media in 2012. The Chapman programs are now distributed through DreamWorks Distribution, DreamWorks Animation's UK-based TV distribution operation.[17] The company went dormant after the library was acquired, and was fully dissolved in August 2017.
As of today, Chapman's shows in the United States are currently available on Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service.