Pablo (TV series) explained

Genre:	Children's television
Creator:	Grainne McGuinness
Director:	David McGrath
Voices:	Jake Williamson Sumita Majumdar Scott Mulligan Michael White Rosie King Tony Finnegan
Composer:	Michael Keeney & Kris Stronge
Country:	United Kingdom Ireland (episodes only)
Language:	English
Num Series:	2
Num Episodes:	105
List Episodes:	Episodes
Executive Producer:	Pauline MacNamara
Producer:	Graínne McGuinness
Runtime:	Approx. 11 minutes
Company:	Paper Owl Films Kavaleer Productions Ingenious Media Cake Entertainment(episodes only)
Channel:	CBeebies (UK) RTÉjr (Ireland) (episodes only)
Last Aired:	present

Pablo is a British-Irish children's television series that premiered on CBeebies on 2 October 2017. Grainne McGuinness created it. The series follows the adventures of Pablo, a five year old autistic boy, and his imaginary anthropomorphized animal friends, the Book Animals, who go on adventures in Pablo's 'Art World'.^{[1] [2]} It is a hybrid of live action sequences and 2D animation. The series features a voice cast and writing team who are all autistic.

It also broadcasts internationally, including on ABC Kids, Nat Geo Kids, CBC Kids, Universal Kids, S4C and Netflix.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

On 11 October 2021 it was announced a third series was in development. This season will be reworked, with Pablo now eight years old and with a redesigned art style, and be for an older audience.^[9] On 1 April 2022, BBC Children's announced it had commissioned the third series.^[10]

Format

Series 1 & 2

A typical episode will begin in the real world, where Pablo will be engaging in some sort of activity. When encountering a problem or something he doesn't understand (like the loss of his own smell following a bath or the unusual way sandwiches are cut to be rectangular rather than triangular), the episode will transition into an animated 'art world', represented by Pablo's drawings. There, Pablo and the Book Animals will work together to solve whatever problem is at hand.

Series 3

The third series will send a now eight year old Pablo to primary school, a fascinating and at times overwhelming place. With the Book Animals at his side, Pablo will face new challenges and adventures.

Characters

• Pablo (played by William & Oliver Burns (live-action), voiced by Jake Williamson): the kind and playful protagonist. He loves to draw things in the Art World with his crayons.
• Mouse (voiced by Rachael Dickson): Mouse is very reliable, cute and organized, but she also hates loud sounds, she also talks in third person.
• Noa (voiced by Tony Finnegan): Noa is a Noasaurus who's sensitive, but often doesn't know how to express his feelings. He "stims" by flapping his hands.
• Tang (voiced by Michael White): Tang is an orangutan who's the big, fun goofball of the group. He's always ready to do anything, but has problems reading social cues and isn't always very careful.
• Wren (voiced by Sumita Majumdar): Wren is gentle and loves to sing and flap her wings. Her words in her comforting voice always sooth others when they're in stress.
• Llama (voiced by Rosie King): Llama loves to skip around back and forth on her four legs as physical "stimming". She has echolalia.
• Draff (voiced by Scott Mulligan): Draff is a giraffe who's the smartest of the group. Because of this, he's highly intelligent and precise. His most commonly used phrase is "in point of fact", as he loves explaining things; he represents Pablo's "infodumping" and his catchphrase "point of fact" is his verbal "stimming".^{[11] [12]}
• Pablo's Mum (played by Rosie Barry): caring and attentive, she supports her son in any way she can. She mainly appears in the live action segments.

Episodes

Series 2 (2019–2020)

Starting with "The New Sofa" on 7 October 2019, all the week's Pablo episodes would be made available on BBC iPlayer before their individual broadcast on CBeebies. From "Finger Prince" onwards, however, episodes would only go on iPlayer after their individual broadcast.

Specials

In addition to the main programme, a series of online shorts were produced in 2019. These include Going to School, Pack for School, Making Friends and Everything Pumpkin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an episode-length special was produced.

Awards

Pablo won Best Preschool Programme at the 2019 Broadcast Awards.^[13] It was nominated at the 2018 British Academy Children's Awards in Digital,^[14] was a Children’s Finalist at the 2018 Royal Television Society Awards and won the TORC Award for Excellence at the 2018 Celtic Media Festival. It was nominated at the 2021 Irish Animation Awards for Best Animated Preschool Series and Best Writer for Preschool Animation (for Andrew Brenner, which it won).^[15]

Spin-off books

In April 2020, Ladybird began publishing a series of picture books, adapted from previous Pablo episodes.^{[16] [17]} Sumita Majumdar and Andrew Brenner, who wrote on the series, oversaw these.

1. Goodnight Pablo (based on "Goodnight Blues"),
2. Pablo and the Noisy Party (based on "The Party Present"),
3. Pablo Picks His Shoes (based on "Pick Us Pablo"),
4. Pablo’s Feelings (based on "Face Feelings"),
5. Pablo Goes Shopping (based on "The Super Place"),
6. Pablo at the Zoo,

There will also be "Ladybird Readers" Level 1 books, designed to aid children develop their speech, reading and writing skills.

1. Pablo Chooses His Shoes,
2. Are You Sad, Pablo?,
3. Pablo: Noisy Party,

Stage version

In 2019, it was announced Selladoor Worldwide is developing a stage musical adaptation of Pablo, in collaboration with Paper Owl Films. The original creative team will be involved.^[18]

See also

• A Kind of Spark, another BBC children's series performed and written by autistic people.
• Ready Eddie Go!, a Sky Kids series also about a small autistic boy, performed and written by autistic people.

External links

• Official Pablo Page at CBeebies

Notes and References

1. Web site: Everything you need to know about Pablo: CBeebies' brand new show about autism. 28 September 2017. Metro. UK. James. Baldock. 25 October 2019.
2. Web site: CBeebies Pablo: empowering young people with autism. 29 September 2017. About the BBC.
3. Web site: Meet Pablo! New RTÉjr show gives insight into autism. RTÉ.ie. 27 September 2017.
4. Web site: Pablo - CBC Media Centre.
5. Web site: 'Pablo' en Nat Geo Kids: El mundo como lo siente un niño autista. 5 May 2018 .
6. Web site: NEW CBC KIDS SERIES PABLO CELEBRATES CREATIVITY AND INDIVIDUALITY - CBC Media Centre.
7. Web site: Universal Kids to Premiere PABLO, the First TV Series To Star A Child with Autism April 2. Desk. TV News. BroadwayWorld.com. en. 2019-07-17.
8. Web site: S4C - Pablo.
9. Web site: Paper Owl Films ages Pablo up.
10. Web site: BBC Children's Commissions New-Look Series of Paper Owl's 'Pablo' . April 2022 .
11. News: New CBeebies animated show explores life on the autistic spectrum. Grimsbylive. 20 September 2017. www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk.
12. Web site: BBC - Pablo - Media Centre. www.bbc.co.uk.
13. Web site: Best pre-school programme: Pablo.
14. Web site: Children's Awards Winners 2018. 17 October 2018.
15. Web site: Irish Animation Awards nominees announced as event goes virtual. 14 April 2021.
16. Book: Pablo: Pablo and the Noisy Party. 19 March 2020 .
17. Web site: The best books to read your children in 2020. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/new-books-children-2020-julia-donaldson-the-go-away-bird-the-gruffalo-dogger-a9306081.html . 24 May 2022 . subscription . live. Independent.co.uk. 5 February 2020.
18. https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2019/selladoor-to-develop-stage-version-of-cbeebies-show-pablo-featuring-autistic-cast/