London, UK — Licensing Link Europe have been appointed to represent the worldwide rights to develop a licensing and merchandising programme around Monty & Co, a new preschool puppet series from Pipkins Productions.

The series – which completed production of 34 x 11-minute episodes in February – has already been acquired by CBeebies and started airing on the channel from the 25th July 2020 and thereafter on the iPlayer. At this stage, 52 x 11-minute episodes are planned.

Each episode is written as a mini-drama in the life of wallaby Monty and an eclectic group of characters living above a mend, reinvent and recycle shop. Each episode has a simple story structured with a start, middle and end. Some of these deal with everyday issues of sadness, anger and fear, however all stories and themes are delivered with comedy and song in a happy, safe and loving environment.

Monty & Co has been created by Pipkins Productions, a collective of artists who have previously worked on Pipkins with Hartley Hare (which ran for over ten years in the UK) and subsequently on the Muppet movies, Avenue Q, Spitting Image, the PG Tips Monkey, Mopatop Shop, Chucklevision, Coronation Street and The Famous Five among others.

Licensing Link Europe will initially be targeting categories including toys, publishing, arts and crafts, role-play, nightwear and daywear.

Ian Wickham, director at Licensing Link Europe, said: “The calibre and collective resumés of the team behind Monty & Co are like a list of ‘who’s who’ in both children’s and adult drama and entertainment. The storytelling, the songs, the production quality and puppetry have a wholesome charm that stands this show apart from anything else on television and FVOD in the UK.

“We believe parents will be very enthusiastic about the content and structure, as Monty & Co delights and enchants their preschoolers with its imagination, role-play, fun and a healthy dose of slapstick silliness. It’s gently educational too”

“High quality merchandising and publishing are really important to us. We have always had an overall view of the whole project of reaching out to children and their families, taking the characters into their homes and everyday life.“ said Nigel Plaskitt, Executive Producer of Monty & Co.