Creator and Executive Producer, Julian Bashford, spoke to ttvnews at MipJunior about the innovative show, which uses mixed-media to captivate both neurotypical and neurodiverse kids, providing a time of focus and calm for families worldwide.
*By Luis Cabrera, from Cannes, France
If there’s one thing all parents know, is that kids have a lot of energy. And as beautiful as childhood chaos is, it’s also necessary -for both kids and parents- to have breaks and times of calm. And while there are tools designed to provide to help, most kids tend to find these shows and videos somewhat boring.
Enter BooSnoo!, a BAFTA-nominated innovative mixed-media (live action, CG and stop motion animation) series designed to captivate both neurotypical kids and neurodiverse kids who are pre-school aged.
“The show was inspired by my eldest son who is now 21 and a game developer. Back when he was very young, we struggled with complex environments like restaurants”, Julian Bashford, creator and Executive Producer of BooSnoo!, began in conversation with ttvnews at the current edition of MipJunior in Cannes, France.
“We discovered that certain TV shows, tools and toys calmed him. Sometimes you just need a moment of time out. And I found that the shows on TV for mindfulness were boring. Because it’s slow motion and things like that. When kids were young, Thomas the Tank Engine and toys with mechanics that you could build, were big. We had a lot of toys. So all that went into the mix and I had this idea,” he explained.
Produced by Visionality Media and Mackinnon & Saunders in the UK, the Sky Kids Original series is currently available in 95 territories around the world.
BooSnoo! features beautiful bespoke visuals set to music with a calm tone, and elements that are inspired by autistic stimming interests such as spinning, mechanics and predictable tracks. With sound inspired by ASMR, each episode follows the journey of the BooSnoo! red ball. At a time when fast-paced entertainment is increasingly prevalent, a series like BooSnoo! breaks the mold with its low stimulation and calming tone.
“It’s not just mindfulness. To me, it’s “focus-fullness”. It’s tuning in, not zoning out. It’s something that’s interesting but not exciting, but never boring”, he highlighted.
“We did that with a delicate balance of sounds and technique, and structure. Children get to know the structure and get comfortable with it. So it becomes a tool at home, before bedtime or dinner, or even in classrooms. And it’s great to see that it has a big impact in families,” he added.
Audiences around the world have taken note of the “BooSnoo! Effect”. Feedback for the series regularly speaks to how it brings families together for co-viewing, and how children who struggle with narrative and word-filled shows, or emotional regulation are relaxed watching BooSnoo!.
In the US, BooSnoo! can be found on Happy Kids, EDYE, Kidoodle, Peacock, Sensical, Tubi, and Xumo. In Canada, the series is available on TVO Kids. Additional examples of sales include (but are not limited to): EDYE (Season 1), LRT Lithuania (Seasons 1 and 2), PTS Taiwan (Seasons 1 and 2), Estonia ERR (Season 1), and SVT Sweden (Season 2).
The series is also being dubbed into Spanish for broadcast through EDYE’s channel in the US and Latin America, and there are plans to dub the series into Brazilian Portuguese for eventual broadcast in Brazil.
Season 3 of BooSnoo! is set to premiere in the UK and Ireland on January 1, 2026. “Season three is about to launch, and we have a Halloween Special and later on a Winter Special, which is brilliant,” he concluded.
