Tis the season to be Bluey – we celebrate with Australia’s favourite TV family from Brisbane
It’s been an incredible year for Australia’s favourite TV family, who celebrate with a Christmas special, an international Emmy nomination and an AACTA win.
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It says something about the cultural impact of the ABC’s most popular animation series, Bluey, that a simple character summary sparked a national debate and online outrage last month.
So passionate are people, especially parents, about the Brisbane-born cartoon – which has set a new benchmark for modern parenting – that the misstep by writers of an offending bio of Bluey’s working mum, Chilli, became headline news.
For executive producer, Daley Pearson, who addressed the drama and had the website copy changed within hours of it being raised, his greatest frustration was the fact the summary – which said Chilli felt like she was “failing” at the mummy juggle – was so out of step with the way she is portrayed so positively on screen.
Still, he tells TV guide, the reaction was emblematic of the engagement and ownership viewers have for the show and the contemporary view of Australian family life it provides.
For those not across the series, Bluey is a six-year-old blue heeler pup who learns life lessons from game play with her sister, Bingo, mum Chilli and dad, Bandit.
The Ludo Studios production, which screens daily on ABC Kids and internationally on Disney Jnr, has set iview ratings records for Aunty (170 million views and counting) and become its biggest preschool program since Peppa Pig, PlaySchool and those Bananas in Pyjamas.
Created by animator Joe Brumm, it was inspired by his relationship with his two young daughters and a desire to engage in the kind of free play recent research has shown is becoming alarmingly alien to young children hypnotised by smart phones and digital devices.
Each of the 52 episodes produced so far revolves around an everyday activity – from playground time, to picking up takeaway, and the valuable social cues kids can pick up from those supervised scenarios.
Like The Wiggles, which emerged from the early childhood studios of its band members, Bluey is steeped in child psychology but put simply, gives kids and the adults around them permission to play at life, Pearson says.
“There’s something about game play as a child’s first draft at life,” he explains.
“It’s their first go at responsibility, first go at compromise and the first go at the not-so-attractive stuff like jealousy and all those emotions you have to learn before you experience it in the real world.”
In the special Christmas episode, Verandah Santa, Bluey learns to be patient and forgiving of a younger cousin, who gets overexcited and nips him during a game they are playing.
The show has also embraced some of the darker parts of life, dealing with death and more adult themes in a gentle way suitable for the pre-K audience.
As Pearson explains: “because it has the lovely icing sugar of the score and the look of it, it’s not come off too heavy.”
The wild success of the show – winning the AACTA award for best children’s program this month – has lead to a recent broadcast deal with the new Disney+ streaming service, which should multiply its international audience by the millions.
Ludo have already launched a series of companion books, as well as a plush toy of both Bluey and Bingo which topped this year’s most popular kids gift list.
It’s a long way from the show’s beginnings five years ago in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, where Pearson admits producers weren’t sure they had the cash or creative skills needed to get the animation off the ground.
“When we started it, we didn’t know if we could deliver a show. It was like setting up a train track for the first time … we had the self-belief inside, but we weren’t sure if we could do it.”
Brumm had been working in London on another children’s program, Charlie and Lola, but returned to Australia with his young family and met with Pearson and another producing partner, Charlie Aspinall.
“Joe made a one-minute pilot which was Bandit pushing Bluey on a swing.”
But even that was problematic, Pearson jokes, “because the swing went all the way around, so we had Standards and Practices problems.”
Fast forward and the program has been nominated for an international Emmy [to be awarded in Cannes next March] and the Ludo studio behind it employs a staff of 60 animaters and creatives.
“For at least half of the staff, it was their first job out of uni … so as well as having a show we really love, we have people we really love around us, who are working their way up in this world.”
Libbie Doherty, ABC Head of Children’s Content, said: “Bluey represents the best of Australian creativity and talent for younger audiences.
Next on the agenda is a live theatre show which will see Bluey tour Australia next year and another season of 52 episodes to come.
But despite the Disney+ deal, Pearson is keeping a lid on their egos and any profits pouring back into Bluey’s production.
“We’ve always said we’d do Bluey as long as it’s good and it’s still good,” Pearson says, “so for now, we’re pretty happy.”
* Bluey streams on ABC iView. Verandah Santa airs 6.20pm, Thursday, ABC Kids.
Originally published as Tis the season to be Bluey – we celebrate with Australia’s favourite TV family from Brisbane