Children's programming

5’s pre-school programming block Milkshake! aims to connect, entertain and educate viewers aged 2-5 years, offering them a range of high quality, UK originated content that celebrates and reflects British kids, their families and cultures. It is a favourite destination for pre-schoolers that is fun, safe and imaginative, entertaining them with best in class, relatable and engaging characters and adventurous stories. Milkshake! encourages pre-schoolers to wonder, learn and understand the world around them. 5 is the only Public Service Broadcaster to air kids’ content on the main channel seven days a week. Milkshake! is on air from 6am - 9am everyday. Milkshake! content can also be found on 5 as VOD and a FAST channel, Paramount+, Milkshake! branded YouTube, Facebook and Instagram Channels in addition to a magazine and touring stage show. We commission, co-produce and acquire pre-school programming and prioritise UK produced originations.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR 

Pre-school programmes targeted at 2-5 years that would suit a breakfast block with gentle learning through play and fun. Visual diversity through animated (2D, 3D, CGI, model/claymation) and live action/mixed media factual and entertainment formats that feature relatable, gender neutral characters the audience can relate to and fall in love with. 

We want inspirational storytelling and ideally a ‘hook’ or ‘theme’ that is unique to the content we already have on Milkshake! to ensure we offer variety. Our tagline is ‘sunshine every day’ and our core values are curious, celebratory, energetic, inclusive, accessible and popular. Content should have heart, humour, adventure, fun, friendship and celebrate and reflect a diverse range of British children and their families. 

We produce content in line with the ‘Early Years Foundation’ framework and operate a ‘no diversity, no commission policy’ to ensure we fully represent the audience on and off screen. UK produced content is prioritised, however we are aware some elements of the production may be outsourced internationally. We are interested in regional programmes that show the breadth of the UK, to represent children’s lives today. 

We produce in-house activity short form content featuring our presenters across a range of themes such as craft, music, dance, book readings and games, so we are not looking for content that has a similar tone or theme. We are not looking for presenter-led programmes, however if the idea is right for the brand, it may be a consideration. Our programme durations range between five, seven and eleven minutes.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN IDEA 

When submitting a project, please send a short synopsis, bible or pitch document of your idea containing the premise of the series, a key character breakdown, information about the world they live in and outline episode ideas. We can also review storylines, scripts, designs and teasers if they are available to help indicate the style and production method. If you already have funding in place, please indicate this and any additional partners you may have on-board. There are no specific commissioning or acquisition periods, we accept materials all year round. If the idea is of interest to us we will ask to setup a pitch meeting and we may, at this stage, ask for further development materials on the project.

All submissions should be sent to the email address below and it can take up to 8 weeks for initial feedback, due to the volume of pitches we receive  milkshakeprogramming@channel5.com 

RECENT COMMISSIONS
Recent commissions include:

Animation: 

• Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom 
• Circle Square 
• Daisy & Ollie 
• Milo 
• Mixmups 
• Odo 
• Peppa Pig 
• Pip & Posy  
• Pop Paper City 
• Stan & Gran 
• The Woohoos 
• Tim Rex In Space 
• Tweedy & Fluff

Live action drama,  factual  and entertainment:  

• Animal Care Club  
• Aneeshwar’s Outdoor Adventures 
• Bop Box Boogie 
• Go Green With the Grimwades  
• Cooking With The Gills  
• Meet The Experts  
• Milkshake! Bop Box Boogie  
• Milkshake! Monkey’s Amazing Adventures 
• Move It! Milkshakers! 
• Mimi’s World  
• Reu & Harper’s Wonder World  
• Show Me How  
• The World According To Grandpa       
• Treehouse       

ACQUISITIONS

Animation

• Brave Bunnies  
• Chip & Potato  
• Fireman Sam  
• Oggy Oggy  
• Pirata & Capitano  
• Sunny Bunnies  
• Thomas & Friends