
Tiger Aspect Kids and Family, part of Banijay Kids and Family, today announces it has secured adevelopment deal for bestselling picture book series What the Ladybird Heard. The books are created by award-winning partnership Julia Donaldson (author) and Lydia Monks (illustrator). The deal covers the option to create a pre-school animated series and is the first animated series development for Julia & Lydia. Julia and Lydia are regular collaborators and their books have sold over 10 million copies.
What the Ladybird Heard is published in the UK by Macmillan Children's Books and is the first of four titles. The series has sold over 4 million copies and has been translated into 24 languages worldwide. The latest book, What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside was released in paperback in 2021 and spent 3 weeks at the top of the Pre-school and Picture Book Nielsen bestseller charts.
What the Ladybird Heard is a much-loved modern classic that has been a part of kids and parents lives since it was first published in 2009. The fantastically funny stories feature a clever ladybird who said never a word, but the ladybird saw, and the ladybird heard. With her animal friends on the farm, the Ladybird always manages to out-fox the crafty duo, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len and their cunning plans.
The What the Ladybird Heard series is the third bestselling picture book brand in the UK this year (Nielsen, 2021), after Peppa Pig and The Gruffalo.
What the Ladybird Heard was Live on stage this summer at the Palace Theatre, London and is now on a nationwide tour.
The development of the series will be overseen by Tom Beattie, MD of Tiger Aspect Kids and Family, who will also executive produce.
Tom Beattie, MD of Tiger Aspect Kids and Family, said: Having read these books to my kids, with the brilliant rhyming verse and following the bumpy trail across every page looking for the ladybird, time and time again, I'm honoured to be working with Julia and Lydia to bring this brilliant story to screen.
Beno t Di Sabatino, CEO, Banijay Kids and Family, said: It is an honour and a great responsibility to develop a series based on such a creative and successful book series with the creators
Julia Donaldson added: I am thrilled that my What The Ladybird Heard series of books is to be adapted for screen by Tiger Aspect Kids & Family. I'm sure that Lydia Monks's characterful pictures of the clever little ladybird, the farmyard animals and the comical thieves will translate brilliantly into animation, and I can't wait to see them all on my television.
Lydia Monks commented: Lots of Tiger Aspect Kids & Family's programmes are family favourites in my house, so I couldn't be more delighted to be working with Tom and the team. I'm sure our little ladybird will be in safe hands, and I can't wait to see what she sees and hears next!
Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, MD, Macmillan Children's Books says, We launched the first What the Ladybird Heard adventure at Macmillan Children's Books in 2009 and from the beginning we knew that Julia's clever ladybird and her brilliant story, combined with Lydia's characterful and bright artwork, would be a story that families would take to their hearts. The continued sales and growth of the brand since then has been testament to this. We couldn't be more pleased that Tiger Aspect Kids & Family is now going to develop the ladybird and bring her adventures in a new way to children and families.
Rights were acquired for Julia Donaldson from Emily Hayward-Whitlock of the Artists Partnership in association with the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency and for Lydia Monks from and for Lydia Monks by Hilary Delamere and Tanya Tillett at The Agency.
All distribution will be handled by Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13 with guest ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
04/12/2025
Lightware, a global specialist in AV connectivity, is looking back on a year defined by new advancements, strong collaboration and continued growth. Across the ...
04/12/2025
Riedel Communications today announced a new partnership with Haivision, a leading global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and visual col...
04/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) and Normann Engineering today announced a major milestone in their strategic collaboration, celebrating 20 successful broadband deployme...
04/12/2025
Creative software developer Foundry today announced Mari 7.5, the latest iteration of its artist-friendly paint toolset that can handle large, detailed assets w...
04/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at Dreamforce 2025 in San Francisco providing...
04/12/2025
LTN's purpose-built IP video network brings all-movie diginet to over 100 stations and streaming platforms in just three months while eliminating satellite ...
04/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in AI-powered data a...
04/12/2025
The HELM, a global expert in cinematic live broadcast and high-end production workflows, has signed a partnership agreement with Keslow Camera, one of North Ame...
04/12/2025
At ISE 2026, LiveU will showcase its expanded IP-video EcoSystem, enabling broadcasters, sports, production companies and pro-AV professionals to share their st...
04/12/2025
Since the beginning of commercial television, advertising has been a key part of broadcasting. Over the years, the technology for inserting ads into programs ha...
04/12/2025
MUNICH and MILAN Warner Bros. Discovery said HBO Max is expanding into Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein on Jan. 13, 2026, and ...
04/12/2025
SAN FRANCISCO AudioShake has launched its first streaming-capable software development kits (SDKs) designed specifically for real-time music detection and copyr...
04/12/2025
NASHVILLE The mobile and REMI production company TNDV has announced that it headed south into Mexico to live-produce the three-day 2025 Zane Grey Championship P...
04/12/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Hollywood Professionals Association Executive Director Phil Kubel has stepped down from the organization to pursue new opportunities, the group ...
04/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission said it has closed 2,048 inactive proceedings, the largest number of dormant dockets ever terminated in a singl...
04/12/2025
A new tech blog from Netflix highlights the importance of the AV1 open video codec, which now powers about 30% of the platform's streaming and discusses a v...
04/12/2025
Following today's EBU Winter General Assembly in Geneva at which Israel's participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest was confirmed, RT 's pos...
04/12/2025
Thursday 4 December 2025
Sky set to co-produce the story behind the world's most famous whale
Image Credit - Free Willy Keiko Foundation
Sky will co-pro...
04/12/2025
Thursday 4 December 2025
Sky Original documentary Murder at the Post Office to ...
04/12/2025
Back to All News
Hugo Silva, Leonor Watling, Esther Acebo and Gorka Otxoa Star ...
04/12/2025
Back to All News
Step Inside the World of Troll 2: VFX Breakdown Featuring Dire...
04/12/2025
OBJECT MATRIX
OverviewObject Matrix
OM Cloud
Quattro
SWARMOverviewSwarmSingle Node Swarm
Ngenea
Pixstor
Swarm Support
Object Matrix Support
Pixstor & N...
04/12/2025
FOX Advertising Announces Plans for 2026 Upfront Presentation Annual Presentation for Advertisers to Take Place Monday, May 11 at New Location, the Historic N...
04/12/2025
Developers, researchers, hobbyists and students can take a byte out of holiday s...
04/12/2025
The ninth series of Dancing with the Stars returns to screens in early
2026 and will be proudly sponsored by Hyundai
Filling our Sunday evenings with glitz an...
04/12/2025
Editor's note: The Game Pass edition of Hogwarts Legacy' will also be supported on GeForce NOW when the Steam and Epic Games Store versions launch on t...
04/12/2025
Scientists find cancer weak spot in backup DNA repair system New findings from Scripps Research reveal how certain tumors survive DNA damage and point to a stra...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Composition Builder 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: The Composition Builder 2025 application for macOS enables TV stations and Live Event broadcast...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAr just:live pro 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: just:live pro 2025 is a Single Channel Live Production Playout solution for video and static or real-t...