From the Fest: BBC Children’s Nikhil and Jay – Creation, Collaboration, Celebration

Available: Friday 15 Nov - Saturday 30 Nov 2024

A look at the creation of CBeebies’ first-ever 2D animated sitcom about dual-heritage British Asian brothers Nikhil and Jay, and how partnership and collaboration has ensured authentic representation at all levels of the production.

Recorded from the in-person event at MAF 2024.

Guests

Nandita Jain

Nandita is a BAFTA winning director, writer and producer. Her short films have captivated audiences and she has developed and directed a wide array of content spanning TV, digital media, books, theatre, and commercials and worked with the BBC, Nickelodeon, Moonbug, Cartoon Network and the Story Museum.
Nandita is currently directing the Nikhil and Jay series, a project that deeply resonates with her own family and heritage.

Jamie Teehan

Jamie is a director and animator working in animation for over 20 years.
He has directed over 266 episodes of TV and worked on shows such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Amazing World of Gumball for Cartoon Network, El Tigre for Nickelodeon, Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja for Disney XD.

Chitra Soundar

Chitra Soundar is an internationally published, award-winning author of children’s books, writer of kids TV, audio and theatre. She is also the co-founder of Colourful Connections, a collective for PoC in UK Kids Media and the co-founder of SAIL Fest, UK’s first South Asian Literature Festival. Her books have been nominated and shortlisted for multiple awards in the UK and US including the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration, Surrey Children’s Book Award and Inclusive Book Awards.

Lotte Elwell

Lotte co-founded King Banana TV to create impactful content that really makes a difference. She has been producing and directing children’s content for over 20 years, including Bafta Award winning CBeebies Springwatch, Something Special, Teletubbies and the Peppa Pig – Festival of Fun movie.

Stefan Gibbons-Arif

Stefan’s background is in both TV and digital production in comedy and children’s genres; both producing and writing.
Stefan now works closely with all teams across BBC Children’s and Education to support them in creating content that authentically represents the UK’s diverse audience. And with all authentic content, this needs to be reflected in the teams making it, so he informs and supports the implementation of strategies to achieve this. There is also a BBC Children’s and Education Diversity Fund which Stefan manages to support diversity across the industry.