CBBC orders fantasy comedy Pickle Storm from Zapped creators
- Pickle Storm is a new CBBC fantasy comedy about a 9-year-old that flees her fantasy world of Kleftania for Earth, from the creators of Zapped
- Shot in Belfast and airing next year, Kassidi Roberts stars in the title role, with Donna Preston as her mother Lystra, a battle-hardened warrior, and stand-up Inel Tomlinson as her wizard father Hendrick
- The 10 22-minute episodes will follow Pickle as she joins the local primary school but finds that she's creating all sorts of uncontrollable and highly random acts of magic
CBBC has ordered a children's fantasy comedy from the creators of Zapped, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
Pickle Storm is about a 9-year-old that has to flee her fantasy world of Kleftania - a world of magic, dragons and warriors - and seek refuge in the everyday UK town of Middlington.
Kassidi Roberts (Lovely Little Farm) stars in the title role of the 10 22-minute episodes, with Donna Preston (Good Omens) as her mother Lystra, a battle-hardened warrior, and stand-up Inel Tomlinson (Horrible Histories) as her father Hendrick, an eccentric wizard.
Written by Dan Gaster, Will Ing and Paul Powell for their production company Black Dog Television (Insert Name Here, Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask) - which previously made the Dave fantasy sitcom Zapped starring James Buckley - along with Tasha Dhanraj, Hannah George and Lucy Guy, Pickle Storm will air next year and follows the headstrong and determined Pickle and her family as they try their best to settle into life on Earth, or 'Ee'arth' as she calls it.
While Pickle joins the local primary school, Lystra takes a job in a supermarket and Hendrick gets involved in the local community. However, their efforts to blend in are constantly thwarted by over enthusiasm and cultural misunderstandings.
What's more Pickle finds she creates uncontrollable and highly random acts of magic. These Mood Magic moments have all sorts of unintended consequences - causing a teacher to shrink, making her best friend invisible, turning a sunflower into a monster and producing a snowstorm out of thin air. She also has the support of her trusty Kleftanian pet, Swumpy the Warthoffle
Directed by Dez McCarthy (Flatmates, Danny & Mick), Louise Ni Fhiannachta (Flatmates) and Eoin Cleland (William Of Orangedale) and produced by Raymond Lau (Ted's Top 10), the series co-stars Cadence Williams as Pickle's new best friend Mia, Philip Green as her pompous headteacher Mr Ludcomb, Toby Barnett-Jones as her nemesis classmate Roland and Mitra Djalili and Michael Condron as her bemused neighbours, Derek and Yasmin.
Pickle Storm was shot in Belfast and is co-funded by CBBC, BBC Studios, Northern Ireland Screen and Sony Publishing. For the BBC, the head of commissioning and acquisitions 7+ is Sarah Muller, the senior commissioning editor is Melissa Hardinge and the commissioning executive is Anita Burgess, all working alongside director of children's & education, Patricia Hidalgo.