ABC Australia has commissioned a new mixed-animation series called Tales From Outer Suburbia (pictured) from local studios Flying Bark Productions and Highly Spirited.

Screen Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) are also backing the project, which is aimed at tweens/teens. It stars two siblings who experience strange phenomena when they move with their family to the burbs, such as seeing a water buffalo in a vacant lot and discovering a secret garden in their house. This 10 x 22-minute show is based on Shaun Tan’s same-name book, which Scholastic and Arthur A. Levine Books first published in 2009.

Tan is overseeing the 2D-/CG-animated project as a creative director, with Noel Cleary (Maya the Bee: The Honey Games) on board to direct, and Highly Spirited owner Sophie Byrne and Flying Bark director of production Alexia Gates-Foale getting producer credits. EPs include Flying Bark CEO Barbara Stephen; ACTF head of content Bernadette O’Mahony; and ABC head of children and family Libbie Doherty.

In other ABC news, the broadcaster has renewed Kangaroo Beach for a third season (26 x 11 minutes). Cheeky Little Media is behind this animated surf-centric series and will co-produce the next batch of eps with Australian prodco Siamese (100% Wolf), backed by financing from Screen Australia and Screenwest. 

Kangaroo Beach is about a group of lifeguards-in-training who explore their sandy and underwater environs on the job. Produced with funding from Screen Australia, the show premiered in 2021 on ABC Kids, and it has ranked as the second most-watched ABC Kids series on VOD platform ABC iview, according to the broadcaster.