Animation series by UWE Bristol graduate to air in the USA

Media Relations Team, 15 October 2021

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UWE Bristol graduate Jack Bennett delivering a talk.

Animation series, Dodo, created by UWE Bristol graduate Jack Bennett, is to be broadcast on two of the USA’s biggest TV networks.

The series, about the trials and tribulations of UK secondary school life, is based on Jack’s multi-award-winning film and YouTube hit Not The End of the World, which he made during his final year studying MA Animation in 2016-17.

Narrated by Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson and starring Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls), Dodo will be available to view on HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2022.

The 20-episode series, produced by Bristol-based Wildseed Studios, is a funny, relatable and heart-warming portrayal of everyday school life in the UK as experienced by 11-year-old Joe Connolly.

Much of the inspiration for the series comes from Jack's own time at Gordano School, Portishead, with one of the characters even named after one of his favourite teachers.

And, it’s not just his old school which inspired Jack. He said: “UWE Bristol was absolutely vital to not only the production of the short film Not the End of the World, which became Dodo, but also my education within story worlds. What I loved about the course was its variety of subjects. While there were lots of good technical lessons, it was the first time I had been taught story structure to such a high degree.

“I always found it pretty difficult to see myself as a writer or a creator, preferring to put myself somewhere technical, like animating, and I believe my time at UWE Bristol was the first step in becoming this - something which I think my lecturers probably saw in me before I did!”

Luis Cook, senior lecturer in animation at UWE Bristol, added: "Jack was a great student - a delight to work with him; he has enthusiasm, professionalism, and tenacity. Grafting away at his story and his characters and understanding, early on, that 'story is King' has clearly paid off. We can't wait to see the series he's made. Well done Jack!"

Wildseed Managing Director Miles Bullough said: "We are thrilled to be able to share our much-loved new comedy animation series Dodo with new audiences in the U.S. Very British in both its humour and its hero, we are confident Jack's characters and stories will resonate and amuse viewers in the US as it has done here in the UK."

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