UK broadcaster Sky has greenlit a new mixed-media children’s series called The Brilliant World of Tom Gates from Scotland’s TG Entertainment. It will launch via on-demand service Sky Kids in the UK and Ireland.

The 20 x 11-minute show is based on the Tom Gates book series, which encourages kids to be artful and crafty like its protagonist. The books’ writer and illustrator Liz Pichon (pictured) will be an executive producer and presenter on the show, which mixes 2D animation, stop motion and live action. Aimed at kids seven to 12, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates will premiere in early 2021 to coincide with the release of the 18th book in the series, Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales.

The books are published by Scholastic and have sold more than 11 million copies worldwide in 44 languages.

TG Entertainment is jointly owned by Scotland’s Black Camel Pictures and Wild Child Animation. Black Camel and Wild Child owner Red Kite launched TG Entertainment in 2018—after picking up the rights to the Tom Gates books—to handle production as well as licensing and merchandising rights on the adaptation. Wild Child Animation’s creative director Ken Anderson and Black Camel founder Arabella Page Croft will be executive producers on the project for TG Entertainment, with Sky Kids commissioning editor Ian France overseeing the production for Sky.

This deal marks a rare case of Sky ordering content exclusively for Sky Kids, instead of picking up a previously financed and completed series. But the broadcaster has been leaning into more kids originals lately, most recently picking up Magic Light Pictures’ Pip & Posy (52 x seven minutes), which is also set for an early 2021 release.