UK broadcaster Sky Kids has commissioned a new preschool comedy called The Very Small Creatures from Aardman Animations to launch on its linear channel and NOW VOD service in November.

The 20 x three-minute stop-motion series is the studio’s first preschool offering since Timmy Time, which premiered in 2009.

The Very Small Creatures is about five clay friends who explore a child’s play area when humans aren’t around. The characters first appeared in Aardman’s series Morph in the 1980s, and were also featured in recent reboot The Epic Adventures of Morph. 

Lucy Izzard (Nina Needs to Go) will direct the shorts, with a team that includes executive creative director Sarah Cox, EP Helen Argo, development executive Natalie McKay and producer Stephanie Owen.

Sky Kids has greenlit a number of original series in the past year, including Scottish prodco TG Entertainment’s The Brilliant World of Tom Gates and Kavaleer Productions’ 2D-animated fantasy-adventure Alva’s World.