Pablo (TV series)


Pablo is a Northern Irish children's television series that premiered on CBeebies on 2 October 2017. It was created by Grainne McGuinness. The series follows the adventures of Pablo, a five year old autistic boy, and his imaginary anthropomorphized animal friends, the Book Animals, who go on adventures in Pablo's 'Art World'. It is a hybrid of live action sequences and 2D animation. The series is notable for featuring a voice cast and writing team who are all on the autistic spectrum.
It also broadcasts internationally, including on ABC Kids, RTEjr, NatGeo Kids, CBC Kids, Universal Kids, and Netflix.

Format

A typical episode will begin in the real world, where Pablo will be engaging in some sort of activity. When encountering a problem or something he doesn't understand, the episode will transition into an animated 'art world', represented by Pablo's drawings. There, Pablo and the Book Animals will work together to solve whatever problem is at hand.

Characters

Series 1 (2017–2018)

Series 2 (2019–2020)

Starting with "The New Sofa" on 7 October 2019, all the week's Pablo episodes would be made available on BBC iPlayer before their individual broadcast on Cbeebies. From "Finger Prince" onwards, however, episodes would only go on iPlayer after their individual broadcast.

International broadcast

Awards

Pablo won Best Preschool Programme at the 2019 Broadcast Awards. It was nominated at The 2018 British Academy Children's Awards in Digital.

Spin-off books

In April 2020, Ladybird began publishing a series of picture books, based on past Pablo episodes. Sumita Majumdar and Andrew Brenner, who wrote on the series, oversaw these.
  1. Goodnight Pablo
  2. Pablo and the Noisy Party
  3. Pablo Picks His Shoes
  4. Pablo’s Feelings

    Stage version

Selladoor Worldwide is developing a stage musical adaptation of Pablo, with Paper Owl Films. The original creative team will be involved.