Sarah & Duck

Sarah & Duck is a British animated children's television series created by Sarah Gomes Harris and Tim O'Sullivan, and produced by Karrot Animation for the BBC. Though designed as a story-driven animation primarily targeted at 4 to 6 year old children since premiering at the MIPCOM trade show in 2012, the series has a small adult following.

Sarah & Duck was first broadcast on the UK channel CBeebies on 18 February 2013. A total of 120 episodes have been commissioned, with 40 each for Series 1, 2, and 3. The third series started in October 2016.

Premise

The series follows Sarah, a very kind and polite seven-year-old girl with big eyes, rosy cheeks and a green hat, and her best friend Duck, a mallard. The central theme is the relationship between these two characters and the adventures they have together. CBeebies states that the show has two learning themes: "friendship and imagination" and "problem solving".

Show Link

Sarah and Duck is an animated series about empathy. Each five-minute story is told with humour and joy, about the friendship of a wide-eyed girl, her pet duck, and their adventures. Sarah and Duck laugh and sing, and play all kinds of games with their friends as they learn to deal with the emotions of childhood.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

Other characters

• John is Sarah's Japanese friend voiced by Luca Pilkington Massey.
• Flamingo is John's friend, as Duck is to Sarah.
• The Shallots are planted by Sarah and Duck. There are three similar-sized and one tiny one. The three repeat the same phrase when spoken to while the tiny one says a variation thereof. They live in Sarah's front garden by the door, and are voiced by Tim O'Sullivan and Tony Clarke.
• Rainbow makes friends with Sarah and Duck after a rain shower. He is very ticklish, and voiced by David Carling.
• Moon first meets Sarah and Duck at the Big Shop when he is heading to work at night. He is voiced by Pete Gallagher.
• Venus is a good friend of Moon and normally Sarah only sees her at night. She is played by Hilary Maclean.
• Mars, a gruff Sergeant Major type character, joins Moon and Venus from time to time. Voiced by Tim O'Sullivan.
• Hat Lady (or Hattie) is Scarf Lady's old sporting rival and runs the local hat museum. Like her arch-nemesis Scarf Lady, she is voiced by Lesley Nicol.
• Umbrella is scared of the rain and voiced by Jamie Oram.
• Bug is a large ladybird that lives in Sarah and Duck's house plant and collects buttons.
• The Cloud Captain is a French engineer who operates the weather system from a tower within the local park, voiced by Derek Griffiths.
• The Ribbon Sisters are Sarah and Duck's quiet next-door neighbours, who are identical twins. They're told apart by their differently coloured sunglasses. They like to play with ribbons and are voiced by Kiki Brooks.
• Scooter Boy is boy who brings a scooter wherever he goes, and is very safety conscious. He is voiced by Dylan Issberner.
• Plate Girl is a girl who has a habit of carrying a plate with her at all times. She is voiced by Yaeli Miller.
• Cake is a living cake created by Sarah who helps bake. She is voiced by Andy Nyman.
• Bread Man runs the local bakery, which Sarah and especially Duck like to visit. He is voiced by David Carling.
• Bus Man operates the bus which often takes Sarah and Scarf Lady to regular destinations such as the Zoo and the Big Shop.
• Tortoise is slow and easily scared. His shell has windows so that he can look out. He doesn't speak.
• Leftover Wool is a bundle of wool that sits patiently in Scarf Lady's wool room, and is voiced by Andy Nyman.
• Poetry Pete is a poet first featured on one of Scarf Lady's LPs. He is voiced by Simon Callow.
• Comet is an old friend of Moon, Mars and Venus who has lost his memory on his last visit to Earth. He is voiced by Sylvester McCoy.

Production

The series is produced using computer-assisted animation techniques and the Adobe After Effects and CelAction2D packages.

A second series began airing on 11 August 2014.

On 17 June 2015 it was renewed for a third series which aired starting the 18 October 2016 on CBeebies.

Broadcast

BBC Worldwide have secured global distribution and merchandising rights for the new show and airs it to BBC Worldwide's network of channels. On 19 August 2013, Sarah & Duck was first broadcast in the U.S. on Sprout. The first series of Sarah & Duck was also broadcast in Japan (NHK), Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT), Denmark (DR), Finland (YLE), Germany (KiKa), Portugal (RTP), Iceland (RUV), the Netherlands (NPO), and the Israel (Hop! Channel). In Canada it is broadcast on the Family Jr. channel. In Australia, it is also broadcast on ABC Kids. On 12 February 2016, Sarah & Duck was made available in Mexico on Netflix but left Netflix on 12 August 2018 without ever airing episodes made in 2017–2018. In 2023, the show's Licensing and Merchandise rights reverted to Karrot Entertainment, and 8 new shorts premiered on CBeebies UK.

DVD Releases

Reception

A pilot for Sarah & Duck was first aired at the Cartoon Forum 2010 where it was warmly received. The series was an immediate hit in the UK, and the first four episodes were the most popular pre-school programmes of their week on the BBC catch-up TV service, iPlayer.

The first episode 'Lots of Shallots' was part of the official selection for the 2013 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

In October 2013 Sarah & Duck was nominated for the British Academy Children's Award for Pre-School Animation. The award went to Timmy Time.

In January 2014 Sarah & Duck was nominated in the pre-school category of the British Animation Awards.

In November 2014, with a second nomination, Sarah & Duck won the British Academy Children's Award for Pre-School Animation.

In February 2017, it was tied in the Kidscreen Award for best animated series with Doc McStuffins.

Stage version

A live stage production called "Sarah and Duck's Big Top Birthday" was performed by Millenium Entertainment International beginning May 2018 and ending in 2023.

References

External links

• Sarah & Duck at BBC Online
• Sarah & Duck at CBeebies (BBC)
• Sarah & Duck - The Official Website of Sarah & Duck
• Sarah & Duck at IMDb
• Karrot Entertainment
• Sarah & Duck series Launch trailer