Former Penketh High School pupil takes CBeebies' Twirlywoos under his wing

These fruit tea loving bird-like characters are the latest creation for CBeebies and a former Penketh High School pupil has taken the creatures under his wing.

'Great BigHoo', 'Toodloo', 'Chickedy' and 'Chick' were created by Anne Wood, who was behind Teletubbies and In the Night Garden, and Steve Roberts.

TV specialists Ragdoll Productions brought the pre-school show to the screen working alongside animation studio Mackinnon & Saunders which produced the stop frame animation.

Former Penketh High School pupil Ian Mackinnon set up Mackinnon & Saunders with business partner Peter Saunders more than 20 years ago.

He has since worked on the likes of Fantastic Mr Fox and Frankenweenie.

The aim of Twirlywoos is to take pre-schoolers on a flight of discovery and encourage them to gain confidence in their perceptions of the world through a mix of animated and live action scenes.

Ian said: "When Anne Wood and Steve Roberts first described the Twirlywoos concept to us, we could see that it was going to be an incredibly funny and engaging show.

"But we also realised that the ambition to have the animated puppet characters interacting with the real world in a totally convincing way would really stretch the stop motion team at Mackinnon & Saunders.

"Ragdoll’s Steve Roberts came up with the idea of the very stylised, bird-like creatures.

"The soft fabric-covered puppets were designed with bright, bold colours to stand out against the simple white boat interiors and live action locations, enabling the audience to read their comedy antics clearly.

"Steve really wanted them to look soft and squashy, capable of energetic slapstick performances whilst also dancing around with balletic agility.

"No mean feat when your characters have big round bodies and pencil thin legs!"

Ian was not the only talented to pupil to leave Penketh High in the 80s as Bob the Builder designer Curtis Jobling followed a few years later and then worked with Ian on Mars Attacks and Raa Raa the Noisy Lion.

Over the past 20 years, Ian has worked with Tim Burton on Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie and Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr Fox.

He has also made puppets for beloved children’s TV shows including Postman Pat, Bob the Builder and the new Clangers.

DAVID MORGAN