Long-time Animation Forum WM members, The Brothers McLeod recently picked up a BAFTA Children’s Award for their work on a BBC Learning animation.
AFWM caught up with writer of the Warwickshire duo, Myles McLeod for a quick chat about the win.
Congratulations on your Children's BAFTA win. Can you tell us a bit about the award and what it was for?
The award was for a BAFTA Children’s Award in the Learning – Primary category. The programme we entered was called Quiff and Boot – and it was basically a preschool BBC Learning project all about maths!
You've been nominated several times before for a BAFTA but haven't managed to win, what was different about Quiff and Boot?
You always hope to win, but really the deciding factor is who you’re up against. Our first BAFTA nomination was at the film awards and we were up against Wallace and Gromit so we didn’t really stand a chance!
I think Quiff and Boot stood out because it’s a bit bonkers. It’s basically psychedelic comedy maths – not the normal way that maths is presented. But I know from seeing preschool kids watching it, that they love it. They’re learning without it being a drudge and there are some laughs along the way.
Did you have fun creating the tongue in cheek, Calbert the Calculator character?
Calbert was a fun character, just because he kind of represents a lot of those kids TV characters that drive parents insane with their kind of unflappable positivity.
I think originally he was called Calvin, but our producer Emma suggested Calbert and it was a name I’d never heard before. It was perfect.