EXCLUSIVE: Andy Serkis and T’Nia Miller are leading the voice for Joei Christiaen’s animated special A Lamb’s Stew.
The family-targeted show tells the story of Billie, a young lamb determined to prove that sheep are just as brave as other animals. Billie devises a plan to lure a wolf into a trap, only to realize he may not be the monster she was led to believe.
Serkis (Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes), T’Nia Miller (Sex Education, Years and Years) and upcoming actor Iris Onyejiuwa voice the leads of the 26-minute English-language film. The special comes from Christiaen’s La Cabane and Belgium-based animation house Thuristar, and is sold internationally by Cake – with the trio being frequent collaborators over the years.
A Lamb’s Stew, a 3D animation with 2D sequences, was made with the participation of Canal+ (France) and RTS (Switzerland), and with VRT-Ketnet (Belgium) and ZDF (Germany) boarding as co-producers. It has received support from the Media Creative Europe Programme, France’s CNC, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Procirep-Angoa.
Christiaen (Mush-Mush, My Knight and Me) has written and directed show, and produced it in the open-source Blender software. Christiaen worked with Claire Paoletti (Shoom’s Odyssey) as story consultant during initial development, and with Julia Smuts Louw (Star Wars: Visions – Aau’s Song and The Smeds and the Smoos), who is story editor for the final script.
This marks the third collaboration between UK-based producer-distributor Cake, La Cabane and Thuristar following Christiaen’s International Emmy-nominated series Mush-Mush and The Mushables, which has run to two seasons, and more recently, Luce in the Lovely Land, written and directed by Britt Raes.
“A Lamb’s Stew is an ambitious project, and we’re confident that CAKE’s expertise will help bring this heartfelt story and distinctive visual style to audiences around the globe,” said Perrine Gauthier, co-founder of La Cabane, partner of Thuristar and producer of the special.
“We love working with La Cabane and Thuristar, and A Lamb’s Stew is another great example of their originality and heart,” added Edward Galton, CEO at Cake. “Joeri has created something really special, it’s visually striking, emotionally layered, and has a lot to say without ever losing its charm. We’re excited to be bringing it to audiences around the world.”
La Cabane is a Paris-based production company founded in 2015 by Gauthier, Christiaen, Frederik Segers and Emmanuel Garijo. It’s behind Mush-Mush, Raes’ short film Luce and the Rock, and is currently worked on Luce in the Lovely Land and Emma Makes Waves, alongside A Lamb’s Stew.
Thuristar is known for short film 850 meters, and co-producing its series spin-off, My Knight and Me, which aired worldwide. It was a co-producer on Mush-Mush and Luce and the Rock, and is currently co-producing 26-part series Goat Girl (26×11’) and developing Luce in the Lovely Land.
Cake has a library of around 3,200 hours, selling shows such as Dennis and Gnasher Unleashed, Talking Tom and Friends and Clangers. Its production wing has worked on Angry Birds Summer Madness for Netflix; Mama K’s Team 4 with Triggerfish Animation, also for Netflix; Angelo Rules with TeamTO for France Télévisions, Canal+ and Super RTL; Space Chickens in Space with Anima Estudios for Disney EMEA; Pablo with Paper Owl for CBeebies and two seasons of Mush-Mush & The Mushables,
