All-new Morph lands on Sky Kids for half-term
David Farnor | On 26, Oct 2016
Morph is back on our screens once again this half-term, as Sky Kids celebrates the school break with brand new episodes.
Everyone’s favourite plasticine man from Aardman was first introduced to viewers way back in 1977, as a sidekick to the legend that is Tony Hart. Now, almost 40 years later, Sky has commissioned new episodes of the stop-motion animation from Aardman. 15 new instalments will be released over the next three months, starting this October half-term, each of them available exclusively through Sky’s recently launched Sky Kids service.
For Sky customers, Morph and a host of other kids’ programmes are available for free as part of the Sky Kids apps. For non-Sky customers, parents can sign up to a Kids Membership with contract-free VOD service NOW. It costs £2.99 for live and on-demand access to Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, Boomerang, Cartoon Network and Cartoonito, with Aardman’s Morph available on-demand, joining over 4,500 episodes of other shows.
Lucy Murphy, Head of Kids Content, Sky comments: “We’re really excited to welcome Morph to the Sky Kids family. Morph is an iconic British character and we are so excited to have been able to commission these brilliant new episodes from the talented team at Aardman. At Sky, we’re committed to offering the very best entertainment for the whole family and over the past few months the Sky Kids app has gone from strength to strength. With over 4,500 episodes now available On Demand. Morph joins a fantastic line up of favourite characters and we know that our audience, both young and old, will love his new adventures.”
Five episodes are now available on Sky Kids: Portable Portals, Desktop Rodeo, Remote, Shadow Puppets and Piñata, with five more due in November and another five in December. Alongside these, Sky will also release eight movie-making Morph tutorials – Make Your Own Movies with Merlin – helping kids learn how to make their own animated films at home, from sets and props, to cameras and lighting, as well as how to create their very own Morph. “Getting Started” and “Sets & Props” are available now, with another three on the way in November and three further tutorials added in December.
Peter Lord, Aardman Co-Founder and Co-Creator of Morph, adds: “It’s fantastic to be launching the new series of Morph on Sky Kids and Morph and sidekick Chas are extremely excited to be back on screens, getting up to even more mischievous and hilarious capers! At Aardman we are really passionate about inspiring creativity in young audiences – encouraging kids to be creators and not just consumers – so the addition of the ‘Make Your Own Movies with Merlin’ tutorials adds real value to the series, and will no doubt help to inspire a new generation of animators.”
Alongside the new Morph episodes, a new kids’ version of Sky 1’s popular science panel show Duck Quacks Don’t Echo: Kids featuring Lee Mack, will launch on Sky Kids this half-term. The premiere of both follow a host of new features added to the Sky Kids app, making it easier for kids to enjoy their favourite shows and characters. These include Up Next, prompting kids to watch the next episode in a series easily, and Just Watched, so kids can now pick up where they left off or see what they’ve recently been watching in the home screen of the app.
For more on the NOW Kids App, hit the button below – or get a taste of Morph’s latest adventures with this new trailer: