Get Squiggling

Did You Know?

• A 26-episode spin-off titled Get Squiggling Letters was commissioned by CBeebies on 7 February 2013, focusing on the alphabet.
• Beyond Distribution handled worldwide distribution for the spin-off.
• Abbey Home Media released a DVD called 'Animal Magic' in February 2011, containing six episodes from the second series and three from the first series.

Format

The programme opens with a theme song, then introduces Squiglet, a monster who addresses the audience directly. Each episode begins on a plain white background that Squiglet fills with drawings of animals, objects, and landscapes using his squiggle sticks and Squiggle Pad. Seven types of lines—loopy, round, straight, curved, bumpy, wavy, and zig-zag—are used. After drawing a main character, Squiglet says the magic words, '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Let's make our squiggles come alive!' and the character becomes animated and joins the story. When the character faces a problem, Squiglet draws an object to help; if no solution is found, the Squiggle Pad shows a short live-action video as a clue. Most episodes conclude with a song summarising the story, though some starting with 'Spaceman' end with an epilogue. Squiglet closes by saying, 'Thanks for all your squiggles, it's time to go now but come back to get squiggling soon. Keep on squiggling,' and everyone says 'Bye' before the end credits roll.

Development

The idea for the show began with a doodle Jo Killingley made on a Cornish beach, which sparked the concept of a preschool series built around drawing and creativity. Michael Carrington, the controller of CBeebies, gave the green light in November 2006, initially calling it Scribble It before it became Get Squiggling!. Production involved Blue Zoo, an animation studio, and mixed live-action with animation. Each episode started with a storyboard, and the character Squiglet was filmed in front of a green screen, later placed into animated backgrounds during editing. The team ran many tests on the felt costume and filming methods to make the character look natural in its cartoon world. Educational advisor Brian Neish helped shape the show’s learning goals, with every episode highlighting a different kind of line. At Enfys Studios in Cardiff, director Adrian Hedley created techniques for performer Samantha Dodd to interact with animated figures that would be added later. To make drawings seem to appear instantly, Blue Zoo filmed large crayons following pencil outlines on tracing paper, then animated the final artwork digitally. Filming wrapped up in May 2007, and post-production work continued until the series first aired on CBeebies on 11 February 2008.