Darrall Macqueen is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

based in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2000 by Billy Macqueen and Maddy Darrall.

History

Darrall Macqueen's first production was a converged TV/web event week for ITV in January 2000 called ''

Mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

''. In 2002 Darrall Macqueen produced ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

'', which ran from 2002 until 2007. Then they produced CBBC's interactive drama series ''

UGetMe ''UGetMe'' was an interactive comedy/drama series centering on three best friends Joe, Kit and Carly and the radio station they run called "UGetMe". Written by Adrian Hewitt, Stuart Kenworthy and Steve Turner, directed by Otto Bathurst and Maddy ...

''. In 2004, Darrall Macqueen created a live-action comedy called ''

The Crust ''The Crust'' is a British television series about a pizza parlour which was originally shown by CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United ...

'', a 15-part urban sitcom. In 2004, Darrall Macqueen made a series of 13 high octane game shows for

CiTV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

called ''Play the Game'', and, in 2005, Darrall Macqueen was asked to produce CiTV's thrill seeking action series '' Feel the Fear'', starring Steve Wilson and

Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and '' Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsid ...

. In 2006 they produced 30 comedy animal tales for CiTV called '' Animal Spies'', which featured the voice talent of

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer. Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ''The Lenn ...

and

Ricky Tomlinson Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in ''Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in '' Cracker'' and Jim Royle in ''The Royle Family'', and playing the titular char ...

In September 2005 Australian company Southern Star took a majority shareholding in Darrall Macqueen. Southern Star, who already owned

Carnival Films Carnival Films is a British production company based in London, UK, founded in 1978. It has produced television series for all the major UK networks including the BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV, Channel 4, and Sky (United Kingdom), Sky, as well as ...

and

Oxford Scientific Films Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968, by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of do ...

in the UK, were then bought by

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

, who in turn were purchased by

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

. When

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

took over Fairfax Media in 2009 Darrall Macqueen took back full control of the company. At the 2006 Children's BAFTAs, Darrall Macqueen won the inaugural BAFTA for Production Company of the Year. In 2007, Darrall Macqueen created ''

Bear Behaving Badly ''Bear Behaving Badly'' is a British children's sitcom which originally aired for four series and was broadcast between 3 September 2007 and 21 December 2010. Background The programme is centred around the daily adventures of Barney Harwood, h ...

'' for CBBC, a 26-part slapstick sitcom for 7–11 year olds. From 2008 to 2010, Darrall Macqueen created and produced weekend pre-school brand ''

The Fluffy Club The following details are for the programmes that GMTV (Good Morning Television) broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. GMTV is the former breakfast television franchise for the UK's ITV network. It began broadcasting on Friday 1 January 1993 and f ...

'' for ITV and GMTV. In 2009, Darrall Macqueen developed a comedy animation series called '' Pet Squad'' with Irish comedian/writer Caimh McDonnell. In 2011, it won its first commission from CBeebies to make a pre-school series called ''

Baby Jake ''Baby Jake'' is a British children's television programme originally broadcast in the UK. It first aired on 4 July 2011. Baby Jake is also available on BBC iPlayer for over a year, and YouTube. The programme features Jake, a nine-month-old ba ...

''. In 2015, Darrall Macqueen with

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children' ...

(known as DHX Media at the time) and

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

rebooted classic British children's television series ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...

''.

Awards

* 2005: Children's BAFTA to ''Smile'' for Best Interactive Programme * 2005: The Indie Award to ''Smile'' for Best Interactive Media * 2006: Children's BAFTA for Production Company of the Year * 2007: Children's BAFTA to

Barney Harwood Barnaby John "Barney" Harwood (born 7 November 1979) is a British actor and television presenter. He is known for his work with CBBC beginning in 2002. Career Television For CBBC, Harwood presented '' Prank Patrol'' and was a voice-over comment ...

for Best Presenter

Productions

* ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Feel the Fear'' * ''

'' * '' Hi-5 UK'' * ''

'' * ''

Apple Tree House ''Apple Tree House'' is a television drama series produced by CBeebies for children ages 1 to 6. It is set on the fictitious Apple Tree House estate in London, and filmed in Bromley-by-Bow. It was produced by Five Apples Ltd for the BBC. Apple Tre ...

'' * ''

Topsy and Tim Topsy and Tim is a series of children's books written by Jean Adamson and Gareth Adamson about twins and their adventures. They were first published in 1960 and were relaunched in new editions in February 2003. Since 1960 more than 130 ''Topsy a ...

'' * ''

'' * '' Chip and Potato'' * '' Waffle the Wonder Dog'' * ''Lovely Little Farm''

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://www.darrallmacqueen.com Television production companies of the United Kingdom