I really, really need actual ice skates

Introduction

Charlie has a sister called Lola who is small and very funny with a very active imagination. The CBBC TV series is based on a series of books by Lauren Child, who based them in turn on an inquisitive girl she met on a train in Denmark. The series focuses on the relationship between seven-year-old Charlie and younger, excitable sibling Lola as they deal with everyday issues that young children encounter.

Episodes contained in this series three release:

Help! I really mean it! Lola and her friend Lotta are looking after their grandparent's cat Caspar and keep calling for Charlie's help, thinking it fun to watch him come running. Then the two really need his help and he refuses to believe them.



I am making a craze The whole school has gone hooley hoop crazy and Lola is annoyed, so annoyed that she decides to create her own craze; Cuppy Catch-Ball.

It's raining, it's boring It's raining and everyone is stuck indoors and bored, until Marv finds a box full of games. The children then get into a 'rain race', trying to finish every game in the box before the rain stops.

I wish I could do that, and also that too Lola has a scheduling conflict. She's already promised to play beads with her friend on Friday, but then Marv invites her to his special space party - and there's going to be games and cakes and everything! What will she do?

I can dance like a dance Lola thinks that she is an ever so good dancerer, but finds some dancing too swirly, too jumpy or too floaty. So she combines it all into her own special Lola dance.

I am extremely absolutely boiling It's extremely absolutely boiling hot outside and Charlie, Lola and Arnold try to cool down with a combination of fanning, panting and ice cream. Then Arnold accidently knocks over Lola's ice cream and refuses to share his and forgets to apologise, causing Lola to declare that she doesn't want to be his friend ever again.



But where completely are we? Charlie and Lola are camping in the garden, Charlie is excited but Lola is a bit more cautious - home seems a long way away, and worse, it's started raining.

I really, really need actual ice skates Lola decides she wants a pair of real, actual ice skates so that she can be the best ice skaterer in the whole school. Charlie reminds Lola that she felt the same way about her old yo-yo in the bottom of her cupboard, but Lola is adamant.

Visual

Combination of live footage/objects with a very basic animation style, it works really well. The software used to create this montage is called CelAction and more information can be found here: http://www.celaction.com/

The series has won the following awards since its creation in 2005:

Winner: Best TV Series - BAF 2006
Winner: Best Children's Programme - Broadcast Awards 2007
Winner: Best TV Series For Infants - Cartoons On The Bay 2007
Winner: Best Programme- Cartoons On The Bay 2007
Winner: Rai Sat YOYO Best Series - Cartoons On The Bay 2007
Winner: Special Prize For TV Series - Annecy 2007
Winner: Best Pre-School Animation - Children's BAFTAs 2007
Winner: Best Pre-School Series - British Animation Awards 2008
Winner: Golden Cairo for Animation Films - Cairo International Film Festival for Children 2008

Audio

2.0 Stereo soundtrack with large but unobtrusive subtitles. The subtitle screen also deserves a mention as it is well designed for children, should they require them.

Extras

None.

Overall

There's not really much I can say about this series, it's designed for young children and teaches them about morality, situations and manners in a bright and informative way. If you're a parent of a young child, you will almost certainly already know what this is and already know if you're inclined to pick this up for the inevitable multi screenings per day.

The series is produced by Tiger Aspect for the BBC, and both have a solid track record in programming and children's TV series. My three year old son loves Charlie and Lola (along with Go Diego Go!, Fireman Sam, Lazytown and many, many others), so that's recommendation enough for me.