Channels snap up Wallace and Gromit TV series

Oscar-winning plasticine heroes Wallace and Gromit are to hit the small screen worldwide with an educational television series, its producers said at a major industry fair this week.

The duo's first television show, "A World of Invention", sees accident-prone inventor Wallace and his canine sidekick Gromit bring their madcap humour to educational episodes looking at real inventions and gadgets.

The six half-hour episodes also feature the animated duo's first live action encounters, with real-life inventors presenting their inventions in countries worldwide, from Brazil to Africa to Europe.

The BBC-commissioned show has already been sold to 12 territories worldwide and was attracting big interest at the MIPCOM audiovisual entertainment show that runs to Thursday in the French resort of Cannes.

"There's been a lot of interest and we've got lots of pre-sales," Aardman Rights executive Lucy Wendover told AFP.

The show premieres in Britain next week and has been bought by channels including France Television, Germany's Super RTL, Australia's ABC, Sweden's SVT, Finland's YLE, Thailand's PBS and Viva Entertainment in the Middle East.