When we set about developing for television the first thing to consider was how to expand the show from the two books. The first book featured Q Pootle 5 and small collection of earth based animals including a cat called Colin – not the easiest cast to adapt for a series set in outer space. However, at the end of the story, Nick had illustrated a large spread of Q Pootle 5 with his space friends at a moon party. They were friendly and quirky looking aliens, but there wasn’t anything more to their existence at that stage.
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The second book, set in space, featured Q Pootle 5 and his friends Oopsy and Planet Dave. Both were characters whose names said something about their character. Oopsy, well it’s pretty obvious, a bit clumsy, rash, gung-ho. Planet Dave, most people seem to know a Dave – the ones that Nick and I know are solid people, both in terms of their character and appearance. They’re kind and reliable too. It just seemed to fit. But even then, we only had three characters, and a talking planet isn’t necessarily the most straight-forward character to write for.
So Nick and I talked and talked and talked about what other characters might inhabit the world of Q Pootle 5. Nick’s books often have a group of friends at their heart, and instinctively it felt right that the world would feature a happy group of friends who are fun, funny, quirky and kind. On one level it’s part of how we approach life – it seems better when experiences are shared – and on a practical level it gives you plenty of scope for stories and interaction.
But, we still didn’t know exactly who these new characters would actually be. We went back to the end spread of the first book and it proved a real inspiration. We looked at the supporting cast of characters and chucked around ideas (and new drawings) and we started to discover our cast.
We wanted to make a show that we would want to watch. Nick’s work has always appealed to children and grown-ups and we were confident with the right writers and head writer we could make a show of the highest quality, which was inspirational, funny and full of heart for kids and grown-ups. We had also developed a whole world, and so the opportunity for diverse stories, whilst still maintaining consistency, was very appealing – it meant we were able to explore lots of different ideas and come up with lots of rich and hopefully entertaining ideas.
Our head writer Lee was great to work with throughout the process. We wanted to create subtle and nuanced characters and Nick, Lee and I all believe strongly in a coherent, comprehensible story with a strong ending. When you watch an episode of Q Pootle 5, hopefully, you should be able to sum it up in a couple of sentences.
We also love making people laugh and wanted to make a show with plenty of jokes, be they part of the plot, one-liners, visual gags, catchphrases or silly songs. We all love to laugh (don’t we?) and it is also a very good way of unlocking an audience emotionally. Make somebody laugh and you often find yourselves sharing some common ground. You can then open them up to perhaps the more sensitive, heartfelt things you might have to say. That said, we didn’t want to make a series that was preachy – the values of the show are inherent in the characters and how they react to what is happening around them. Children are smart, they’re learning all the time and they don’t need to be told by a TV show how to behave.
Any creative process is a balance of trusting your instincts, whilst also being able to test your ideas on a more intellectual level. All the way through the making of Q Pootle 5, from the very first discussions on what sort of show we wanted to make, to going through jokes in a script meeting, ideas had to both resonate with us on an emotional level – whilst also fitting in to the show’s construct. Most of the time when you write, hopefully your instincts and intellect are aligned, but occasionally you no doubt find yourself thinking this doesn’t quite work. Sometimes we’d know straight away why not, but there were occasions where something starts to nag, and then nibble and then irritate. Then eventually (in my case, often in the shower for some reason) I’d find a solution. I don’t know where the others found inspiration.
Working with Lee has been a real joy. We would talk most days on the phone or in person and much of the conversation wouldn’t necessarily be about work. But funnily enough, those conversations about life, the universe and Douglas Adams, Dad’s Army, the Marx Brothers, The Day Today, The Sopranos, The Wire and so many other comedies or dramas from our collective pasts gave us plenty of inspiration – whether it was for a catchphrase, one-liner, plot point or even a full story.
Nick and I have loved producing and writing Q Pootle 5. Working with people who bought into and were then able to add their own ideas to our vision for the series has been a real privilege.
BenÌýButterworth is a writer and producer on CBeebies's animated series, - originally based on a best-selling series of books by his father, author and illustrator, .
Watch clips and episode ofÌý on theÌýCBeebies website.