Joanna is responsible for overseeing and strengthening the creative vision of A Productions’ award-winning children’s content, ensuring each show has its own unique and authentic voice.

Joanna Hepworth, creative director at A Productions

She has 18 years of experience in animation production and has been a director at the creative-led studio since 2019.

Joanna has worked on many notable shows including Sesame Street animated specials for Sesame Workshop, namely Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy, and Sesame Street The Nutcracker starring Elmo and Tango, as well as several series for the iconic show.

She also worked on Pip and Posy Let’s Learn, produced by Magic Light Pictures for Sky Kids with animation services provided by A Productions, among many other productions.

Independently-owned A Productions, which recently marked 40 years in business, makes children’s content for TV and film for audiences in the UK and around the world, working with leading broadcasters and streamers including Disney, Netflix, Max, CBeebies and CBBC, and Sky.

Joanna will have creative oversight across all project development, encompassing A Productions’ service work and its own original content.

We will continue to take pride in creating authentic, imaginative content that our audiences will love, and we look forward to sharing some very special projects with them in the year ahead.

-Joanna Hepworth (Creative Producer, A Productions)

With her extensive industry experience and creative talent, Joanna is a huge asset to A Productions, helping to ensure the future success of the studio.

-Katherine McQueen (Managing Director, A Productions)

The A Productions team is currently working on My Friend Maisy, which is being co-produced by BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions and Trustbridge Entertainment for Sky Kids, with animation created by A Productions and Karrot.

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Pip and Posy’s Spooktacular Party (Magic Light Pictures)

Pip and Posy features the adventures of two best friends whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Packed with warmth and comedy, it is a joyful celebration of their great friendship, its laughter and games, its ups and downs. This special is the first of three standalone episodes, with the other two set to screen in 2026.

In Pip and Posy’s Spooktacular Party, Frankie decides to host a Halloween party at her flat, complete with a “best scarer” competition and a crown for whoever gets the most scares. The friends arrive in their spooky costumes—only to discover that Pip and Posy have both come dressed as witches and the two of them try to out-do one another and prove who is the witchiest-witch of all. But when a storm cuts the power and a mysterious figure is seen moving around the flat, the friends are fearful that there’s a real ghost at the party. Can Pip and Posy put their witchy rivalry to one side to uncover the mystery, save the party and give all their friends a Halloween to remember?

We are truly excited to bring Pip and Posy to screen in these long form specials, and grateful to Sky Kids for their ongoing commitment to the brand. The success of our cinema campaigns has shown us that children are mesmerised by Pip and Posy’s adventures, and these 25’ specials allow them time to explore Pip and Posy’s wonderful world of friendship and play with delightful seasonal themes.

-Michael Rose (Executive Producer and co-founder, Magic Light Pictures)

Pip and Posy is based on characters from Nosy Crow’s million-selling picture book series from multi-award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler first published in 2011. Magic Light Pictures holds the global distribution and merchandising rights to Pip and Posy (excluding publishing) and has launched a full consumer products programme to complement the property. Products already available at retail include toys from Bandai, tie-in publishing from Nosy Crow, puzzles from Ravensburger, dress up with Amscan, outerwear with Blues Group and nightwear and accessories with Aykroyds/TDP.

The specials are directed by Leigh Fieldhouse, associate produced by Stefano Dunne, executive produced by Vici King and Michael Rose and with animation services provided by Blue Zoo. The series now airs on over 32 international broadcasters including ZDF in Germany, FranceTV, Rai in Italy and ABC Australia.

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Pip & Posy (Magic Light Pictures)

Multiple Oscar ® nominated Magic Light Pictures have partnered with Sensical, the leading US Kids FAST, AVOD and SVOD streaming service from Cricket Media, to bring the playful and funny adventures of best friends, Pip and Posy, to American audiences.

Simultaneously, Magic Light is launching Pip and Posy on its YouTube channel in the US, including making themed compilations and all full episodes available to viewers in the territory.

A huge hit since its launch on Channel 5’s Milkshake! and Sky Kids in the UK in 2021, Pip and Posy has proved equally popular around the world, having been sold to multiple international territories across Europe and as far afield as Australia, Canada and Asia. Now the delightful duo are looking for playmates across the US thanks to Sensical’s free, safe, ad-supported streaming service, which is available as a branded app on, smart TVs and mobile devices and via live streaming channels and the sensical.tv website.

Operated by Cricket Media, Sensical uses the most comprehensive child development standards and proven science to curate the largest collection of healthy content for kids aged 2-10+.

The first pre-school series from Magic Light Pictures, Pip and Posy is inspired by the hugely popular books from award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler. Pip and Posy are best friends whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Packed with warmth and comedy, the series is a joyful celebration of their great friendship, its laughter and games, its ups and downs.

Making friends is key to the development of children’s social skills and emotional intelligence. Pip and Posy shows preschoolers how to see the world from someone else’s point of view, and how to build lasting friendships with kindness, resilience, and flexibility.

Muriel Thomas, International Distribution Director, Magic Light Pictures said:

We are very proud of the success of Pip and Posy, our first-ever kids’ series, and thrilled that it is proving popular globally too. Now we’re set for another exciting milestone with its US launch, and we couldn’t wish for better partners there than Sensical. We can’t wait to see the reaction from their young viewers to these wonderful stories of friendship and play.

Sharon Cohen, CMO Sensical, said:

We’re delighted to welcome the fabulous Pip and Posy to the Sensical family. We are always on the lookout for high-quality content that combines educational value with entertainment. With its beautifully crafted stories of creative play, friendship and problem-solving, Pip and Posy is a perfect fit for us and we’re confident our young viewers will love it as much as we do.

Pip and Posy is based on characters from Nosy Crow’s million-selling picture book series from multi-award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler, first published in 2011.

Magic Light Pictures holds the global distribution and merchandising rights to Pip and Posy (excluding publishing) and has launched a full consumer products programme to complement the property.

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Pip and Posy (Magic Light Pictures)

Pip and Posy are best friends whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Packed with warmth and comedy, the property is a joyful celebration of their great friendship, its laughter and games, its ups and downs. The first two series (104 x 7’) were a huge hit on Sky Kids and Channel 5’s Milkshake!, showing preschoolers how to see the world from someone else’s point of view, and how to build lasting friendships with kindness, resilience, and flexibility.

We’re thrilled that Sky Kids is continuing its commitment to Pip and Posy by commissioning these 22’ specials. This longer format enables us to expand Pip and Posy’s wonderful world of friendship and play with new characters and bigger stories to delight our young audience.

-Michael Rose (Executive Producer and co-founder, Magic Light Pictures)

We’re very excited about these new seasonal specials of Pip and Posy. Combining play, friendship and problem-solving in beautifully crafted stories, the series is a huge favourite with our young viewers and we’re really looking forward to sharing these new, longer-length adventures with them at special times of the year.

-Lucy Murphy (Director of Kids Content, Sky Kids)

Pip and Posy is based on characters from Nosy Crow’s million-selling picture book series from multi-award-winning illustrator Axel Scheffler and author Camilla Reid first published in 2011.

Magic Light Pictures holds the global distribution and merchandising rights to Pip and Posy (excluding publishing, which are held by Nosy Crow) and has launched a full consumer products programme to complement the property. Products already available at retail include a full master toy range from partner Bandai, tie-in publishing from Nosy Crow, puzzles from Ravensburger, compilation magazines with Kennedy Publishing, online gifting from Star Editions, apparel with Blues Group and nightwear with Aykroyds/TDP. Plus, more product to come with socks from Misirli, home décor with Stickerscape, further apparel with Brand Alliance and Audio Toys from Tonies.

The specials are directed by Leigh Fieldhouse; with Stefano Dunne as Associate Producer, Hannah Elder as Line Producer; and Vici King, Michael Rose and Martin Pope as Executive Producers. Animation services are provided by Blue Zoo. Pip and Posy currently airs on over 32 international broadcasters including ZDF in Germany, FranceTV, Rai in Italy and ABC Australia.

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Pip and Posy is the first joint co-production between Paramount and Sky and the show launched to acclaim in March 2021.

Pip and Posy (Magic Light Pictures)

Series 2 will build on the success of the first series which is one of the top rated shows on Milkshake! (3 million viewers since launch). Pip and Posy has also seen significant growth across its own social media platforms on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Magic Light has sold the show worldwide, securing major international broadcast partners including ZDF (Germany), FTV (France), RAI Yoyo (Italy), ABC (Australia), SVT (Sweden), Hop! Channel (Israel), NPO Zapp (Netherlands), CTV (Czech Republic), Asiana (South Korea), PTS (Taiwan), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), SYN (Iceland), NRK (Norway), RTV (Slovenia) and TVO (Canada). It will also air on Nick Junior UK from this spring.

Pip and Posy are the best of friends whose lives revolve around a wonderful world of play. Packed with warmth and humour, the series is a joyful celebration of their great friendship with all its ups and downs, laughter and games.

We’re delighted that Pip and Posy has been such a hit with the audience. We are very happy to commission a second series of this endearing show which has quickly found its way into the hearts of our young viewers, where they can relate to the stories of friendship, creative play and being a pre-schooler.

-Louise Bucknole, VP Programming Kids, Paramount

We aim to bring our youngest audience the very best entertainment and Pip and Posy has proved to be a show pre-schoolers and their families love. We’re hugely looking forward to seeing what further fun and games the lovable pair will be getting up to in series two!

-Lucy Murphy, Director of Kids at Sky UK & Ireland

Pip and Posy is Magic Light’s first animated series and we’re thrilled that it’s got off to such a successful start. We’re delighted that Milkshake!, Sky and ZDF share our passion for the show, and we’re looking forward to bringing more episodes to our young audience.

-Michael Rose, co-founder of Magic Light

Pip and Posy has been jointly commissioned by Louise Bucknole for Milkshake! on Channel 5 and Lucy Murphy for Sky Kids with the participation of ZDF, Germany. The series is executive produced by Michael Rose and produced by Vici King for Magic Light Pictures. The showrunner at Magic Light is Jeroen Jaspaert (Stick Man and The Highway Rat). Animation services are provided by Blue Zoo, where the director is Sean McCormack.

Magic Light Pictures holds the global distribution and merchandising rights to Pip and Posy (excluding publishing) and is planning a full consumer products programme to complement the property with the first products due at retail this year whilst the online shop went live at the end of 2021. The Pip and Posy characters are also appearing in Milkshake! Live and will be touring nationwide from February 2022 through to 2023.

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