“I was obsessed with cartoons and commercials as a child and the shows that had the greatest influence on me were ‘Mr Men’; ‘Daffy Duck’; and ‘Roubarb and Custard'," said Ricketts. “They were full of slapstick humour; funny noises; and lots of falling over. I wanted to bring these elements together in a fun show starring animals on wheels - a concept I hadn’t seen before in kids TV and something I instinctively knew preschoolers would love.”

Ricketts set about creating the characters for this new show. “The very first character I drew was a pig, which I decided to cross with a scooter. The design was simple - a pink ball with ears and set on a wheel, she eventually became the Zooter,” he said.

After several brainstorming sessions with friends to create more animal/ vehicle hybrids, Ricketts soon found himself with a menagerie of characters, which he called ‘Wheelers’. He showed the designs to a former colleague, Morgan Francis, from animation studio Spider Eye. Francis was immediately hooked on the concept; a lush, unexplored jungle with ‘Wheelers’ who live in harmony with the environment and each other, and appeal directly to kids’ imaginations. “I just thought it was the perfect premise for a preschool show,” said Francis.

At this stage it was a pen and paper 2D concept, but Francis suggested it would work even better in 3D, and together they produced a six-minute pilot using all their spare cash and time to make it. “We employed artists to do a storyboard; developed the concept; a script and hired a single actor to voice all the characters,” recalls Francis.

Over the next two years they pitched the show to several broadcasters without generating any interest, until 2005 when they presented it at Cartoon Forum in Denmark. By then, animation technology had significantly improved and the pilot had been reworked into a more sophisticated offering, with better-lit animation, new writers, and a brand new treatment.

This time, the show garnered a lot of interest and it was here that Jungle Junction caught the attention of Playhouse Disney, who had been looking for a distinctive new show to complement its portfolio of hit preschool series. A few months later, Ricketts and Spider Eye received a call from Nancy Kanter’s office in the US requesting they make a full-scale pilot.

“We had spotted Jungle Junction at Cartoon Forum and it was a concept that immediately resonated with Playhouse Disney. The design was vibrant; colourful; and intense and the jungle world they had created, full of lovable, sweet animals on wheels felt perfectly natural and really made sense – how could we resist?” said Nancy Kanter, Senior Vice President, Playhouse Disney Worldwide.

With Playhouse Disney’s backing, a third pilot was developed and this was tested with preschoolers and their parents around the world, before finally being given the green light in January 2008. Playhouse Disney commissioned UK production company Spider Eye to produce the series - its second international production following puppet-based show, Bunnytown.

“Playhouse Disney is a global business and part of our overall strategy is to produce shows outside of the US, as well as nurturing smaller companies. It is important that we go wherever the talent is and in this case, Jungle Junction was a great idea from a well respected creator and British production company, so it made sense for it to be produced in the UK.

“We were absolutely delighted,” said Ricketts. “To work with a single partner is practically unheard of, and it was fantastic because it gave us the opportunity to keep the production under one roof in the UK.”

Spider Eye divided the work between their London studio, where all the animation work was developed, and their Cornwall studio, where the character modelling; rigging; prop-making; rendering; environments; and after effects were created.

In keeping with the eco-spirit of the Cornish area, the studio is run as energy efficiently as possible, with low-energy animation equipment and monitors, and a strict recycling policy. “Our crew comes from all over the world and they are a nomadic bunch - many moved down to Cornwall to work on Jungle Junction and have loved the environmentally friendly way of life down here,” said Francis.

With Playhouse Disney on board and an expanded budget and schedule, the series started to take shape. Twenty episodes were scripted and the decision was made to produce the series in HD to give it depth; richness; and intensity. Voice actors were cast from the UK and the US to give the show its global appeal, and the “Gotta Zip” song was introduced to provide a musical interlude in every episode, as the ‘Wheelers’ race along the spaghetti-like road system.

The key characters of Ellyvan and Zooter came to the fore, and the secondary characters began to develop their own personalities. “The more animation we did, the more they came alive,” said Francis, “it was a very organic process.” As the series was tested further, it became apparent that Jungle Junction was equally popular with girls and boys. Girls particularly loved the pink and squidgy Zooter, and boys connected with Dozer, with his tracks instead of wheels.

“The key to driving engagement with pre-schoolers is that it has to be relatable,” says Kanter. “We’ve got an ensemble cast of characters who are just like children themselves, with traits that resonate with kids with different personalities.” The storylines contain lessons that are meaningful to pre-schoolers in their own lives, such as working as a team and helping others, and the jungle is a vibrant place where kids themselves would want to play and live.

During the development phase, the environmental themes at the core of the show took shape. “Introducing a green agenda was a very natural progression,” continues Kanter, “setting the series deep in the heart of a lush jungle made it a perfect fit, and given what was going on in the real world, we felt the timing was right to be inviting preschoolers to think about their impact on the environment.”

A living breathing organism, the jungle is almost a character in its own right and a provider of food and resources that the animals rely on to survive. Surrounded by an unending dessert, the characters have an innate understanding of the need to protect and maintain their environment. There is a sense that the ‘Wheelers’ are the custodians of the jungle and the storylines work with what the Jungle has to offer, such as its rainstorms; annual flowerings; and coconut harvesting. When the characters stumble across a problem, the answer often lies within the jungle and restoring things back to their natural order. “This all serves to emphasise the juxtaposition between natural and urban environments, and the need for them to exist in harmony with one another,” says Kanter.

Like all Playhouse Disney programming, Jungle Junction is guided by a curriculum that supports several aspects of child development. In addition to the positive environmental themes, Jungle Junction is designed to help develop preschoolers’ pre-literacy skills through the road signs and symbols that are placed all over the jungle.

Brian Neish, who was the educational consultant on the series, said, “I didn’t need to impose a curriculum onto the show - the road signs were there to help characters get from A to B, so the pre-literacy and non-verbal communication elements naturally fell out of that concept.”

With several interactive beats per episode, the characters speak directly to the audience to invite them to decipher the signs, which reinforces the learning. “For pre-schoolers, understanding that you can communicate through signs and symbols is one of the first steps towards literacy, and the sign reading also gets kids thinking about directions and lays the groundwork for map reading.” says Neish.