Boat Rocker Studios has partnered with BBC Children and Chinese media company UYoung to coproduce an animated preschool series inspired by British author Rachel Bright’s Love Monster book series.

Tony Reed from the BBC will serve as an executive producer for Love Monster alongside Boat Rocker’s Chapman Maddox and UYoung’s James Chen Gu. A portion of the pre-production on scripts, storyboards and design will be provided by UYoung, which is also handling distribution and licensing in China and South East Asia. Boat Rocker will distribute the series and manage global licensing, excluding those two territories.

Love Monster will focus on kindness, empathy and instinct with animation produced by U.K.-based Karrot Animation and A Productions. It will premiere on BBC’s CBeebies channel and has been approved by China’s National Radio and Television Administration to air on Chinese broadcasters and digital platforms.

Boat Rocker has upped its focus on kid-friendly entertainment following its acquisition of FremantleMedia’s kids and family division. Former Fremantle exec Ben Higgins was recently appointed as Boat Rocker’s EVP, content, kids and family.

With files from Kidscreen