The hugely popular SkyKids TV series, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates, picked up its first accolade on Saturday at the prestigious BAFTA Scotland awards.

A Sky Original kids series featuring a modular mixed-media magazine format, The Brilliant World of Tom Gates is based on the award-winning, multi-million-copy-bestselling Tom Gates books written and illustrated by Liz Pichon and published by Scholastic. Liz is also co-writer and presents the Draw-it sections of the series, where she shares her own special advice on how to draw the characters and provides a wealth of other art tips!

The show is created by  Liz Pichon together with the amazing teams at Wild Child Animation, Black Camel, Sky Kids and TG Entertainment,  and animated at Wild Child Animation Studios in Scotland. 

A combination of 2D and stop-motion animation with live action, the series blends Tom’s humour and school life with crafting ideas and makes which kids love to recreate, along with interactive games, gags and catchy songs. Each episode follows Tom as he embarks on a number of hilarious adventures at home and school with his friends and family, including his brilliant band mates, Derek and Norman, his beady-eyed teacher, Mr. Fullerman, the annoying Marcus Meldrew and his grumpy sister, Delia!

The awards were presented by Edith Bowman at the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow with a glittering audience of celebrities and nominees tuning in both in person and via video link.

Jude MacLaverty, director of Bafta Scotland, said: "This year has remained an incredibly challenging one for many, and so we are delighted to have been able to recognise the achievements of the film, games and television industries that have continued to keep us informed and entertained during this time.

"It really has been absolutely fantastic to celebrate the inspiring work that's being produced in Scotland over the past year, and we would like to offer our warmest congratulations to all our worthy winners and nominees."

Picking up the BAFTA award were the co-founders of Tom Gates Entertainment, Arabella Page Croft and Ken Anderson.  In their acceptance speech they thanked the team and particularly the amazing Liz Pichon (without whom there would be no Tom Gates!). They also paid tribute to their kids (seven between them!) noting that this is a show which ‘unlocks the creativity of kids everywhere’.

The Tom Gates books (published by Scholastic in the UK and now in their epic tenth year) have won over 25 awards and have been translated into 45 languages with over 11m sales worldwide. The 19^th book in the series, Random Acts of Fun, was just released in the UK. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (produced by TG Entertainment) launched first on Sky Kids in the UK and Ireland and is also being enthusiastically received by Tom Gates fans around the globe.  A range of Tom Gates licensed products launched in the UK in summer 2021 and there is a broad selection of products available on the exclusive online shop at shop.thebrilliantworldoftomgates.com . For more Tom Gates news, visit our dedicated website and YouTube channel. The second series of The Brilliant World of Tom Gates will launch on Sky Kids and NOW in early 2022.

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Author: Tom Gates HQ
Date: November 2021

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