“Enriching children’s imagination with fantastic characters and stories that will live with them forever…”
Founded in 2005 by Mellie Buse and Jan Page, this boutique independent production company has a reputation for creating high quality, original content across a range of genres and platforms. The company is best known for creating and producing the top-rating multi BAFTA-nominated children’s comedy drama Grandpa in My Pocket, starring James Bolam. The show won the 2010 Welsh BAFTA for Best Children’s Programme. Produced for CBeebies and financed entirely in the UK, Grandpa has been sold to over a hundred territories. A live theatre show – Teamwork!– written by Mellie Buse and Jan Page was produced by Nottingham Playhouse and subsequently toured nationally to much critical acclaim. And in 2014, Adastra delivered 52 more episodes for CBeebies, featuring new characters and new locations, bringing the total number of Grandpa stories to 118.
Adastra Creative also produced 52 episodes of the original pre-school live action comedy – Ha Ha Hairies – commissioned by Turner Broadcasting for the Cartoonito Channel, which rolled out across Europe, Middle East and Africa, reaching 125 million homes. In Wales, S4C commissioned a Welsh language version of the series, Bla Bla Blewog for their popular Cyw pre-school channel.
Mellie Buse and Jan Page have strong backgrounds in a variety of media. Jan Page co-founded Big Brum, now one of the country’s leading theatre-in-education companies. Mellie Buse is a multi-award winning audio producer who adapted and produced the entire Roald Dahl canon for Penguin. They have published books for children and teenagers, written family theatre shows and even children’s operas. As scriptwriters they have contributed to some of the industry’s most popular and successful children’s television series – including Charlie and Lola, Thomas the Tank Engine, Angelina Ballerina, The Hoobs, The New Adventures of Captain Pugwash, The Tweenies and Fireman Sam. Their work has won a plethora of awards – Baftas, British Animation Awards, Indies, Talkies and Theatre Awards.
Please browse through our website to find out more. For any current development opportunities please visit adastradevelopment.com for more!