Brand Profile - Lloyd of the Flies

Superfly guy

Aardman is preparing for the rollout of its new comedy series for 7- to 11-year-olds, Lloyd of the Flies. Toy World took a look at the new property, and spoke to Aardman’s commercial director, Rob Goodchild, about the licensing opportunities it offers.

Lloyd of the Flies follows the adventures of Lloyd B Fly, a housefly and the middle child of 453. Lloyd lives with his parents, his little sister PB and their myriad maggot siblings. In the series, Lloyd andPB are often accompanied by Lloyd’s best friend, Abacus Woodlouse, and eccentric tag-along, Cornea Butterfly. Together they explore the strange world beyond their home, where there is no shortage of lessons for Lloyd to learn.

CITV has acquired 52 x 11-minute episodes, created using a mix of CGI and 2D animation. The production is a first for Aardman, as it’s the first CGI series the studio has produced entirely from its creative hub at its Bristol headquarters. Broadcast is slated to begin in September 2022.

Lloyd of the Flies is created and directed by Matthew Walker (winner of a jury award at Aspen Shortsfest, Jury Special Mention at Clermont- Ferrand and best graduation film at Annecy Animation Festival 2006), while Aardman’s Sarah Cox will act as executive creative director. A talented voice cast will lend its talents to the show’s characters. Tom Rosenthal (Friday Night Dinner, Plebs) will voice Lloyd. His best friend Abacus will be voiced by Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World, Black Mirror), while Lauren Patel (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) will take on the role of PB. Teresa Gallagher will play Cornea Butterfly, with Callum Scott Howells (It’s A Sin) voicing Lloyd’s nemesis, Berry.

Pearl Mackie and Rob Rackstraw will provide the voices of Lloyd’s parents, Gena and Malcolm. Completing the cast are Ayesha Antoine, voicing Julie and Libby, and Marcel McCalla, who plays Ampersand and Bob.

Lloyd of the Flies certainly has an interesting premise. How else does it stand out from both Aardman’s previous content and other shows from across the kids’ TV space?

The greatest strengths of Lloyd of the Flies are its characters and humorous storylines. The property is pitched at slightly older kids and could safely be described as a character comedy. The core group of insects is supported by a huge cast of secondary characters, and while there’s lots of ‘yuck factor’ - as you’d expect from a show about bugs – the episodes also deal with plenty of everyday issues. Lloyd is simply a hapless fly, but he believes he’s got great potential and is destined for bigger things despite his large, dysfunctional family and rather interesting assortment of friends. Lloyd of the Flies is as Aardman a show as you’re likely to see in terms of the style and humour. It’s designed to resonate with modern audiences, but it’s shot through with Aardman DNA.

We’re launching the show on CITV in autumn next year, supported by a launch plan that will roll out over the coming 12 months, both on and off CITV. We’re developing a Lloyd of the Flies YouTube channel, social media activations including TikTok, live events and more.

Where is Aardman in terms of licensing for Lloyd of the Flies? What does the property offer potential licensees?

BLE 2021 marks the first time we’ve properly presented Lloyd of the Flies to licensees: we’ve spent a very long time in development, working on scripting and story writing, character development and everything else. As things stand, the licensing programme is very much in its infancy.

The target audience of 7- to 11-year-olds places Lloyd of the Flies firmly into the pocket money and collectibles space. Lloyd offers us, and its future licensees, two things we’re really excited about. Firstly, it’s got a massive cast of characters which will only grow with time. This means there’s huge potential to build a strong collectibles range that will drive repeat purchasing. Secondly, the dialogue is superb. We all know Shaun the Sheep is dialogue-free, an approach that offers its own opportunities, but Lloyd of the Flies has plenty of dialogue and is very amusing indeed. With this, plus the winning storylines and range of characters to work with, we feel there’s also vast scope in the publishing space. These are the two areas we’re looking at to kick-start the Lloyd licensing programme, and we’re keen to begin conversations about this now. We’re fascinated to see how the licensing programme develops and who comes on board.

You mentioned that Lloyd of the Flies marks a ‘new direction’ for Aardman. What does this mean?

Lloyd of the Flies is the first CGI series we’ve created entirely in-house (though CGI production itself isn’t new to us), and we don’t launch new IPs very often. Shaun the Sheep was the most recent one for this age group - and when I say recent, he first appeared in 1995 and was given his own show back in 2007.

We’ve got a young, really talented director in the form of Matthew Walker. At Aardman, a lot of what we do centres on talent development. There’s talent we’re known for – Nick Park and Peter Lord, for example, both of whom are still creating great things – but we also want to bring through the next generation, which can speak to today’s youngsters and create comedy just for them. Matt came via our commercials business, through our Creator- Led Programme. Within Aardman, we regularly put out a call for ideas, and anyone within the company is invited to pitch with a view to going into development. This is how Lloyd came about.

The CGI element of Lloyd of the Flies will be interesting to anyone with an eye on animation, but for me the beauty lies in the directorial and storytelling talent Aardman is bringing through. It’s about creating something contemporary and new, backed by very strong teams in social media, live events and other supporting elements. Aardman will be bringing its full strength to bear on Lloyd of the Flies, with a comprehensive launch programme that will envelop the 52 x 11 series before, during and after its CITV broadcast. And as a global business, Aardman will be looking to take Lloyd worldwide, meaning a bigger audience and even more opportunities for the adventures of Lloyd B Fly to really take off.