Press release from SLR Productions
Australia’s SLR Productions’ hilarious animated ‘fish-com’ series, GASP! has been nominated for Best Children’s Television Series in the Samsung Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA).
Winners will be announced in January 2012 and GASP! is the only animated series of the four local productions in the Best Children’s Television Series category.
Executive Producer and CEO of SLR Productions, Suzanne Ryan said “GASP! continues to capture the animal-loving hearts and imaginations of children across Australia. The series was a solid performer on the Nine Network earlier this year when it premiered and it also followed up this success on ABC3 when it aired in August plus the series is also available to own on DVD in Australia. This nomination is a credit to our series director and the creative team behind the production along with partners Nine Network, Canal+, Agogo and investors ABC and Screen Australia.’
Channel Nine Network Drama Executive, Jo Rooney said ”Channel Nine is proud of this nomination for GASP! We congratulate Suzanne Ryan and her talented team at SLR Productions for introducing this madcap little goldfish to television. Audiences of all ages love Gasp and his friends, and we wish them every success at the AACTA awards”.
Based on the successful GASP!, ZAPT!, SPLAT!, SQUISH!, CRASH!, CHOMP! series of comic books by Australian author/illustrator/genius, Terry Denton, GASP! is a 52 x 11 minute series for 6-12 year olds.
Ever wondered what pets get up to when there are no humans around to spoil the fun? This is the place to find out in a show about a larger-than-life golden carp named Gasp, whose imagination is as big as his heart. This fin-twitchingly funny series follows the zany antics of Gasp and his fellow pet mates left home alone when Mum, Dad and their two kids, Ginger and Fred, have gone off to work, school or play. From boot scootin’ pond guppies to pet singing/dancing revues, anything can happen in this house — and usually does! Gasp, Catflap, Dogbox and Beetlenick will be getting stuck into another seriously fun situation in every pun-packed episode.
Gasp is a thrill-seeking gold-fish who is noisy, enthusiastic, cheeky and hyperactive. He is way too smart and savvy for his own good and constantly craves stimulation. Dogbox is an excitable dog who has unstoppable energy and loves everybody unconditionally, even the protective cat, Catflap whose compulsive efforts to save others are constantly putting her in hilarious jeopardy. Beetlenick the cool and image-conscious beetle lacks morals leading him to tell outrageous lies which backfire when he tells the truth and no one believes him! Mrs Winston, the mother to the toxic ticking toddler time bomb guppy, Winston, is a motor-bike ridin’, boot-scootin’ piece of pond-trash who speaks rough, acts tough and has more attitude than a shoal of angry barracuda.
Terry Denton is a multiple-award-winning children’s author-illustrator best known for the GASP! series, the Wombat and Fox series and the best-selling Just! books, in collaboration with Andy Griffiths. He has written twenty children’s books and collaborated on eighty more with some of the most popular children’s authors in Australia.
Distributed globally by Moonscoop, the series first aired on Canal+ in France in 2009, Nickelodeon in New Zealand in 2010 and then in Australia this year. The series has also been picked up for broadcast by TV3 Catalunya, RTP Portugal, Nickelodeon Israel, E-vision, MBC, Chutti TV India, and True Visions Thailand.