Chorion Limited was a multinational media production company with offices in London, New York, and Sydney. The company produced TV shows and

feature films A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film ( motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

, and was best known for its portfolio of entertainment brands. These included children's characters such as

Paddington Bear Paddington Bear (though his name is just Paddington; the "Bear" simply serves to confirm his species; and also known as Paddington Brown for some sources) is a fictional character in British children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October ...

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subseq ...

, Mr. Men, '' The Very Hungry Caterpillar'', '' Olivia'', Gaspard and Lisa and Noddy. The company also owned the rights to the

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

Estate (including the

Miss Marple Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...

and Poirot characters),

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

, and

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most prolific and successful authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 ...

. Chorion existed initially as a diversified entertainment company, with a portfolio of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, live entertainment venues and commercial real estate. From 2002 onwards, the business was refocused towards heritage IP Rights management and media production.

History

1995–1998: Beginnings

In 1994, the Burford Group purchased the London Trocadero entertainment complex in

Piccadilly Circus Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for £94 million Nick Leslau and Nigel Wray, the operators of the complex, branched off on their own and separated the Trocadero's operations as a stand-alone company in 1995, called Trocadero PLC. In January 1996, Trocadero PLC acquired Darrell Waters Ltd., the holding company for the estate of children's author

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

for £14.6 million. They soon formed a new subsidiary - Enid Blyton Ltd. to handle all intellectual properties, character brands, and media in Blyton's works.

1998-2002: Rebranding as Chorion

On 4 April 1998, Trocadero PLC was renamed as Chorion PLC, and under its new structure, both divisions of the company had expanded. The Bars & Nightclubs division acquired the London-based Oxygen, Zoo Bar/Venom, and Bar Madrid Nightclubs from Luminar PLC With their first nightclubs under their ownership, Chorion opened Tiger Tiger nightclub on London's Haymarket in late 1998. Tiger Tiger was the flagship of the company's nightclubs, with additional venues planned from 1999 onwards. For Chorion's IP division, the company's first step into becoming the media production company it ultimately became came in June 1998, when Chorion acquired the rights to the

literary estate, with a vision of reviving the crime brand through new TV production and exporting the property to the United States, and soon afterward purchased the literary estate of

. Despite the success of these nightclubs, it became increasingly clear that Chorion's business was made up of two very different divisions: a media production and rights ownership division, and an entertainment venue division. Analysts frequently cautioned that the company would not unlock its full value until these two businesses were demerged. In February 2000, Chorion sold its ownership of the loss-making Trocadero Centre back to its previous owner, Burford Holdings. Later that year, in May 2000, the management announced during an Annual General Meeting their intention to demerge the nightclub and venue business from the media business. In March 2001, the split of the entertainment division was delayed. By April 2001, Chorion's nightclub and venue division included nine London-based clubs, and three Tiger Tiger venues in London, Manchester and Birmingham, with additional branches in Portsmouth, Croydon and Leeds following on later in the year. and continued to purchase more venues.

2002-2006: Split of Nightclub division, growth

On 17 May 2002, Chorion officially demerged its nightclub and venue division as a separately-operated public company named Urbium PLC. New Chorion PLC, which was formed to take over the IP division, effectively became the new Chorion PLC and was renamed as such within the same month. With the company focused solely on media production, Chorion began a period of expansion driven by the acquisition of new literary properties and the development of new TV and film properties to unlock their value. The first steps in this new direction included a series of management changes that placed experienced executives from the world of television at the helm of the company. At the end of the month, the company purchased the literacy estate of Nicolas Freeling. On 4 December 2002, Chief Executive Nick Tamblyn announced his immediate resignation. Waheed Alli joined the company as a Non-Executive Deputy Chairman. Just a few months later, in April 2003, he stepped up to the position of chairman. The company put up its children's assets for sale in November 2002 but ultimately decided to keep them. During this period, Chorion produced various new TV productions. In May 2002, the UK's Channel Five announced that it had commissioned 100 episodes of a new animated television series based on Enid Blyton's Noddy, with the show ''

Make Way For Noddy ''Make Way for Noddy'', stylized ''make way for NODDY'' or also known as simply ''Noddy'', is a British animated television series based on the Noddy character by English children's author Enid Blyton. It was broadcast on Channel 5 (later know ...

'' airing in September of that year. In November 2002, the company announced a four-year deal with major UK television network ITV to produce a few feature-length TV dramas based on the Agatha Christie novels. These began to broadcast on-air at the end of 2003. During this period, development and production also began on an animated TV series based on The Famous Five in collaboration with

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

in France. The range of newly developed TV shows began to expand internationally, with Noddy becoming the most recognised children's character in France in 2003 and sold to the Chinese market in 2004, and airing in the US on

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

in 2005. As well as the commission and launch of various new TV productions, the period immediately following Waheed Alli's elevation to the Chairmanship was marked by a series of high-profile acquisitions of new properties. In April 2004, after several months of negotiations, Chorion acquired the distribution rights to the

Roger Hargreaves Roger Hargreaves (9 May 1935 – 11 September 1988) was a British cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books. He created the ''Mr. Men'' series, ''Mr. Men#"Little Miss" series, Little Miss'' series and ''Timbuctoo'' series, intended ...

Mr. Men series for £28 million. This acquisition was followed up in May 2005 with total ownership of the Hargreaves estate and the rights to produce new TV series. In July 2005, Chorion made a major step towards becoming an international business when it bought UK-based Silver Lining Productions. Along with an office in New York City, this acquisition gave Chorion ownership of the media and merchandise rights to The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Olivia by

Ian Falconer Ian Woodward Falconer (August 25, 1959 – March 7, 2023) was an American author and illustrator of children's books as well as a designer of sets and costumes for the theater. He created 30 covers for ''The New Yorker'' and also for other publ ...

, and

Max & Ruby ''Max & Ruby'' is a Canadian children's preschool animated series based on the book series by Rosemary Wells and co-produced by Nelvana Limited. The series follows two young rabbit siblings in the 1940s and 1950s. Two ''Max & Ruby'' books h ...

and

Timothy Goes To School ''Timothy Goes to School'' is a preschool children's animated television series based on books by Rosemary Wells, but is titled after the book of the same name. The series is a co-production with Nelvana Limited and Animation Services (Hong Kon ...

, both by Rosemary Wells.

2006–2011: Take-private and international expansion

In early 2006, Alli led a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

of the company backed by

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm 3i Group Plc. In May 2006, this process was completed when Chorion delisted from the AIM exchange to become a private limited company. Peter Rabbit first edition 1902a

Waheed Alli served as chief executive officer and Executive Chairman, and pursued a strategy of developing and launching one new children's property every year. This development strategy included the launch of a new series of '' Noddy'' in 2007, an animated version of the ''Mr. Men'' in 2008, the US launch of ''Olivia'' in 2009, the British launch of ''The Octonauts'' in 2010, '' Gaspard and Lisa'' in 2011 and a new animated version of Beatrix Potter's ''Peter Rabbit'' in 2012. This production was a joint venture with US broadcaster

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and British publisher

Frederick Warne & Co Frederick Warne & Co. is a British publisher founded in 1865. It is known for children's books, particularly those of Beatrix Potter, and for its Observer's Books. Warne is an imprint of Random House Children's Books and Penguin Random House, ...

, part of the Penguin Group. The launch of ''The Octonauts'' represented a big hit for the company, achieving on-air ratings for the show as number one in the key demographic of boys aged 4 to 6. Chorion announced in 2010 that they had signed international toy makers Fisher Price as the master toy partner for the brand, with a full toy line launching in the UK in August 2011. The development of a new animated series of ''Peter Rabbit'' was made possible by Chorion's acquisition in November 2007 of the Copyrights Group, a competing intellectual property management company who managed the licensing and merchandising rights to the

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

characters, owned by Frederick Warne, part of the Penguin Group. The company also owned the rights to

and the Flower Fairies, and managed Spot the Dog by Eric Hill, '' The Snowman'' by

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

, and the ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpo ...

'' book series by

Terry Deary William Terence Deary (born 3 January 1946) is a British children's author of 351 books, selling over 38 million copies in over 45 languages, best known as the writer of the ''Horrible Histories'' series. Since 1994 he has been one of Britain's b ...

2011–2012: Sale of assets

On 24 August 2011, chairman and CEO Waheed Alli along with Deputy Chairman William Astor announced to the company that they would be resigning their positions following the failure of the company's lenders to reach an agreement to restructure Chorion's debt burdens. Shortly thereafter, private equity owners 3i began a process to sell Chorion's assets: * 22 September 2011 - The '' Octonauts'' franchise and the estate of

were purchased by Waheed Alli, under his new children's entertainment company Silvergate Media, which he founded after leaving Chorion. * October 2011 - Nicholas Durbridge and Linda Pooley re-acquired The Copyrights Group. The company was ultimately acquired by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

in June 2016. * 6 December 2011 - Japanese toy and licensing design company

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and manufactures products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and Fashion accessory, a ...

purchased THOIP and Mister Men Limited, the holding companies for the Mr. Men and Little Miss franchise as well as its associated merchandise business, and placed them under a new UK-based subsidiary - Sanrio Global Limited. * 29 February 2012 - Acorn Media Group purchased Agatha Christie Limited, the holding company for the

estate. * 7 March 2012 - Classic Media purchased the Noddy and Olivia properties. Later on in the year,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

would purchase Classic Media, who ultimately were purchased by

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

in 2016. * 15 March 2012 - The Rights House and PFD purchased the estates of

Dennis Wheatley Dennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was an English writer whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through to the 1960s. Early life Wheatley w ...

, Margery Allingham, Nicolas Freeling and Edmund Crispin. * 26 March 2012 -

Hachette UK Hachette Livre S.A. (; simply known as Hachette) is a French publishing group that was based in Paris. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette ...

purchased the estate of

, with the exception of ''Noddy''. * 30 March 2012 - Canadian animation studio

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

(who already produced the respective television series of the same name) purchased a stake in the ''

'' franchise (with Rosemary Wells retaining the other half), including worldwide licensing rights.

List of unlicensed productions

Children's estate

* Spot the Dog * The Story of Tracy Beaker * The Snowman *

* Flower Fairies

Literary estates

* The Works of Raymond Chandler including

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe ( ) is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The genre originated in the 1920s, notably in '' Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiell Hammett's The Cont ...

* The Works of Georges Simenon including

Inspector Maigret Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created ...

List of former productions

Children's estate

and The World of Beatrix Potter (sold to Silvergate Media, now Sony Pictures Television Kids) *

(now owned by

) * Mr. Men and Little Miss (sold to

) * The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The World of Eric Carle (now owned by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

) * Maisy Mouse (now owned by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

which distributed the series) * Gaspard and Lisa (now owned by Sony Pictures Television Kids) * Octonauts (sold to Silvergate Media, now Sony Pictures Television Kids) * Olivia (Sold to Classic Media (Later acquired by

and

)) * The Works of Enid Blyton (sold to Hachette UK, with the exception of Noddy) ** Noddy (Sold to Classic Media (Later owned by

and

)) **

Malory Towers ''Malory Towers'' is a series of six novels by English author Enid Blyton. The series is based on a girls' boarding school that Blyton's daughter attended, Benenden School, which relocated during World War II to the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, ...

** The Famous Five ** The Secret Seven ** Five Find-Outers * The Works of Rosemary Wells (sold to

) **

Timothy Goes to School ''Timothy Goes to School'' is a preschool children's animated television series based on books by Rosemary Wells, but is titled after the book of the same name. The series is a co-production with Nelvana Limited and Animation Services (Hong Kon ...

Literary estates

* The Works of Agatha Christie including Poirot and

(sold to Acorn Media Group) * The Works of Margery Allingham (sold to The Rights House and PFD) * The Works of Edmund Crispin (sold to The Rights House and PFD) * The Works of Nicolas Freeling (sold to The Rights House and PFD) * The Works of Dennis Wheatley (sold to The Rights House and PFD)

References

External links

Chorion website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chorion (Company) Mass media companies established in 1995 Mass media companies disestablished in 2012 Television production companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United Kingdom 1995 establishments in the United Kingdom 2012 disestablishments in the United Kingdom