''Milo'' is a British comedy animated television preschool series that first aired on Channel 5's

Milkshake! ''Milkshake!'' (stylised as milkshake!) is a British Children's television series, children's television programming block on 5 (British TV channel), 5. Originally launched in 1997, it is currently aimed at children aged 2 to 7. History Th ...

block on 10 May 2021 in the United Kingdom. It was later aired in the United States on May 13, 2024. The series, produced by Fourth Wall Animation and distributed by Planeta Junior, was commissioned in May 2021 by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's Young Audiences Content Fund. Though this fund was eliminated in 2023, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Flexible Growth Fund provided major funding for a second season of the show, following the success of the first season. This series is animated completely using

Toon Boom Animation Toon Boom Animation Inc., also known as Toon Boom, is a Canadian software company founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec. It specializes in the development and production of animation and storyboarding software for film, television, the ...

's computer information systems.

Premise

The series follows Milo, a 5-year-old black cat and his friends, Lofty, a tall giraffe and Lark, a Bird as they explore different jobs and professions. Milo lives in Milotown with his parents, who run a

dry cleaning Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a solvent other than water. Clothes are instead soaked in a water-free liquid solvent (usually non-polar, as opposed to water which is a Solvent#Solvent classifications, polar ...

shop called Scrubby’s Dry Clean Shop. In each episode, a washing machine robot named Suds lets Milo and his friends try on the clothes of the workers of the town. Through role play, they learn about the many vocational careers found around town.

Characters

*Milo (voiced by Evan Capstick) is a 5-year-old black cat. He is adventurous and curious about jobs. *Lark (voiced by Eleanor Stollery) is a blue bird. She is very intelligent and likes to read. *Lofty (voiced by George Ravenscroft) is a tall giraffe. He is a bit clumsy and very worrisome, but always willing to help his friends. *Suds (voiced by

Colin MacFarlane Colin Andrew Ignatius Peter McFarlane (born 15 September 1961) is a British actor, narrator and voice actor. He is known for his roles in film and television including Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's ''The Dark Knight Trilo ...

) is a cleaning robot at Scrubby's dry cleaning shop.

Episodes

The show is formatted into 11-minute episodes. The first season consists of 52 episodes and the second season consists of 26 episodes.

Broadcast

The show is broadcast in over 170 countries internationally. It premiered in the United Kingdom on Channel 5's

block on 10 May 2021. In July 2023, the show began airing in France on 6play and in Mexico on

TV Azteca Televisión Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V., commonly known as TV Azteca, is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as so ...

. In August of the same year, it debuted in Canada on

Télé-Québec The (; ), branded as () (formerly known as ), is a Canadian French-language public educational television network in the province of Quebec. It is a provincial Crown corporation owned by the Government of Quebec. The network's main studios an ...

. In 2024,

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 ...

acquired the rights to the series in the United States. Although it was originally scheduled to air on the PBS Kids 24/7 Channel, it was exclusive to the PBS Kids on-demand streaming service as of May 13 of that same year, in addition to

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

through the PBS Kids add-on subscription. On-air broadcasts began on the PBS Kids 24/7 channel on October 1 in that year. In 2021-22, the show began airing in Russia on

JimJam JimJam is an international children's preschool television channel operated by AMC Networks International Central and Northern Europe, which originally launched in Italy on Sky in 2006. JimJam is available across Europe and Africa. History J ...

, and later on

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

Reception

''Milo'' is one of the UK’s top-rated programs for children between the ages of four and six, reaching one million kids between the ages of four and fifteen in the UK within its first year of broadcast. It won the Best Children’s Series at the 2022 British Animation Awards. It also won bronze at the 2022 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, and was nominated for Best Preschool Program at the 2022 Broadcast Awards.

References

External links