Creator brings animation home to city that inspired it

The creator of a stop-motion series said it was "amazing" to bring the show home to the city that inspired it.

MixMups, created by Rebecca Atkinson, from Norwich, follows three friends - Pockets, Giggles and Spin - and 52 episodes were aired on Channel 5's Milkshake.

The stories were all written in the city and inspired by Ms Atkinson's childhood, including visits to Joyland in Great Yarmouth.

It will be screened at a series of showings at Cinema City in Norwich.

She said: "It's really lovely to bring it home to Norwich. I wrote all 52 episodes in Norwich; it drew on my childhood...and when we cast the Lucky Loover Bird, we used a Norwich actor."

The series follows Pockets, who is visually impaired and uses a guide dog and Giggles, a cat with a spine curvature who uses a wheelchair.

Speaking to Chris Goreham on BBC Radio Norfolk's breakfast show, she said: "Although MixMups is really about magic and play and this magical wooden spoon, two of the characters have got disabilities, so that was the driving force behind creating it."

The whole series features nods to Norfolk, including an episode with striped market stalls, inspired by Norwich markets.

She said: "I grew up in Norwich... if you watch the show you'll see little nods to Joyland in Great Yarmouth, which was a big inspiration of mine."

It was also important to her to feature a character with a Norfolk accent.

She said: "I really wanted to feature a Norfolk accent on a national show because it doesn't get out there enough... we've got a very unique accent in Norfolk.

"When we were trying to cast her [Lucky Loover Bird], we were looking for an actor who could do a Norfolk accent, and we had some people audition from around the country putting on a Norfolk accent - we needed the real thing."

The episodes will be shown at Cinema City in Norwich on Friday 5 December, Sunday 7 December and Monday 8 December.

"It's been a fantastic opportunity to blow it up big size and see what the animation looks like," she said.

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