ANIMATED SERIES STORIES FROM BACKWOODS PREMIERES 25/11/24 ON RTÉjr @ 07:35 and repeated @ 15.25.
In the topsy turvy world of Backwoods, trash is cool and fish oil is tasty, hares don’t have hair and wolves carry briefcases, play is serious business, and friendship can be hard sometimes, but… mostly? Life is a great adventure for Rooney the Park Ranger and her chatterbox best friend Hare!
Join us for a buddy comedy about life in the forest, meeting a fun cast of birds, beasts and scaredy-bears along the way!’
RTÉjr will host the world premiere of this charmingly irreverent new 13 x 11 minute series about the highs and lows of friendship and fitting in.
When Rooney Raccoon annoys her boss, she is sent to the wild forest of Backwoods for her first assignment as a Park Ranger. There she bumps into the very loud and bouncy local Hare, who is only too delighted to show her around his woodland home. What Rooney lacks in practical knowledge…Hare also lacks. So turning Backwoods into a neat park in time for Rooney’s final exam will be a challenge. But Rooney and Hare are nothing if not optimistic and overly confident in their abilities. The scene is set for comic chaos over the following 13 episodes as Rooney and Hare figure out what it means to be a good friend and a helpful part of a community – by mostly doing the opposite first!
Rooney and Hare are voiced by Donna Reidy-Maguire (Royals Next Door, The Mario Rosenstock Show) and Tadhg Murphy (Time Bandits, The Vikings) with a terrific supporting cast including Cian Hoyne, Amy Conroy, Matthew McMahon and Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle.
Director Leevi Lemmetty adapted Stories from Backwoods from a Finnish book series illustrated by his father, Jukka Lemmetty and written by poet Jyrki Kiiskinen. “We admired their honest, unpatronising characters and their modern take on traditional forest fables for a young audience. It was a fun challenge to bring these stories to new life on screen.” says Lemmetty.
A team of ace animation writers supported Lemmetty in his task, including Richie Conroy (Two by Two, Fia’s Fairies), Sian NíMhuirí (Monster Loving Maniacs, Royals Next Door) and newcomer Conor Dowling (Fad Camp podcast). The series was produced in Ireland and Finland over 2023 and 2024, with animation direction by animation veteran Mark Rusk (Eva the Owlet, Angela’s Christmas Wish). Douglas Black-Heaton’s lively score brings humour and pathos in equal measure to round out a full soundtrack produced at Gorilla Post.
- Rooney Meets Hare
Logline: On her first day in Backwoods, Ranger Rooney makes a new friend in know-it-all Hare, but finds the other animals much less welcoming.
Synopsis: A city raccoon Rooney arrives in the Backwoods forest on a mission to turn it into the most beautiful park ever seen. Her true goal is to earn the shiny Forest Ranger badge and impress her boss, Officer Officely. With the help of lonely know-it-all Hare (who’s only delighted to become her friend), Rooney’s quick to dispense fines and annoy everyone in the forest. As the animals rally up to banish Rooney, Hare stands up for her and they decide to give her a chance.
- Carrot Farmers
Logline: Rooney and Hare have a go at becoming famous, growing the biggest carrot ever seen.
Synopsis: Inspired by a news report on TV, Rooney and Hare decide to grow a giant carrot! Rooney wants to impress Officer Officely, and Hare just wants to be famous. When they get what they want, it turns out being a celebrity is just… boring!
- Dance Humba
Logline: Rooney accidentally starts a dance craze in Backwoods when she finds a hat that makes her wiggle..
Synopsis: Rooney has a bad hair day. Trying to help, Hare makes it a terrible hair day. Scrambling to fix it, they find a hat that makes Rooney dance! She becomes an instant sensation and Hare, thinking on his feet, organises a big performance night. It all goes well until Rooney discovers a surprising truth about her new talent. As she steps onto the stage, determined to own up to her “fake” dancing skills, she discovers that in Backwoods, nobody is going to judge you! Not today anyway.
- Hare’s Sick Day
Logline: Hare takes advantage of Rooney’s caring nature when he gets sick….until Dr Owly arrives with a dose of fishy medicine.
Synopsis: Hare goes down with the flu and quickly starts taking advantage of Rooney’s efforts to nurse him back to health. As he puts on a convincing act of being sick for days, worried Rooney gets Dr Owly to help. Seeing past Hare’s “illness,” Dr Owly teaches him a lesson he won’t forget (fish oil medicine, anyone?)
- The Wandering Lily
Logline: Rooney and Hare get lost in the woods.
Synopsis: Rooney takes Hare on a hike in search of the wandering lily. It’s serious business for Rooney but Hare just wants to have fun, riling her up at every occasion. When she discovers Hare unpacked their water at home, Rooney snaps and is determined to take charge of the trip. As it turns out, it’s hard work, leading the way!
“We are delighted to welcome Rooney, Hare and all the gang to the RTÉjr family! Stories from Backwoods is a really fun show with great stories that we know our audience will love. We can’t wait for you to follow their adventures on RTÉjr!”
Eimear O’Mahony
Executive Producer, Children’s & Young People’s Programming, RTÉ
Stories from Backwoods will premiere on RTÉjr, weekdays from Monday 25th November @ 07:35 and repeated @ 15.25. The series is a co-production between Ink and Light in Ireland and Muste ja Valo in Finland, co-commissioned by Finnish broadcaster YLE, with support from Screen Ireland, Coimisíun na Mean, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in Ireland and the Council of Europe’s Eurimages programme. The series will air in Finland in December 2024 and has been picked up for international distribution by APC Kids.
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEAnCTgKa_k
More information from Tamsin Lyons, Producer, Ink and Light, tamsin@ink-and-light.com
EDITOR’S NOTES:
INK AND LIGHT
Established in 2012, we’ve been producing and coproducing animated series since 2016 including slapstick short-form series Harry and Bip (Disney, Sky, RAI), tween series Royals Next Door (RTVE, Ketnet, YLE and RTÉ) and preschool series Ollie (NRK, YLE, ITVBe, Ketnet and RTÉ). Ink and Light has been nominated for European Cartoon Producer of the Year and multiple Irish Animation Awards and Royal Television Society awards. www.Ink-and-light.com
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
“Communities thrive on connection which doesn’t have to be perfect to be valuable and transformational. As a Finn who spent many years living in Ireland and the UK, I’ve experienced that feeling of being a stranger in a new community in multiple and often difficult ways. I also saw my daughter being thrown into school settings with a group of children who all have very different personalities and interests who have no choice but to figure out ways of getting along.
The characters of Backwoods are prone to blame others for their own problems rather than look at their own part in it. It’s something I see as a very natural human trait often replayed on our streets. In Backwoods, we explore such flaws with a sense of lightness and humour, allowing our audience to laugh at our characters’ epic misadventures, while helping them understand themselves and their peers a little bit more.”
Leevi Lemmetty
PRODUCER’S NOTE
“Children are more aware than most adults of the need to co-exist with people you don’t necessarily agree with. School yards and back gardens can be difficult places to negotiate when you don’t have the agency of an adult who can choose their friends and the ways they spend their time. These skills of getting along with those you don’t agree with are being forgotten in our polarised media and political landscape. So I was interested in these stories as an opportunity to explore a very distinct group of individuals who don’t have the same approach to life in Backwoods – but who ultimately find that working together makes a better home for each of them. “
Tamsin Lyons