Cartoon
Pablo (TV series)
The story
Pablo is a British-Irish children's television series that premiered on CBeebies on 2 October 2017 and created by Grainne McGuinness. The series follows the adventures of Pablo James, a five-year-old (later 8-year-old) autistic boy, and his imaginary anthropomorphized animal friends, the Book Animals, who go on adventures in Pablo's "Art World". It is a hybrid of live action sequences and 2D animation. The series features a voice cast and writing team, with many of them being autistic.
It also broadcasts internationally, including on ABC Kids, Nat Geo Kids, CBC Kids, and S4C.
On 11 October 2021 it was announced a third series was in development. This season will be reworked, with Pablo now eight years old and with a redesigned art style, and be for an older audience. On 1 April 2022, BBC Children's announced it had commissioned the third series, although in October 2024 it was refocused into a spin-off called Pablo: Next Level, which began airing on 7 September 2026 on CBBC.
Series 1 & 2 (2017–20)
A typical episode begins in the real world, where Pablo will be engaging in some sort of activity. When encountering a problem or something he doesn't understand (like the loss of his own smell following a bath or the unusual way sandwiches are cut to be rectangular rather than triangular), the episode will transition into an animated "art world", represented by Pablo's drawings. There, Pablo and the Book Animals work together to solve whatever problem is at hand.
Pablo: Next Level (2026)
The spin-off follow up series sees a now eight year old Pablo in primary school, a fascinating and at times overwhelming place. With the Book Animals at his side, Pablo faces new challenges and adventures.
Characters
Pablo James (played by William and Oliver Burns (live-action), voiced by Jake Williamson): An autistic boy who loves to draw things in the Art World with his crayons. He is non-verbal in the Real World, but talks in the Art World.
Mouse (voiced by Rachael Dickson): A mouse who is very reliable, cute and organized, but hates loud sounds. She speaks in the third person.
Noa (voiced by Tony Finnegan): Noa is a Noasaurus who is sensitive, but often does not know how to express his feelings. He "stims" by flapping his hands.
Tang (voiced by Michael White): Tang is an orangutan who's the big, fun goofball of the group. He's always ready to do anything, but has problems reading social cues and is not always careful.
Wren (voiced by Sumita Majumdar): Wren is a wren who is gentle and loves to sing and flap her wings. Her words in her comforting voice always soothe others when they are stressed.
Llama (voiced by Rosie King): Llama is a llama who loves to skip around back and forth as physical "stimming". She has echolalia.
Draff (voiced by Scott Mulligan): Draff is an intelligent giraffe. His most commonly used phrase is "in point of fact", as he loves explaining things; he represents Pablo's "infodumping" and his catchphrase "point of fact" is verbal stimming.
Pablo's Mum (played by Rosie Barry): caring and attentive, she supports her son in any way she can. She mainly appears in the live-action segments.
Series 2 (2019–20)
Starting with "The New Sofa" on 7 October 2019, all the week's Pablo episodes would be made available on BBC iPlayer before their individual broadcast on CBeebies. From "Finger Prince" onwards, however, episodes would only go on iPlayer after their individual broadcast.
Special (2020)
In addition to the main programme, a series of online shorts were produced in 2019. These include Going to School, Pack for School, Making Friends and Everything Pumpkin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an episode-length special was produced.
Awards
Pablo won Best Preschool Programme at the 2019 Broadcast Awards. It was nominated at the 2018 British Academy Children's Awards in Digital, was a Children's Finalist at the 2018 Royal Television Society Awards and won the TORC Award for Excellence at the 2018 Celtic Media Festival. It was nominated at the 2021 Irish Animation Awards for Best Animated Preschool Series and Best Writer for Preschool Animation (for Andrew Brenner, which it won).
Spin-off books
In April 2020, Ladybird began publishing a series of picture books, adapted from previous Pablo episodes. Sumita Majumdar and Andrew Brenner, who wrote on the series, oversaw these.
Goodnight Pablo (based on "Goodnight Blues"), ISBN 9780241415245
Pablo and the Noisy Party (based on "The Party Present"), ISBN 9780241415740
Pablo Picks His Shoes (based on "Pick Us Pablo"), ISBN 9780241415757
Pablo's Feelings (based on "Face Feelings"), ISBN 9780241415764
Pablo Goes Shopping (based on "The Super Place"), ISBN 9780241490273
Pablo at the Zoo, ISBN 9780241490280
There will also be "Ladybird Readers" Level 1 books, designed to aid children develop their speech, reading and writing skills.
Pablo Chooses His Shoes, ISBN 9780241533741
Are You Sad, Pablo?, ISBN 9780241475546
Pablo: Noisy Party, ISBN 9780241475492
Stage version
In 2019, it was announced Selladoor Worldwide is developing a stage musical adaptation of Pablo, in collaboration with Paper Owl Films. The original creative team will be involved.