Fun tales ABC Kids series Bluey lapped up

Inspiration comes close to home for Joe Brumm.

When he answers his phone, the creator of hugely popular ABC Kids series Bluey is in a Brisbane hospital where one of his two daughters is getting an X-ray for a potentially broken shoulder.

“Every day provides me with about three different script ideas,” the 40-year-old laughs.

Which is just as well because Bluey, the Australian animated show about a six-year-old blue heeler puppy, younger sister Bingo and their parents, has been given the go-ahead for another 52 episodes on top of the 52 already made.

Bluey is the most watched show ever on ABC iView, with more than 21 million views since it launched in October last year. The second half of the first series begins airing on ABC Kids next week.

The homegrown success of Bluey, which is 30 per cent funded by the BBC with the rest coming from the ABC, Screen Australia and Screen Queensland, has overwhelmed Brumm, who made the show with his tight-knit team of mostly first-time and local animators in Brisbane.

The day after our interview, Brumm was heading overseas hoping to lock in international distribution for Bluey, as well as deals for merchandise, which the shows’ fans have demanded vociferously via social media.

“If we don’t get some out soon, I think we’ll get lynched,” he chuckles.

Born in Winton, Queensland, Brumm worked in London as an animator on children’s TV shows, most notably the BAFTA-winning Charlie and Lola and inescapable Peppa Pig.

“I always thought that when I got back to Australia, that I really want to make the Australian version of Peppa Pig,” he says.

While Peppa Pig features families of different animals, the pooch-loving Brumm decided to mix up dog breeds.

“Our latest dog is a black kelpie called Rusty,” he explains. “I wanted to make it about him but the colours were a bit too drab for kids’ TV, so I went back a few dogs to a blue heeler we had called Bluey.”

Among the Brisbane-born or based voice talent is Dave McCormack, another father of two girls and frontman for rock band Custard, who voices Bluey’s dad, bone-digging archaeologist Bandit.

“That was a really magical moment,” Brumm recalls. “We just knew he was going to make Bandit.”

Other recognisable voices include Eurovision co-host Myf Warhurst (as Aunt Trixie), singer-songwriter Megan Washington (as teacher Calypso) and surfer Layne Beachley (as a, um, surfer), while actress Melanie Zanetti voices Bluey’s mum Chilli, who works at the airport.

While the series’ set in a suburban home looks beautiful and is (p)oodles of fun, Bluey is a Trojan dog smuggling messages about the importance of playing (and using your imagination to invent games) in childhood development.

“We had a little bit of a tough time with our eldest daughter when she started school,” Brumm reveals. “It was all about golden words and numbers, being tested, and she didn’t respond very well to that at all.”

After speaking to child psychologists he knew and reading “reams of research going back 50 years”, the animator came to the conclusion that social, dramatic play aids development and subsequent learning more than forcing children seven and under to learn numeracy or the alphabet.

As Bandit tells Bluey in upcoming episode Trampoline: “Making up games is more important than you think.”

“There’s no counting in Bluey, there’s no learning this or that ... just show ’em playing,” Brumm says. “It’s to show parents that the kids aren’t just mucking around. They’re learning to play, learning to share ... and generally you can just put your feet up and let ’em do it.”

And parents across Australia have enjoyed putting their feet up and watching Bluey, which contains plenty of nods and winks for adults.

“The idea was to do a co-viewing show,” Brumm says.

“You’ve probably sat through some pretty dire cartoons — the majority of them are just an assault. I wanted to do something that was not conflict-driven, that involved the parents and shows the laughter and real warmth that you get as a family. To me, it’s very beautiful and I wanted to show that to the world. It was a gamble but I thought kids and adults would respond to it.”

Bluey is beautiful but often messy, much like being a mum or dad. An unexpectedly hilarious moment from season one episode Markets is when super-cute pony Buttermilk, dressed up as a multi-coloured unicorn for children to ride, does a massive poop.

“That horse taking a dump was perfectly symbolic of parenting,” Brumm laughs.

“You think it’s going to be this beautiful unicorn-like experience, which it is, but it also takes a s... when you’re looking.”

New episodes of Bluey start on Monday at 8am on ABC Kids.