Philadelphia — Sprout will
celebrate Earth Day by introducing
dirtgirlworld, an Australian
import that combines live action,
animation, photomontage and
illustration — plus catchy songs
— in a series that introduces preschoolers
to the joys of outdoor
play and sustainable green living.
The preschoolers’ channel will
debut dirtgirlworld with a threehour
marathon, noon to 3 p.m. ET,
on April 22. Th ereafter, the 11-minute
episodes will air every day on
Sprout at 4:50 p.m. ET. Sprout gets 52
episodes in the deal, with DHX Media’s
Decode Enterprises. Games,
crafts and environmentally-friends
tips for parents of preschoolers will
be on SproutOnline.com.
Writer/producer Cate McQuillen
and composer/writer Hewey
Eustace developed the series
from their home near the “rainbow
country” of northern New
South Wales in Australia. The
music-centric show takes the audience
to a world where the real
and unreal collide. dirtgirlworld
shares an environmental message,
explores the natural world
and invites the audience to “go get
grubby” with dirtgirl, a gumbootwearing
girl who grows awesome
tomatoes, knows clouds’ names
and drives a big orange tractor.
Helping dirtgirl are her best
friend, scrapboy, a cowpunk who
is a whiz with junk; grubby, with
her grub’s eye view; ken the weevil,
a super stunt star with an inferiority
complex; roger the rooster
and the chicks; hayman the
monosyllabic scarecrow; and the
green thumbs — real kids shown
in real gardens.
“Bringing dirtgirlworld to the
U.S. is just amazing for us,” Mc-
Quillen said in a statement. “We
know that Sprout cares about kids
and we wanted a home for dirtgirlworld
that cared about kids.
We can’t think of anywhere better
for us to be.”
