Altrincham is re-establishing itself as one of the leading centres of children’s animated TV, two decades after Bob the Builder was created in the town.
In fairly non-descript offices on Altrincham Business Park, Factory Transmedia is fast becoming the BBC’s go-to company for innovative, high-profile commissions for CBBC and CBeebies.
Its roots are in CBeebies’ Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, Fifi and the Flowertots and Roary the Racing Car, but it’s truly making its name now for the groundbreaking comedy Strange Hill High (pictured above) and spooky hit Scream Street, both for CBBC.
It’s also – alongside puppet-maker and fellow Altrincham company Mackinnon & Saunders – making 52 episodes for CBeebies of Clangers, the high-profile revival to be narrated by Michael Palin.
Completing the animation ecosystem in Altrincham is Take 1 Scenic Services, also based on the business park, who make and design sets and props.
But back to Factory, where turnover this year will be around £4m, up from just £600,000 three years ago. Staff numbers are currently around 65, but will need to hit 90 next year to cope with the workload it now has.
Leading it all is Phil Chalk, a former teenage trumpet prodigy who had his first taste of television when his nuclear components distribution business was handed the job of making the parts for Gladiators, the legendarily over-the-top 90s game show. For anyone over 30, think of the Pendulum, Pole-Axe and the calf-busting Travelator.
Below: Factory Transmedia boss Phil Chalk
He’s gone on, via production companies such as Cosgrove Hall and Chapman Entertainment (the company that brought Bob the Builder to life in the very unit where Factory now resides), to build up his present company in increasingly impressive fashion.
“We’ve effectively tripled in size over a 12-month period, and that’s taken some wrangling,” he told Altrincham Today, “so we’re now at that stage where we’re trying to play catch-up with infrastructure and systems to help facilitate the growth.”
So where next for Factory? “For me it’s about trying to build something and the legacy will be the quality of shows that we make and the innovation we apply to deliver those shows,” Chalk added.
“We want to produce world-class content. At the minute we’re by no means operating on a global scale so there’s still masses of potential.”
And should that global growth come, will they stay in Altrincham?
“We’re happy here and want to stay, and on this park in terms of office space there is still quite a bit available,” he said.
“The legacy of stop frame animation and production in Altrincham has helped us. Our people live here and have raised families here so it makes sense for us to stay here.”
Below: The trailer for the second series of Strange Hill High; the home of Factory Transmedia on Altrincham Business Park; Scream Street; Michael Palin, the narrator of the new Clangers; Fifi and the Flowertots and Roary the Racing Car.
