BASED ON A SERIES OF AWARD-WINNING books by writer and illustrator Ian Falconer, the 3D CGI animated television series Olivia has been sold to channels like SVT, NRK, YLE and DR. Plus Licens represents the merchandising and promotional rights for the TV series Olivia in the Nordic countries.

Olivia TM & © Ian Falconer

Designed to invite preschoolers into the life - both real and fantasy - of an adventurous, can-do 6¾ year old girl, and her family and friends, the Olivia series aims to demonstrate the fun and power of thinking for yourself; encourage children to pursue their goals with enthusiasm, ingenuity and persistence and to use their imaginations to wonder "What if...". The series has so far been produced in 50x11-minute episodes (plus one 22-minute special) by animation studio Brown Bag Films, with Nickelodeon US as a producing broadcaster. Olivia launched on YLE in Finland in April 2009, NRK in Norway in June, SVT in Sweden in September and DR in Denmark in November.

Each eleven-minute episode of the TV series features a cold open (short silent vignettes with an emphasis on physical comedy), a main story and a close. The main story is based around a typical event in the life of a six-year-old - however, in Olivia's world, her everyday life is infused with fantasy. An average day for Olivia might include painting her brother Ian instead of using paper, telling extravagantly tall tales to her class, and at least twenty different outfit changes. Like every young child who blends adult reality with their own fantasy world, Olivia's real world happenings and fantasies are intrinsically intertwined: a family trip to the beach becomes a pirate adventure, a school science project becomes a journey into outer space and a piano lesson becomes a world class concert. To help younger viewers differentiate fantasy from reality, the two worlds are depicted in different color palettes.

The original Olivia picture books by Ian Falconer have been published in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The first title was launched in 2000 and the books have to date sold over 6 million copies and been published in more than 40 languages. From fall 2009, Simon & Schuster launch a television-based publishing program.