Derry Girls star joins voice cast for Aardman’s Lloyd of the Flies

Multi-award-winning independent animation studio Aardman has launched a new teaser from its latest comedy series, Lloyd of the Flies, to celebrate Insect Week. The studio has also announced Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as a new addition to the voice cast.

Lloyd of the Flies shines a light on the weird and wonderful world of insects. The series follows the adventures of Lloyd B Fly, a housefly and the middle child of 453. Lloyd lives with his parents, his little sister PB and their 225 maggot siblings inside a compost bin. In the series, Lloyd is always accompanied by his best and only friend, Abacus Woodlouse, PB, and eccentric tag-along, Cornea Butterfly. Together they explore the strange world beyond the compost bin, where there is no shortage of lessons for Lloyd to very nearly learn.

 

Developed in-house and supported by the BFI-managed Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), the new series is Aardman’s first “in-house” CGI production. The studio is working to develop a broad range of partnerships around Lloyd of the Flies, developing the brand’s presence across all major touchpoints including consumer products, attractions and interactive entertainment. An AR experience app will be launched to coincide with the series.

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls, Screw) also joins the cast as the voice of Louse Hunter, a spider who only hunts woodlice for the challenge and thrill of the chase, and Yard the bumble bee who regularly frequents the local Pancake Diner.

She stars alongside Tom Rosenthal (Friday Night Dinner, Plebs) who voices Lloyd, Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World, Black Mirror), who voices Lloyd’s best friend Abacus, and Lauren Patel (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) who takes on the role of PB. Teresa Gallagher plays Cornea Butterfly, with Callum Scott Howells (It’s A Sin) voicing Lloyd’s nemesis, Berry.

Sean Clarke, Managing Director of Aardman, says: “Launching our first in-house CGI series marks an exciting new development for Aardman as well as the advent of new talent from the studio bringing their ideas to life. With a host of incredible voices alongside exceptional crew, drawn from all over the world, we can’t wait to share Lloyd of the Flies with audiences from this autumn. This comedic new series will entertain the whole family and we are sure that it will create a real buzz in living rooms.”

The 52 x 11’ animated sitcom series will be premiering on CiTV in September 2022.

Aardman and CITV unveil voice cast for new CGI comedy series Lloyd of the Flies

Friday Night Dinner actor, Tom Rosenthal is among the British talent to be lending their voices to Lloyd of the Flies, a new CGI comedy series from Aardman Animation and CITV. The series is scheduled to air on CITV in autumn 2022.

Rosenthal will voice lead character Lloyd, a housefly and middle child of 453 siblings. With his best friend Abacus Woodlouse, little sister PB, and eccentric tag-along Cornea Butterfly, the motley crew will embark on a series of misadventures in a family comedy of entomology.

Rosenthal joins a cast of British acting talent, including Alex Lawther (Black Mirror) who will voice Abacus, Lauren Patel (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) who will take on the role of PB, Teresa Gallagher as Cornea Butterfly, and Callum Scott Howells (It’s a Sin) will voice Lloyd’s nemesis, Berry.

Pearl Mackie and Rob Rackstraw provide the voices of Lloyd’s parents, Gena and Malcolm. Completing the cast are Ayesha Antoine, voicing Julie and Libby, and Marcel McCalla who plays Ampersand and Bob.

Lloyd of the Flies is created and directed by Matthew Walker (episode director, Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom Farm and winner of a jury award at Aspen Shortsfest, Jury Special Mention at Clermont-Ferrand for his film ‘John and Karen’ and best graduation film ‘Astronauts’ at Annecy Animation Festival 2006). He is joined by co-director and voice director Jane Davies, who has over 25 years animation and directing experience in long form series.

Aardman’s Sarah Cox will act as executive creative director.

Seamus Malone (Arthur Christmas, Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death) is Animation Director, with Tom Parkinson (Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom Farm) in the role of Script/Story Advisor. The Series Editor is Victoria Stevens (A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon).

The writing team includes Anna Leong Brophy, Alex Collier, Tasha Dhanraj, Isabel Fay, Mark Oswin, and Jen Upton. Black Sheep’s Andrew Barnett Jones and Ciaran Murtagh are Script Editors on the series.

Using a mix of computer animation and 2D techniques, Lloyd of the Flies is the first CGI series to be produced entirely in-house at Aardman’s headquarters studio in Bristol.

Tom Rosenthal, voice of Lloyd, said: “Despite the fact that I believe Lloyd of the Flies to be a work of genius and am thrilled to bring these fantastic stories to life, the amount of people who have told me that I do actually sound like a fly has begun to get hurtful.”

Lloyd of the Flies is the flagship project for the government-funded Young Audiences Content Fund (YACF), which is managed by the BFI and supports the creation of distinctive, high-quality content for audiences up to the age of 18.

The Fund offers production funding for projects which have secured a broadcast commitment from a UK Public Service Broadcaster to make the programme available to a UK audience on a free-to-access, Ofcom-regulated service.