Pablo is a British-Irish children's television series that premiered on CBeebies on 2 October 2017 and created by Grainne McGuinness. The series follows the adventures of Pablo James, a five-year-old (later 8-year-old) autistic boy, and his imaginary anthropomorphized animal friends, the Book Animals, who go on adventures in Pablo's "Art World". It is a hybrid of live action sequences and 2D animation. The series features a voice cast and writing team, with many of them being autistic.

It also broadcasts internationally, including on ABC Kids, Nat Geo Kids, CBC Kids, and S4C.

On 11 October 2021 it was announced a third series was in development. This season will be reworked, with Pablo now eight years old and with a redesigned art style, and be for an older audience. On 1 April 2022, BBC Children's announced it had commissioned the third series, although in October 2024 it was refocused into a spin-off called Pablo: Next Level, which began airing on 7 September 2026 on CBBC.

Format Series 1 & 2 (2017–20) A typical episode begins in the real world, where Pablo will be engaging in some sort of activity. When encountering a problem or something he doesn't understand (like the loss of his own smell following a bath or the unusual way sandwiches are cut to be rectangular rather than triangular), the episode will transition into an animated "art world", represented by Pablo's drawings. There, Pablo and the Book Animals work together to solve whatever problem is at hand.

Pablo: Next Level (2026) Pablo, now eight years old, is in primary school, a fascinating and at times overwhelming place. With the Book Animals at his side, Pablo faces new challenges and adventures.

Characters

Pablo James (played by William and Oliver Burns (live-action, S1-2), voiced by Jake Williamson (S1-2) and Alexander Myles (Next Level)): An autistic boy who loves to draw things in the Art World with his crayons. In the original series, he is non-verbal in the Real World, but talks in the Art World. Mouse (voiced by Rachael Dickson): A mouse who is very reliable, cute and organized, but hates loud sounds. She speaks in the third person. Noa (voiced by Tony Finnegan): Noa is a Noasaurus who is sensitive, but often does not know how to express his feelings. He "stims" by flapping his hands. Tang (voiced by Michael White (S1-2) and Hayden Minns-Cain (Next Level)): Tang is an orangutan who's the big, fun goofball of the group. He's always ready to do anything, but has problems reading social cues and is not always careful. Wren (voiced by Sumita Majumdar): Wren is a wren who is gentle and loves to sing and flap her wings. Her words in her comforting voice always soothe others when they are stressed. Llama (voiced by Rosie King): Llama is a llama who loves to skip around back and forth as physical "stimming". She has echolalia. Draff (voiced by Scott Mulligan (S1-2) and Riona Rees Tamkin (Next Level)): Draff is an intelligent giraffe. His most commonly used phrase is "in point of fact", as he loves explaining things; he represents Pablo's "infodumping" and his catchphrase "point of fact" is verbal stimming. Pablo's Mum (played by Rosie Barry): caring and attentive, she supports her son in any way she can. She mainly appears in the live-action segments.

Episodes

Series 1 (2017–18)

Series 2 (2019–20) Starting with "The New Sofa" on 7 October 2019, all the week's Pablo episodes would be made available on BBC iPlayer before their individual broadcast on CBeebies. From "Finger Prince" onwards, however, episodes would only go on iPlayer after their individual broadcast.

Special (2020) In addition to the main programme, a series of online shorts were produced in 2019. These include Going to School, Pack for School, Making Friends and Everything Pumpkin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an episode-length special was produced.

Pablo: Next Level (2026)

Awards Pablo won Best Preschool Programme at the 2019 Broadcast Awards. It was nominated at the 2018 British Academy Children's Awards in Digital, was a Children's Finalist at the 2018 Royal Television Society Awards and won the TORC Award for Excellence at the 2018 Celtic Media Festival. It was nominated at the 2021 Irish Animation Awards for Best Animated Preschool Series and Best Writer for Preschool Animation (for Andrew Brenner, which it won).

Spin-off books In April 2020, Ladybird began publishing a series of picture books, adapted from previous Pablo episodes. Sumita Majumdar and Andrew Brenner, who wrote on the series, oversaw these. Goodnight Pablo (based on "Goodnight Blues"), Pablo and the Noisy Party (based on "The Party Present"), Pablo Picks His Shoes (based on "Pick Us Pablo"), Pablo's Feelings (based on "Face Feelings"), Pablo Goes Shopping (based on "The Super Place"), Pablo at the Zoo,

There will also be "Ladybird Readers" Level 1 books, designed to aid children develop their speech, reading and writing skills. Pablo Chooses His Shoes, Are You Sad, Pablo?, Pablo: Noisy Party,

Stage version In 2019, it was announced Selladoor Worldwide is developing a stage musical adaptation of Pablo, in collaboration with Paper Owl Films. The original creative team will be involved.thestage.co.uk

See also A Kind of Spark, another BBC children's series performed and written by autistic people. Ready Eddie Go!, a Sky Kids series also about a small autistic boy, performed and written by autistic people.

References

External links Official Pablo Page at CBeebies