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C´óÏó´«Ã½ unveils a line-up of quality British programming featuring some of the UK's leading stars

Award-winning children's channel C´óÏó´«Ã½ today, Monday 4 October 2010, unveiled its new season of distinctive British programming featuring major UK talent, including writers Simon Nye and Russell T Davies and on-screen stars such as Daniel Roche, Rebecca Front, Gareth Malone and Matt Smith. It also announced two new drama commissions for 2011 featuring talent including Tony Marchant and Alistair McGowan.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller, C´óÏó´«Ã½ says: "It's 60 years since the first dedicated children's department was set up at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and C´óÏó´«Ã½ continues to go from strength to strength with more funding than ever before to spend on innovative and distinctive home-grown programming.

"We're delighted to be able to attract some of the country's finest on and off-screen talent to help us make original and exciting programmes which empower and enthral the nation's six- to 12-year-olds."

This Autumn/Winter C´óÏó´«Ã½ features a rich mix of dramas, factual shows, comedy and entertainment. The Sarah Jane Adventures is back with Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and her gang of trusty sidekicks battling alien enemies old and new. The 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) makes a guest appearance in two special episodes which reunite Sarah Jane with another of the Doctor's former companions Jo Grant (Katy Manning).

Outnumbered star Daniel Roche plays the incorrigible, irrepressible William in Simon Nye's adaptation of Richmal Crompton's timeless Just William stories. The stellar line-up sees Caroline Quentin and Warren Clarke as William's new neighbours, the Botts, with Bafta award-winning Rebecca Front (The Thick Of It) and Daniel Ryan (The Street, Linda Green) as William's long-suffering parents. Martin Jarvis, the voice behind the Just William audio books, narrates the series.

Action and adventure

Other new dramas announced today include The Sparticle Mystery (working title) from the Bafta-winning team behind Summerhill. Set in modern day Britain, starting on the day all the adults disappear, this ground-breaking science-fiction action adventure series explores what children do in a world without adults, when they are given total freedom to be themselves.

This Autumn C´óÏó´«Ã½ will broadcast a special season of programmes examining, through drama and documentary, how children are affected by war. The season will explore what it is like for those left behind in the UK when a parent goes to fight abroad and Newsround will be travelling to Afghanistan to find out what it is like to grow-up in this war-torn country. Other new factual shows include Trade Your Way To The USA, Gareth Malone's The Big Performance and Project Parent.

Comedy and entertainment

C´óÏó´«Ã½ will also be ensuring that children have fun this season with new series of Copycats, The Slammer, Trapped: Ever After and Shaun The Sheep. Dick and Dom will be back on our screens this winter with a madcap new Saturday morning show and Horrible Histories returns with a Christmas special showcasing the smelliest, silliest, goriest stories about everyone's favourite time of year. New shows announced today include Remote Control Star with prankster presenters JK and Joel helping children take control of a celebrity for the day and Pixelface, a brand new comedy from the makers of I'm Sorry I've Got No Head.

New drama commissions for 2011

And next year's line-up looks to be just as exciting with new drama commissions Postcode and Young Leonardo. Bafta-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant puts pen to paper for the specially-commissioned three-part contemporary drama Postcode – the first time he has written just for a young audience. Set in a street in transition – a cosmopolitan melting pot where kids from well-heeled families live side-by-side with asylum seekers – Postcode charts the ups and downs of a diverse set of characters as they rub shoulders on a daily basis.

Alistair McGowan stars as scheming Piero de Medici in Young Leonardo. This 13-part action adventure series follows the adventures of the young Leonardo da Vinci, a lowly apprentice in the workshop of Verrocchio. Together with the most dynamic group of friends history has ever known – Machiavelli, Lorenzo de Medici and Lisa Gheradini – da Vinci paints, invents and goes up against The Circle, the most powerful secret society in Florence.

Damian Kavanagh says: "Its going to be an exciting 12 months for C´óÏó´«Ã½. With a stellar line-up of programmes and, of course, our impending move to a new home in Salford, we hope children will love the new content and help us remain the most watched children's channel for 6-12 year olds in the UK."