Geronimo Stilton

It's a lot of fun.

Do you have the books, the Geronimo Stilton? Do you know who that is? I do.

Yes.

My kids love.

Everyone is fidgeting as the novelty of the situation starts to wear off and the children become bored and restless.

Everyone except Chantelle, who was happily reading a Geronimo Stilton in the gloom underneath her desk.

Chrissy wishes she had a book to read, a scab to pick, anything to do except think about kidnappers.

She wonders if she should tell Gloria that her knickers are showing.

From last week's

MIR in Rome, Rainbow Group's Eugenio Straffi on how the Ancona-based owner of Winx Club, 44 Cats and Geronimo Stilton is taking its tunes direct to consumer as the squeeze on public broadcasters leaves little choice.

Brad and Eugenio are coming up in a moment, but first...

Landmark BBC Natural History series Blue Planet returns for a third instalment this Sunday, 25 years since the original and once again narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Finally, Italian audiovisual market MIA took place in Rome last week, with the support of the nation's Producers Association, various government agencies and Creative Europe.

Programme financing, in particular funding from EU institutions and support from public broadcasters, was much in discussion, with animation and kids' shows at the sharp end of budgetary cuts, and the sector at the same time the most exposed from audiences spending more time on YouTube and TikTok.

Ancona-based animation specialist Rainbow Group, owner of properties including Winx Club, 44 Cats, Pinky and Geronimo Stilton, is taking its tunes direct to consumer as the squeeze on public broadcasters leaves it little choice.

The company, set up three decades ago by founder and chief executive Eugenio Straffi, is also owner of Spanish live-action film and TV prodco Colorado, and recently acquired digital entertainment outfit 24x7 Production as part of its continued growth strategy, aided by a $92 million boost last year from Italian investment bank Milio Banco and its TEC equity arm.

open? Undecided at this stage.

We don't want it to become like Geronimo Stilton when there's just so many you have.

no idea where to even begin with the whole thing.

So we'll cover it at a certain stage.

[laughs]

Today we're following up our Geronimo Stilton episode with an episode about Thea Sisters and their surrounding media franchises.

Yes.

[laughs]

Yeah

... it's a lot of cheese puns.

If you wanna hear our previous Geronimo Stilton episode, we'll have that linked probably in...

I don't know.