Street Cat Bob's animated series is heading to Sky

Bob’s back! Or at least his animated alter ego is after Sky ordered new episodes of the beloved feline’s cartoon.

Street Cat Bob’s ‘toon turn graced The Big Issue cover last April when five episodes were released. Now a further 20 are on the way.

The Shooting Script Films/King Rollo films production attracted the attention of Sky in its original run and Bob’s new 90-second episodes, aimed at pre-schoolers, will form part of their subscriber-only content on the Sky Kids app.

The news has been a big hit with Bobites online. Sheila Urquhart said: “Fabulous news!! This series is so well done.”

Elizabeth Reardon added: “Very sweet and cheeky just like Bob! Kids will love it.”

Bob and owner James Bowen have already made a splash in the media world with their series of hit bestseller books.

Their remarkable, life-affirming story has already been featured on the silver screen with Luke Treadaway taking on the role of James in 2016’s A Street Cat Named Bob.

Bob made his animated series switch last year with former Big Issue vendor James telling The Big Issue that it was the ideal format to tell the story to a young audience.

“It seemed natural to build on this success and to connect more directly with a wide young audience by creating a children’s animation, featuring Bob,” said James.

“I acted as an executive producer on the project and, from the beginning, knew that one of our biggest challenges would be to present Bob in a way that is appropriate and appealing to a young, pre-school audience. So I have – literally – faded into the background while the animation is set in a different – less dark – world to our adult books.”