{"id":650186,"date":"2026-06-21T07:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T07:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/650186\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T07:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T07:21:24","slug":"bbc-childrens-and-education-join-european-broadcasters-to-unite-for-the-northern-star-project-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/650186\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Children\u2019s and Education join European broadcasters to unite for The Northern Star Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Five Northern European public service broadcasters \u2013 the BBC, DR (Denmark), NPO (Netherlands), NRK (Norway) and VRT (Flanders) \u2013 have formed The Northern Star Project, a new partnership to support the creation of ambitious children\u2019s dramas for audiences aged 7+.<\/p>\n<p>BBC Children\u2019s and Education\u2019s involvement will create new opportunities for UK producers, writers and talent to work across multiple markets. In response to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/mediacentre\/2026\/bbc-childrens-education-socioeconomic-report\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BBC\u2019s report warning of the alarming decline in UK made children\u2019s content<\/a> and growing pressures on the children\u2019s media sector. Bringing together the resources to deliver more high-quality projects than any one broadcaster could achieve alone, sharing costs, opening up co-production routes, and helping UK stories reach international audiences.<\/p>\n<p>The first initiative is a development strand for original scripted live-action dramas for young audiences. Projects will be jointly developed, shaped and co-commissioned by all five broadcasters for audiences across Northern Europe. Full details will be announced at the Children\u2019s Media Conference (CMC) in July.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia Hidalgo, Director of BBC Children\u2019s and Education, said: \u201cWorking collectively through Northern Star allows us to do more with the resources we have, backing distinctive stories that resonate with our audiences while helping UK producers connect with partners across Europe. It\u2019s a practical way to sustain ambition in children\u2019s drama and ensure culturally relevant storytelling continues to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The collaboration brings together funding, expertise and commissioning power across five markets, with the aim of developing and delivering distinctive content that resonates with children across Northern Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Fortuijn, Manager of NPO Zapp (The Netherlands): &#8220;Each partner in this collaboration is committed to delivering the very best content for their audience. By joining forces, we combine our strengths to offer an even higher level of quality while also connecting children to stories and perspectives from across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morten Skov Hansen, Head of Children\u2019s Department at DR Content said: \u201cInternational platforms don\u2019t necessarily reflect children\u2019s own lives as they are lived locally. With Northern Star, together with our European public service colleagues, we can create stories that are both locally rooted and have the strength to travel across borders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anne Dreesen, Head of children&#8217;s content at VRT, said: \u201cBy joining the Northern Star Project, VRT is investing in the future of children\u2019s storytelling in Europe. At a time when global competition is intensifying, we believe Europe\u2019s strength lies in collaboration. In bringing together our creativity, diversity, and shared public values to create ambitious, high quality drama for young audiences. Together, we can build a more connected and resilient ecosystem for children&#8217;s content across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Siril Heyerdahl, Head of Children and Youth content at NRK, said: \u201cWorking closer together across Europe benefits all our viewers. Through the Northern Star project, NRK is excited to expand our offering to Norwegian children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Northern Star Project reflects a shared long-term commitment to investing in distinctive European children\u2019s content that can travel across borders while remaining rooted in local storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>HG<\/p>\n<p>Follow for more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five Northern European public service broadcasters \u2013 the BBC, DR (Denmark), NPO (Netherlands), NRK (Norway) and VRT (Flanders)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-650186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}