Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
ABC News
ABC News
Business

Not just for kids. How the success of Bluey could come down to a key ingredient

Series three of Bluey will begin airing Sunday on ABC Kids and ABC iview. (ABC)

The thing about Bluey is it appeals to a wide audience – children, parents, but also those without kids.

"I've only just joined TikTok recently," Bluey composer Joff Bush told ABC News.

"But there's this whole BlueyTok thing.

"And it's mostly people without kids and they just love it."

This may be, according to Bluey Director Rich Jeffery, due to the intent of the creative team behind the multi-award-winning global smash hit.

"It was always the intention … to make it a co-viewing show," Jeffery said.

"Because it's not just kids, it's parenting … and so to include story and jokes in there for the parents is part of the success of Bluey, I'd say.

"There's been many attributes, but that's definitely one of the key ones.

"Because it gets the whole family watching."

Bush said even the music isn't necessarily tailored towards children.

"There's only two things I can think of which are probably from a music perspective where we actually consider that it even is a children's show," Bush said.

"Those are: is it too scary? And is it too ambiguous?

"Those are the two things that we consider.

"But other than that … we treat it like it's like any other story, like an adult story or a children's story."

Jeffery agrees, saying the team is meticulous in going over every detail.

"We really pushed for good animation because I think a lot of shows are made where they think it doesn't matter: 'It's just a kids show. It doesn't need to be amazing animation, it'll sell anyway', and it kind of does, but I think when you go to great lengths to put effort into certain areas and to push the quality, people do notice it and I find that very rewarding.

"And people comment on the animation as beautiful. Even little art direction things like the long grass underneath the trampoline – just little touches that people pick up on, they say 'oh my God, they even did long grass under the trampoline' and when someone notices that it's like yeah, it is worth it."

'This is gonna go bananas'

Jeffery said they could never have guessed that the show would be this successful when they started out, but there was an animator who had an inkling.

"I remember Chris, one of our animators, saying 'Rich, I think this is gonna go bananas'" Jeffery said.

"This is before even season one went out, and he goes, 'this is gonna go through the roof. It's gonna go bananas, I can just feel it'.

"And it has."

In Series 3 Bluey and sister Bingo build a cubby for their stuffed toy. (ABC)

The third season of the series will begin airing this weekend with the titular character Bluey, the loveable six-year-old Blue Heeler dog, turning regular activities like a trip to the beach or making a cubby house into a unique adventure with her family.

Along with the new series comes a new album – Bluey: Dance Mode brings together 17 new recordings from all three seasons of the show with songs originally composed by Bush. And of course, there has to be a podcast. It's for grown-ups and is called Behind Bluey.

"One of the things I've really noticed recently is everyone's going 'wait, how did you make this?'" Bush said.

"And now we're all looking back at 'what did we do five years ago? What are the ingredients of this special sauce we've got here?'

"And we're going: 'well, it's just such a combination of factors.'

"Obviously (the creator, writer and series director) Joe Brumm's the chef what are all these ingredients? And how did they all work?"

Jeffery said the podcast will give fans of the show an insight into how everything works.

"It's also for budding animation people, people in the industry, especially people starting out," Jeffery said.

"We did talk a lot on the podcast, actually, about how we made the episodes, the technical challenges and how we approach certain episodes.

"And I think that'll be interesting for people who are starting out in animation or people who have been in animation for a long time.

"And it will also be of interest to people who don't work in animation.

"They'll get an insight into what goes on and the studio environment.

"Because it's huge. It's a huge production.

"Nearly 50 people in-house delivering weekly.

"Once that production train's running, it doesn't stop. It just keeps going."

New episodes of Bluey Series 3 air Sundays at 8am and 6.20pm from Sunday 9th April on ABC Kids and ABC iview. Bluey: Dance Mode is released on April 21 on CD, orange vinyl and streaming services and is now available to pre-order. And to listen to Behind Bluey download the ABC listen app.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.