Charlie and Lola (TV series)

Charlie and Lola is a British animated children's television series based on the Charlie and Lola children's picture book series by Lauren Child, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for CBeebies. It ran for 3 series from 7 November 2005 to 24 April 2008, winning multiple BAFTA Children's Awards throughout its run. The animation uses a collage style that emulates the style of the original books.

Synopsis

7-year-old Charlie Sonner has a little 4-year-old sister named Lola; he describes her as "small and very funny". Lola often gets caught up in situations that she (inadvertently) causes, whether it's running out of money at the zoo and having to borrow Charlie's to forgetting her entire suitcase when having a sleepover at a friend's house. These situations are sometimes comedic but often reflect real world problems that younger children may face, such as losing a best friend, not getting the preferred part in a school play, or becoming too excited about an upcoming event and accidentally ruining it.

When these situations happen, Charlie usually ends up having to solve her problems through imaginative or creative methods, or by explaining to Lola where she went wrong. This is particularly demonstrated in the debut episode, "I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato", where Charlie pretends that her least favourite foods (such as carrots, mashed potatoes, fish fingers and tomatoes) are more fantastical items in order to encourage her to eat them, such as 'orange twiglets from Jupiter' and 'ocean nibblers from the supermarket under the sea'. This may encourage young children to eat particular healthy foods that would otherwise come across as undesirable to them.

In many episodes, Lola's best friend Lotta, Lola's imaginary friend Soren Lorenson and Charlie's best friend Marv become involved in some way or another.