When Dublin went into lockdown in March, Daily Madness got to work figuring out what they could do to help – the result was Pins and Nettie at Home, a mini-series based on their preschool series, Pins and Nettie, but with the focus shifted to showing Pins and Nettie playing games and having fun together while staying home. Daily Madness felt it was important to quickly provide the youngest of viewers a series that would reflect and acknowledge on screen the changes in their daily routines, and provide just a few moments of joy each week to anyone who needed it during those early and confusing months of lockdown. As such, the series was released on YouTube as a perfect platform to reach as many families as possible, free to view and without any territory restrictions.
The Pins and Nettie mini-series launched on Friday 17th April with a special episode called Together and Safe. Together and Safe had been specifically created to acknowledge and identify feelings of anxiety (sadness, anger and fear) caused by the current COVID-19 crisis, in a way that is suitable for the youngest of audiences. It also stepped though a very simple mindfulness exercise designed to help empower children in moments of anxiety, which has been a key aspect in the development of the main Pins and Nettie series.
The episode was written by co-creator Shannon George (‘Giganotosaurus’, ‘Kody Kapow’, ‘Blue’s Clues’), with the support of educational consultant Karen Leavitt (‘Blue’s Clues’, ‘Sesame Street’, ‘My Friends Tigger and Pooh’) to provide children and families with both reassurances and moments of joy to help them through our current situation. The episode also featured voice over work by Nicola Coughlan (‘Derry Girls’) who took on the role of the Narrator in the YouTube mini-series.
Directed and produced by Lindsey Adams, the series released another 12 weekly episode every Friday thereafter. Each week, Pins and Nettie were featured doing something fun either indoors or in their front garden (as opposed to going out on their usually exploring adventures). The episodes were targeted towards children under five and featured many classic games, including Simon Says, I-Spy and Hide-n-Seek.
The series was hugely successful, garnering nearly 2 million views and Daily Madness is already working on a second series for the YouTube channel which will be launched later in 2020.
We are #TogetherAndSafe with #PinsAndNettie