From Gqeberha to the small screen: Media Seven brings three new children’s worlds to South African television.
There is something powerful about seeing locally created stories make their way onto national television, particularly when those stories are designed to educate, entertain and speak to South African children in ways that feel familiar.
This October, Gqeberha-based Media Seven is bringing three new animated productions to South African screens - Nature Nerd, The Pencil Tin and Gordon. While each series enters a completely different world, from wildlife and conservation to a classroom pencil tin and the adventures of a newly adopted puppy, they share an important thread - turning everyday curiosity into stories through which children can learn, laugh and explore.
Leading the trio is Nature Nerd, an animated/live-action hybrid aimed at children aged five to nine. The series combines an animated character with real wildlife footage and, importantly, real South African conservationists. It will be available in both English and isiXhosa.
Nature Nerd takes young viewers beneath the waves to a secret laboratory hidden inside a coral reef, where an animated science enthusiast sets out to get children excited about the natural world.
But this is not simply another animated character sharing animal facts. Each episode follows a four-part structure that takes children from Nature Nerd’s laboratory into a “Fact Dive”, where they discover five bite-sized animal facts through real wildlife footage. The programme then connects viewers with conservationists in the field before returning to the laboratory for a recap.
The conservation element gives the production a distinctly local character. Media Seven worked with conservationists from Nyosi Wildlife Reserve and Raggy Charters, introducing children to people doing conservation work in the real world. Across 23 topics, viewers will encounter everything from bees and cheetahs to dolphins, chameleons and rhinos.
Perhaps one of Nature Nerd’s most significant elements is language. Each episode has a matching English and isiXhosa version, creating an opportunity for young viewers to engage with science, biology, ecology and conservation in a South African language they may hear and speak at home.
Bringing that world together was no small undertaking. Director, English narrator, music and final mix contributor Bronwen Nel described combining animation, wildlife footage and conservationists as both a technical and creative challenge, while isiXhosa voice artists Khanya Matsolo and Lwamkelo Tshikini highlighted the work involved in finding the right language, terminology and character voices for the production.
While Nature Nerd takes children into the natural world, The Pencil Tin finds its adventure somewhere far more ordinary - the classroom.
From Gqeberha to the small screen: Media Seven brings three new children’s worlds to South African television.
Pencil, Eraser, Red Crayon, Red Sharpener, Green Pen and Ruler become a little community of characters with personalities that resemble the schoolchildren who use them every day.
Across 25 short episodes, including 20 original songs and five narrated stories, themes such as kindness, teamwork, counting, planets and good sportsmanship are woven into adventures rather than presented as formal lessons. Pencil is curious, Eraser careful and precise, Red Crayon enthusiastic and Ruler dependable.
Interestingly, the concept did not begin as television animation. Polly Cordell, who developed the concept, stories and character designs, explains that The Pencil Tin originally started as a radio drama for her radio production learners before the idea evolved into an animated series with songs and educational themes.
Then there is Gordon, perhaps the most emotionally familiar of the three worlds.
The series follows an Australian Shepherd puppy adjusting to a new home, new people and new surroundings. Through three narrated stories and 12 original songs, Gordon encounters friendship, kindness, teamwork and responsibility, while inevitably getting a few things wrong along the way.
That imperfection is central to the character. Gordon is simply a puppy learning how to navigate his new life, allowing young viewers to recognise something of their own experiences of learning, making mistakes and trying again. The stories are narrated by Daron Mann.
Like The Pencil Tin, Gordon also grew from an earlier idea. Cordell says Gordon began as a rhyming story about an adopted puppy meeting his new human, Lunathi, intended to help children and adults understand what to expect when welcoming a puppy into a family. That concept was subsequently expanded into animation, narrated stories and songs.
The Pencil Tin and Gordon launch on eToonz from 1 October 2026, with appearances also scheduled within e.tv’s Craze block. Nature Nerd’s English premiere follows on Wednesday, 7 October at 3pm, while the isiXhosa version premieres on Sunday, 18 October.
For Media Seven, October therefore represents more than three new productions going to air. It is an opportunity to take ideas developed locally and place them before young audiences nationally.
And perhaps that is where the bigger story lies: children’s television does not always need distant worlds to inspire imagination. Sometimes the adventure can begin with the wildlife around us, the stationery sitting inside a pencil tin, or a puppy discovering home for the very first time.
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