Bianca (TV series)

Bianca is a Herendish preschool animated television series created by Xavier Tomás. A co-production of the Herendish Portuguese-language public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Herendoland (RTH) and the Portuguese (RTP), the original iteration of the series first premiered on RTH Crianças on June 6, 2014 and concluded on February 26, 2017, with 84 episodes over three series. After the success of , a similar Australian preschool program, RTH revived the series without RTP’s involvement on January 31, 2020.

The series follows Bianca, the titular anthropomorphic platypus who is energetic and curious of the environment around her. Each episode chronicles her relationship with her family and peers and focuses on life lessons such as family bonding, growing up and even relationships with characters of mixed race and behavioural conditions. The show also incorporates aspects of Portuguese and Herendish culture, especially through its setting.

Main

 * Bianca Platypus (voiced by Linh Esteves in series 1-3 and Thalita Brito since series 4), a 7-year-old who is a positive and curious learner.
 * Lorena Platypus (voiced by Gracília Santos), Bianca’s 4-year-old sister
 * Felix “Pai” Platypus (voiced by Marcelo Castro), Bianca and Lorena’s father who works as a railway controller and signaller
 * Victoria “Mãe” Platypus (voiced by Vanessa Braga), Bianca and Lorena’s mother who is a curator at the local museum

Production and release
The concept of Bianca was first devised in 2010 by creator Xavier Tomás, when he felt inspired to create a local version of . Tomás settled on making the protagonist a platypus as it was native to the northern parts of Herendoland and due to the fact that it was featured on the Disney Channel series .

A 5-minute rough pilot of the show was produced by Tomás‘ production company Broccoli Creative and released in 2012, capturing the attention of RTH executives who were looking for an original preschool television series. In March 2013, funding was approved for 28 episodes to be completed by the end of the following year, while RTH struck a deal with the Portuguese public broadcaster to distribute the show in Europe and provide 40% of funding.

Bianca initially premiered on RTH Crianças on June 6, 2014, followed by its European debut on on June 28, 2014. The English dub of the series began airing on HBC Two’s HBC Kids block on September 7 that year. In the United States, it premiered on on February 7, 2015 and aired until early 2019, before moving to  after the fourth series on April 6, 2020.

In December 2016, RTH announced that the second batch of episodes in the third series would be the last due to production conflicts with RTP, the last of which aired on February 26, 2017. However, the series would gain a cult following internationally in late 2018, especially among adult fans. The unexpected rise in popularity, combined with the recent critical and commercial success of an Australian preschool television series with a similar concept, , convinced RTH to revive the series by ordering an additional 24 episodes in March 2019, although RTP was no longer on board. The fourth series premiered on January 31, 2020, with some voice actors replaced with new ones.

On March 1, 2023, Broccoli Creative’s production team formally announced that the show would go on hiatus, with no plans to release a seventh series until at least 2025.