We create original animated IP from the heart built to travel and designed to last.
Noodle & Caboodle™ is a boutique UK-based animation development studio.
We build original children's IP from scratch - developing characters, stories, worlds and formats that are ready to commission, license, co-produce and extend across animation, publishing, gaming and live experience.
We work with broadcasters, streaming platforms, studios and brands as both an originator of our own IP and as a creative development partner for yours.
What we do
We develop and own original animated IP across preschool, family and young teen audiences - building properties that are ready to pitch to broadcasters, streamers, publishers and licensing partners. Our current slate spans five original properties. We also partner with other studios, brands and creators as a boutique development studio - providing character development, story development, series bible creation, script writing, world-building, format development and creative producing at industry-standard quality, at the speed and rates that larger studios simply can't match.
Who we are
Rich Staplehurst is the founder and creative director of Noodle & Caboodle™. The former Global Creative Director at Moonbug Entertainment - the studio behind CoComelon, Blippi and some of the world's most-watched children's content - Rich brings deep industry experience to every project he develops. Noodle & Caboodle™ is deliberately small and intentionally agile. We move faster than larger studios, think harder about creative quality, and protect IP with the seriousness it deserves. Our size is a feature, not a limitation. "Our mission is to create characters and stories that have purpose and come from the heart - bringing worlds to life through collaboration with our partners in ways that offer shared meaning for our audiences." - Rich Staplehurst, Founder, CCO and CCO
Our Story
Noodle & Caboodle™ was founded in 2026 with a simple belief: that the best children's stories come from somewhere real. What began as a personal response to grief became the seed of an entire slate - characters and worlds built from genuine emotion, not market research. That philosophy shapes everything we make. Our IP isn't engineered to tick boxes. It's created with purpose, refined through craft, and designed to connect - with children, with parents, and with the partners who bring it to life.
Character development | Story development | Series bibles | Scriptwriting | World-building | Format development | Creative producing
Character Development
We build characters from the ground up - personality, physicality, voice, relationships and emotional arc. Characters that feel real, travel globally, and give audiences someone to grow with. From initial concept through to bible-ready profiles and style guides.
Pitch & Concept Development
Got an idea that needs shaping into something a broadcaster will take seriously? We take raw concepts and build them into fully realised pitches - loglines, one-pagers, decks, treatments and supporting materials that open doors.
Series Bibles
We develop narrative worlds with the rigour that broadcasters and streamers expect. Series bibles, episode frameworks, season arcs, tone of voice, thematic DNA - everything a commissioner needs to say yes, and everything a production needs to get started.
Format Development
We design the worlds your characters live in - the rules, the geography, the tone, the logic. And we shape the format around the audience: episode length, structure, pacing, platform fit. Built to be consistent, scalable and distinctive.
Scriptwriting
Scripts written for animation, with an understanding of how children actually speak, listen and feel. We write with character voice at the centre - dialogue that's funny, warm and true, never generic.
Art Direction & Creative Direction
Visual language, design philosophy, colour, style, world aesthetic. We bring creative direction to projects that need a strong, consistent visual identity - from early concept through to pitch materials and beyond.
Our current slate of five original properties spans preschool to young teen - each one independently created, wholly owned by Noodle & Caboodle™, and available for commission, co-production or licensing. From the gentle riverside world of Flo & Otto™ to the martial arts adventure of Chuck Loris™, every property has been developed with the full animation, publishing and licensing journey in mind.
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