MUMBAI:: twofour54 ibtikar and UK‘s 3Line Media will co-produce Driver Dan‘s Story Train, an educational Arabic/English children‘s series.

The series will be broadcast in the UK on BBC‘s CBeebies from spring 2010. The format will be made available globally and can be customised for the Indian market."With the deal to co-produce Driver Dan‘s Story Train, twofour54 is taking its first steps towards establishing a sustainable media and content industry in the MENA region," says twofour54 CEO Tony Orsten.

Under the deal, twofour54 ibtikar will be responsible for developing and producing property for the Arabic speaking region. Instead of dubbing, live action footage of actual children responding and play acting to the story will be produced and will constitute a key part of the show format.

"One of our objectives is to stimulate and produce high quality, original content for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and ‘Driver Dan‘s Story Train‘ offers us the opportunity not only to co-produce a new children‘s property but also to directly develop its content in an appropriate direction for the region and its culture," says Orsten.

Says 3Line Media director and executive producer Estelle Hughes, "We are looking forward to collaborating with twofour54 ibtikar to shape the project directly for the Arab world. The MENA region has one of the world‘s fastest growing child populations with an increasing demand for relevant and high-quality children‘s content."

Driver Dan‘s Story Train is an animation and live action television series

developed to introduce young, pre-school age children to the delights of storytelling and reading books.

twofour54 ibtikar has also plans of launching the ibtikar creative lab later this year. It will be involved in providing primarily grant funding to UAE Nationals, ranging from $1,000 to $50,000, for ideas across all media platforms.