ENTREPRENEUR and cartoon creator James Driscoll is hoping for further animated success with a new series about eco-friendly aliens.

Jim, as he is known locally - who created the successful 1980s cartoon series The Shoe People, has teamed up once again with illustrator Rob Lee, co-creator of Fireman Sam, to devise the new Aliens in My Backpack project.

The pair have worked together for 30 years, including on The Shoe People, and just last year they unveiled plans for a police themed new cartoon Calling Oscar India with the aim of helping to spread important children's safety messages.

Now they're back with another animated offering and this one is out of this world.

Their new CGI Aliens in My Backpack series brings to life a family of characters from a distant planet with ideal ecological settings, who are on a mission to share their secrets with earth.

Production will be handled by Toonz Media Group in India, and Russia's SoyuzmultFilm Studios, with the partnership responsible for video distribution, licensing and merchandising.

Jim, aged 72, who was awarded an MBE for services to publishing in the 1990s, said he was delighted to have teamed up with the Russian animation studio - saying it felt like he has come full circle.

Kidderminster Shuttle: Jim Driscoll MBEJim Driscoll MBE

He added: "I had massive success in Russia in 1990 when The Shoe People became the first cartoon from the west to be networked on TV, and it is still fondly remembered today by many people in Russia who are now parents themselves."

Jim, who lived in Stourbridge before moving to Chaddesley Corbett, near Kidderminster, came up with the idea for the new cartoon a couple of years ago and its title changed a few times before he settled on Aliens in my Backpack.

With high hopes for the animated project and its ability to help spread important conservation messages, he's already thinking up possible merchandise ideas such as an array of collectible children's toys.

For a sneak preview of the new Aliens show, click here.

Production will start later this year and the first episode is expected to be available to show to potential media and broadcast partners by mid/late 2021.

Lee Garrett, owner of Stourbridge’s Create a Scene Studios, is working on the pre-production and has written and recorded a theme song for the series as well as working on creating an outer space radio station for the project – Aliens Intergalactic Digital Radio.