The Strange Chores


The Strange Chores is an Australian animated television series created by Charlie Aspinwall and Daley Pearson and co-produced by Ludo Studio and Media World Pictures. It premiered on ABC Me on 31 October 2019.
The show centres around two teenage warrior-heroes and a spirited ghost girl who master the skills they need to replace an ageing monster-slayer by doing his supernatural chores.
The third series premiered on ABC Family on 7 June 2024.

Plot

Two teenagers, Charlie and Pierce, discover that their "kooky neighbour" Old Man Helsing's house at the end of their street is secretly a portal to supernatural worlds. Helsing thinks he might be getting too old for all his adventures, so he allows them to become his apprentices. A mischievous ghost girl, Que, joins them on their adventures as they complete Helsing's freaky, bizarre, and sometimes terrifying chores.

Characters

Main

  • Charlie is a tenacious but often impetuous teenage boy whose passion often gets him into trouble.
  • Pierce is Charlie's shy but dedicated best friend.
  • Que is a friendly ghost girl with long blue hair who lives in Helsing's attic.
  • Helsing is an elderly monster hunter that decides to accept Charlie, Pierce and Que as his monster hunters in training.
  • Snorp is a small green quadruped monster who is Helsing's pet, communicates by saying "Snorp".

Production

The Strange Chores is produced entirely in Australia by Ludo Studio and Media World Production, with animation provided by 12Field Animation using Toon Boom Harmony. Production on the first series of the show took 95 weeks including over 5,000 scenes, 400 rigs, 500 props and 3000 background designs. Ludo aimed for an older audience for this show when compared to their massively popular preschool series Bluey.
The series was renewed for a second season.

Broadcast

The first series of The Strange Chores was released to ABC iview on 31 October 2019, accompanying the series premiere on the same day. The episode "Don't Trick or Tweet" also aired as a preview before the first two episodes. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series aired on Pop (British and [Irish TV channel)|Pop] on 1 November, one day after the Australian premiere. In 2020, it was also broadcast on Disney Channel (Southeast [Asian TV channel)|Disney Channel Asia] and CBC Kids.
The second series was released to ABC iview on 24 June 2022, which, again, accompanied the series premiere on the same day. Also, like the first series, the episode "Haunt the House" was aired as a preview to the series on April 8 of that same year.