STOURBRIDGE entrepreneur James Driscoll, creator of The Shoe People, is back with a new children's animated cartoon series.

Jim, as he is known, has teamed up with Rob Lee, co-creator of Fireman Sam, to devise a new children's pre-school series about two police officers.

The pair, who have worked together for 30 years and have created and produced a number of children's cartoons, have joined forces again to create the new series - Calling Oscar India - which they hope will provide as much of a boost in promoting the work of UK police officers as Fireman Sam did for the fire service.

Jim, who was awarded the MBE in 1994 for services to publishing, said: "It's looking in great shape. It's the police version of Fireman Sam. I think it's going to do really well.

Being produced by Toonz Media Group in India - the $5million series will focus on friendly community police officers PC Oscar Harrison and PC India Summers and will aim to highlight issues including water safety, stranger danger, road safety, healthy eating and internet safety to help educate and entertain young schoolchildren.

Stourbridge based Create a Scene, whose owner Lee Garrett is an actor, director and producer of animated cartoons, has handled the trailer for the new series and Lee has also provided the voice of Oscar and composed the opening title music.

The town's Ultimate Coldplay tribute band, featuring lead singer Dave Jenkins on vocals, recorded the track featuring lyrics written by Jim.

Dave said: "It was great fun to work on the song with Lee and it sounds great, I've never worked on anything for children's TV before so I'm grateful to Jim for the opportunity,"

Jim has also been assisted by West Mercia Police in the production of the first animated pilot for the series.

He said: "They have advised on the design of uniforms, police vehicles and provided us with statistics for the various safety campaigns which we will be launching in the future. We are truly grateful for their invaluable input."

Jim, who as well as having enjoyed worldwide TV industry success also has interests in property development and the care sector, came up with the idea for the new show after completing the sale of his old TV studio site in Hagley Road, Stourbridge.

The facility has long been knocked down and the site, which was derelict for many years, is now set to become a new state-of-the-art care home run by the Cinnamon Care Collection.

Having realised his ambition to breathe new life into the site, which will change the gateway to the town, he reunited with artist turned crime thriller writer Rob who also worked on The Shoe People and Super Ted, to create Calling Oscar India which he hopes will receive as much interest as The Shoe People which first propelled him to media stardom in the late 1980s.

He said: "It's gone down really well with people. It's got all the feel of being right."

Meanwhile - Jim is looking for local actors or voiceover artists to voice characters in the show, in particular someone to be the voice of PC India Summers.

He said: “We hope to attract more local talent, especially for the main role of India. Drama students are welcome to apply."

Anyone interested can contact Jim by emailing him at jimdplc@aol.com.