Darrall Macqueen Ltd is an entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

 company based in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. They are best known for children's television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 programmes, most notably Smile

Smile (TV series)

Smile was a British Sunday morning children's programme created by production company Darrall Macqueen Ltd for CBBC. It first aired in 2002 and was originally shown on the CBBC Channel. It was moved to BBC Two to make way for Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. Although Dick and Dom finished in 2006,...

 and Baby Jake

Baby Jake

Baby Jake is a BBC children's television programme broadcast in the UK and first aired on 27 June 2011.. The programme features Jake, a 10-month old baby. Jake is the youngest of ten children all living in a windmill with their parents...

, although they also release web

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

, mobile

Mobile content

Mobile content is any type of media which is viewed or used on mobile phones, like ringtones, graphics, discount offers, games, movies, and GPS navigation. As mobile phone use has grown since the mid 1990s, the significance of the devices in everyday life has grown accordingly...

 and enhanced television

Enhanced television

Enhanced Television is a collection of specifications developed under the OpenCable project of CableLabs that define an ETV Application consisting of resources adhering to the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format content format as well as:*PNG images*JPEG images*PFR downloadable fontsAn ETV...

 content. They are part of the Southern Star Group

Southern Star Group

Southern Star Group is Australia's largest independent television production and distribution group....

.

History

The company was created in January 2000, run by Darrall Macqueen, and was eventually passed down to his son, Billy. The company was ranked in the top 10 entertainment companies in the UK in 2007. The company has earned numerous Children's BAFTAs, including Production Company of the Year Award in 2006, and three awards for Smile.

The company was created in January 2000 by Maddy Darrall and Billiy Macqueen in a joint venture on departing from the UK branch of Disney.[1] The company was ranked in the top 10 entertainment companies in the UK in 2007. [1] The company has earned numerous Children's BAFTAs, including Production Company of the Year Award in 2006, and five awards for Smile. [1]

In July 2011, Baby Jake

Baby Jake

Baby Jake is a BBC children's television programme broadcast in the UK and first aired on 27 June 2011.. The programme features Jake, a 10-month old baby. Jake is the youngest of ten children all living in a windmill with their parents...

 began airing on CBeebies

CBeebies

CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...

.