HOT Animation is a British stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 studio based in Broadheath

Broadheath, Greater Manchester

Broadheath is a suburb of Altrincham in Greater Manchester, England. It is historically part of the county of Cheshire and has a Warrington postcode.At Broadheath's height as an industrial area, the industries supported perhaps 12,000 employees...

, Altrincham

Altrincham

Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England. It was established in 1998 by Jackie Cockle, Brian Little and Joe Dembinski.

Worldwide success followed with Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specialising in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of...

, a show for pre-school children about a builder and his talking machines. In 2000, the theme tune was released as a single, Can We Fix It?

Can We Fix It?

"Can We Fix It?" is the name of the theme song, written by Paul K. Joyce, from the children's television programme Bob the Builder, produced by Hot Animation. The title is derived from the main character's catchphrase, a query towards the rest of the cast when presented with a challenge...

with an accompanying promo produced at HOT, which beat Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

's Please Stay

Please Stay

"Please Stay" is a song by Australian singer and songwriter Kylie Minogue, for her seventh studio album Light Years . The song was written by Minogue, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher and John Themis, while it was produced by Stannard and Gallagher. The song was chosen as the fourth single off...

, Eminem

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

's Stan

Stan (song)

"Stan" is the third single from The Marshall Mathers LP, by rapper Eminem featuring Dido. It peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also included on Curtain Call: The Hits, performed with Eminem and Dido as well track 17 on Curtain Call: The Hits as a live Performance from...

 and Westlife

Westlife

Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

's What Makes a Man

What Makes a Man

"What Makes a Man" is the third single to be released from Westlife's second studio album, Coast to Coast. It was their first single not to peak at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, being beaten to the Christmas Number One by "Can We Fix It?", the popular theme to cartoon series, Bob the Builder...

 to become the Christmas number-one single.

Next came Brambly Hedge, a series of half-hour specials based on the illustrated books for children by Jill Barklem

Jill Barklem

Jill Barklem is a British writer and illustrator of children's books. Her most famous work is the Brambly Hedge series, published from 1980.- Biography :...

, and Rubbadubbers

Rubbadubbers

The Rubbadubbers is a British stop motion animation children's show from Hot Animation which is owned by HIT Entertainment.-Plot:The television show features characters who are animated bath toys. They often excitedly announce that the children are about to take a bath.-Format:Each episode begins...

, a series about bath toys that come alive. Pingu

Pingu

Pingu is a British-Swiss stop-motion claymated television series created by Otmar Gutmann. The series was produced by The Pygos Group and Trickfilmstudio for Swiss television. The show is about a family of anthropomorphic penguins at the South Pole. The main character is the family's son and title...

, a Swiss series about a family of penguins, was recreated with great success in 2004.

In 2007, HOT moved into a more adult arena, producing an animated sequence for an episode of the popular Life on Mars (TV series)

Life on Mars (TV series)

Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....

.

After the Company was taken over by a venture capitalist firm, job cuts inevitably ensued, leaving the company with a fraction of its previous workforce.

HOT Animation is a subsidiary of HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment

Hit Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television...

.