In 1993, Honeycomb Animation founders Simon & Sara Bor had signed a deal with Central (later owned by Carlton Television) to create the cartoon Wolves, Witches and Giants.

"[4] Years before, after the success of his debut book Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Rix had attempted to use his producer credits to get his work adapted by sending copies to television studios.

[1] When Honeycomb and Elephant agreed on a partnership, Rix's producer partner Nigel Planer was performing a few of the Grizzly, Ghostly, and Fearsome short stories during the evenings on BBC Radio 5 (which re-aired on Radio 4),[5][6][7][8][9] but pre-production was forcibly halted just as storyboarding began due to studio hesitations over the source material and the publisher of Fearsome Tales for Fiendish Kids (Hodder Children's Books) being different from the rest in the trilogy (André Deutsch Limited).

[1] After Wolves, Witches and Giants concluded in 1998, Forte funded a three-minute television pilot based on Grizzly Tales book series.

"[1] In September, it was pitched to Cartoon Forum, which was attended by numerous children's television broadcaster representatives, who unanimously approved and offered a percentage of the budget.

[1] Thirteen episodes were created within 15 months for the first series with Rix as co-director and co-screenwriter,[13] Nigel Planer as narrator, and the Bors as directors, with animation divided between Honeycomb, and Elephant Productions' sister company Lough House.

To promote the new cartoon, Rix rereleased the first three books with Hodder and Scholastic Ltd.,[1] as well as the new More Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids,[1] with front covers designed by Honeycomb Animation.

[4] Each episode has a framing device of an old movie theater named the Squeam Screen, which is solely occupied by its creepy caretaker and his spider companion, Spindleshanks.

The cinema caretaker was now replaced by the re-invented books' The Night-Night Porter, his half-brother,[37] who banishes horrible children to spend an eternity at his hotel.