A Norwich mum and dad are set to take on global animators as they launch an educational DVD for young children.

Jezz and Julianne Wright have released Jack and Holly's Christmas Countdown, a 70-minute animated film which follows the story of two best friends as they discover the concept of Christmas.

It is the first of a series of DVDs which follows the three-year-old and five-year-old as their learn about key moments in life.

The couple, who live in St Philip's Road, Norwich, decided to produce their own educational DVDs for pre-school children after they had their first child Cillian, now five, and were dissatisfied with the products already on the market.

They spent two years researching, producing and rigorously testing the DVD, putting it through parent/child/teacher focus groups, and now their first DVD is being sold in the UK, USA and online.

Mr Wright, 42, a media lecturer at City College Norwich, said: 'When we had our first born, we were not satisfied with the educational content in the so-called educational products we bought.

'We were shocked and felt as though programme makers had got lazy. We've gone against the grain and really looked at the psychology of young children, used soft colours and have made it so children can really engage with the material.'

The voice of Jack is played by their son Cillian and all of the voices and songs have been recorded by Norfolk children.

Mr Wright, who worked in TV and journalism before he retrained as a teacher, created the animation himself in his studio at home.

The couple, who also have a daughter, Beth, two, sought advice from an education consultant and many of their close friends are teachers and headmasters.

More than 5,000 DVDs have been produced and they are being sold on their own website and on Amazon. Profits are being donated to East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH). Their second DVD, Jack and Holly's Space Stories, is currently in production.

For more information, go to www.jackandholly.com