Entertainment. Grant Bradley of Daybreak Pacific and Jim Howell serve as executive producers. Michael Carrington, head of animation and programme acquisitions for BBC Children's, told Broadcast that the BBC had declined the opportunity to be involved in the production of a K9 series, saying, "As the BBC is already committed to a number of spin-off projects, we concluded that a K9 series may simply be an extension too far." BBC-owned characters like the Doctor will not appear in the series, due to rights considerations. In July 2007, the Australian Film Finance Corporation approved funding for the series, and the programme was pre-sold to Network Ten. The Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) (subsequently renamed Screen Queensland) also provided additional financing. The first series was shot between 3 December 2008 and 8 May 2009. The series is produced in Brisbane, Australia, shooting on location around the city and on a set built in a South Brisbane warehouse. A logo for the series was released on 27 February bearing some similarities to the original font seen on the casing of K9. A trailer produced to promote the series at MIPTV was released on 2 April 2009. As it was made early in production, the music, titles, and voice of K9 were not the final ones used in the programme. A second trailer was released on 1 October 2009. Concept K-9 is set in near-future London, with 14-year-old characters Starkey and Jorjie, alongside a Professor Gryffen, who is experimenting with a Space-Time Manipulator, and 15-year-old Darius who runs errands for Gryffen. K9 Mark I follows the villainous reptilian warrior Jixen who came through a space-time portal created by the professor's experiments and saves the Londoners. While protecting them, K9 is forced to self-destruct, but is able to give Starkey instructions to rebuild him in a more advanced form. K9 and the humans then form the front line defence against alien menaces from outer space and other times. The Brisbane Times reports that the series is set in London in the year 2050 and Professor Gryffen is employed by a clandestine government agency, "The Department". The design of K9 is noticeably different from that seen in Doctor Who because although Bob Baker owns the character rights to K9, the original character design is owned by the BBC. Connections to Doctor Who As this is not a BBC production, direct references to Doctor Who are