New Netflix children's series The Last Bus to film in Cheddar next week

A new children's series for Netflix is set to be filmed in Cheddar next week.

The Last Bus is a 10-part live-action children's series described as a sci-fi road trip adventure that tells the story of a group of mismatched school kids who band together to face a fearsome new machine intelligence.

It is due to be filmed in Cheddar Gorge overnight from 6pm on Thursday October 8 to 6am on Friday October 9.

A road closure notice is in place "to allow for the safe filming of vehicles" on the B3135 up through the gorge during the hours listed above, confirming the title of the production that is filming.

The series is being produced by Bristol-based Wildseed Studios, a multi award-winning scripted entertainment production company, specialising in harnessing new talent to make premium shows for older kids, family and young adult audiences.

It was founded in 2013 by managing director Miles Bullough (Aardman, Absolutely) and creative director Jesse Cleverly (BBC, Royal Court Theatre) who met while working as producer and buyer on Shaun the Sheep.

The Last Bus is being written and created by Paul Neafcy, who was talent-spotted by Wildseed making mobile-phone films on YouTube from his bedroom.

Wildseed worked with Paul to develop two series – Phillip Human and PrankMe – for Subscription Video on Demand service Fullscreen before developing a scripted sci-fi drama concept and a 10-minute pilot that convinced Netflix this new creator was worth a full Original commission.

As well as experienced hands Lawrence Gough and Steve Hughes, new directors on The Last Bus include emerging talent Drew Casson and Nour Wazzi.

Still only 25 years old, Wildseed met YouTube creator Drew Casson when he was just 18 and produced Hungerford with him, a low budget 80-minute multi-award winning feature film and then its sequel The Darkest Dawn, both picked up by Netflix.

Wildseed worked with rising young director Nour Wazzi on proof of concept film The Moderators before asking her to direct two episodes of The Last Bus.

The series will be produced across Bristol and the South West and shot in Bristol's Bottle Yard Studios.

The cast combines proven talent with some kids who have never acted before, cast from a trawl of thousands of young people.

Miles and Jesse said: "Although at the top level The Last Bus is a shamelessly entertaining sci-fi romp, at another level it is a powerful eco-fable about how the younger generation must be empowered to make very different choices from the generation which preceded it when it comes to the two big challenges of the age – environmental breakdown and hugely sophisticated artificial intelligence.

"While we have the technology to repair the ecosystem, vested interests seem determined to prevent the change we need to make, at the speed we need to make it.

"Youth climate strikes and myriad other forms of activism tell us, quite rightly, this is the issue which concerns this audience the most – after all it is their futures they are trying to save, not ours.

"It is also true that increasingly, artificial intelligence can out-think humanity – and how we choose to deploy the tools that we are now capable of inventing could well determine humanity's fate over the next 100 years.

"We hope that by producing The Last Bus, and releasing it simultaneously to a global audience, we will have made a small contribution to the pool of courage young people will need to draw upon in the years ahead.

"We are proud and delighted that Netflix has championed the production of this ambitious, entertaining and important show, and we look forward to working with the excellent team we have assembled in order to execute this to the highest possible standard."