Children’s programme to be filmed on replica model sets using special effects to ‘reinvigorate show for future generations’

Eh-oh! New episodes of BBC children’s favourite Teletubbies are to be made for the first time in more than a decade. The 2014 version will have a new set – the site of the original Teletubbies house is now a pond – but Tinky Winky’s handbag is likely to return.

The show will retain a live action element with main characters Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po again played by actors in suits. However, the producers are also promising more CGI special effects and other updated elements to reflect technological advances in the 13 years since Teletubbies was last in production.

The original incarnation of Teletubbies was in production between 1997 and 2001, with 365 episodes made and still being repeated on CBeebies and other channels around the world.

Teletubbies was a huge hit in creative, ratings and business terms, exported to more than 120 territories and translated into 45 languages by by BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm. It was a trailblazer for other UK children’s shows that became global brands, such as Tweenies and In the Night Garden.

Now BBC preschool channel CBeebies has ordered 60 new Teletubbies episodes from Canadian firm DHX Media, which acquired Ragdoll, the UK independent producer behind Teletubbies and In The Night Garden, last year. The new series will be made by UK production company Darrall Macqueen.

New episodes will be filmed on a replica of the show’s distinctive original outdoor set, as there is now a pond where the Teletubbies house stood. The owner of the Warwickshire farm where the show was filmed told the Sunday People last year that she brought the diggers in after getting fed up with Teletubbies fans trespassing on her land.

Steven DeNure, DHX Media president, said the Teletubbies revival was aiming to bring the series up to date with what kids expect from a modern TV show.

“The last episodes were made in 2001 and technology has really changed dramatically,” DeNure added. “The Teletubbies always had a relationship with tech for little kids – mong other things a screen on their bellies and a vacuum cleaner as a best friend. It is a pre-school show that has a very gentle introduction to technology in a relatively indirect way. We are updating them in beautiful HD episodes.”

He said there was a good chance Tinky Winky’s handbag would return, although no final decision had been made on that particular detail. “I think if Tinky Winky shows up with a handbag we would be perfectly happy with that.”

The handbag proved an unlikely source of controversy in 1999, when US televangalist Jerry Falwell alleged that Tinky Winky was a covert “gay role model”. DeNure said that at the time he had felt surprised, like many others, by these comments.

“As many have said it is pre-school show with a character with a magic handbag, what’s wrong with that?” he added.

Kay Benbow, controller of CBeebies, said: “Teletubbies is an enduringly popular series with our youngest viewers, although no new episodes have been made for over ten years. Early development and test shoots have persuaded me that CBeebies viewers are in for a wonderful treat.”

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