Teletubbies

Teletubbies is a BBC children's television series, particularly aimed at babies and pre-school toddlers, produced from 1997 to 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Anne Wood CBE, Ragdoll's creative director, and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. more...

The programme was a rapid critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad, particularly notable for its high production values; it won a BAFTA in 1998.

Although the show is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, the show was a substantial cult hit with older generations, particularly university students who bought the customary regulation T Shirts. Teletubbies say Eh-Oh, a single based around the show's theme song, reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1997 and remained in the top 100 for eight months, selling over a million copies. They released 'The Album' in April 1998, but it only managed to reach #31.

The mixture of bright colours, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, the ritualistic format and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to a demographic who perceived the show as having psychedelic connotations.

Teletubbies was controversial for the alleged psychedelic inspiration, for a perception that it was insufficiently educational, and for a claim that one of the four (Tinky Winky) was homosexual.

Overview

The programme features four colourful tubby creatures: Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, who live within a futuristic dome (the "Tubbytronic Superdome"), set in a landscape of rolling grasslands. The environment is dotted with unusually talkative flowers and periscope-like "voice trumpets". The only natural fauna are rabbits (although birds are often heard, particularly blackcap and wren) and it is always sunny and pleasant save for one exception where puddles are required.

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