Teletubbies History

TELETUBBIES HISTORY
Britain’s award winning children’s television producers, Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport of Ragdoll Ltd., created the Teletubbies for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC already had successful preschool programs, but needed a program for an even younger group- the one to four year olds. The Teletubbies were created with a unique format designed to stimulate young children’s imagination and thinking skills, to build their curiosity, to teach them to listen, and to increase their self-confidence. All Teletubbies productions were thoroughly researched with focus groups involving nursery school children. According to Wood and Davenport, the Teletubbies program was based on “…how children play, how they develop language, and what they are naturally interested in. Add to that, only that we include as much comedy as we can.”

For those who have not seen the show, the Teletubbies are Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po. The Teletubbies are gentle, energetic, technologic beings who love each other and live happily in the fantasy world of Teletubbyland where magical things happen. The Teletubbies love to explore and experiment with everything around them. Tinky Winky is purple, and the largest, gentlest Teletubby. He loves to march with his bag and sing his own Tinky Winky song. Dipsy, the second largest Teletubby, is green and has a special hat. Dispy loves to sing his hat-song, and dance his hat-dance. The happiest and silliest Teletubby is Laa-Laa. Laa-Laa is yellow and loves to dance with her ball. Po is red and the smallest of the Teletubbies. She likes to ride her scooter. All four Teletubbies can receive television pictures on their tummies. The tummy television pictures are the Teletubbies' link to reality and depict young children interpreting their experiences with the world. The Teletubbies' speech mirrors rudimentary speech and language skills. The pace of the program is slow and deliberate to allow the young child to stay with or a step ahead of the Teletubbies. Repetition, large movement and bright colors are used to nurture the young child’s listening and thinking skills. .

Teletubbies was first released in Britain on BBC in1997. The show was an instant success, not only with toddlers, but also with college students who clamored for Teletubbies T-shirts. The Teletubbies song, “Say Eh-oh”, was released in December of 1997 and went straight into the UK charts at number one. The song was just beaten to the top Christmas spot by the Spice Girls. Teletubbies aired in the U.S. on PBS in 1998. By the end of 2000, there were 365 episodes of the Teletubbies. The show has been translated into 35 languages and is watched by young viewers worldwide in over 80 countries. Teletubbies has received numerous awards, including the 1998 British Academy Children’s Award for Best Pre-School Program. The Teletubbies show was also nominated for the Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series’ Category at the 1999 US Annual Daytime Emmy Awards of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Anne Wood, the founder of Ragdoll Productions, and co-creater of the Teletubbies, was named Britain’s top female entrepreneur when she received the prestigious “Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year” award in 1999.

Other interesting trivia about the Teletubbies:
  • A total of 260 episodes of "Teletubbies" were commissioned by the BBC in 1997.
  • A survey conducted by the magazine “Playthings” revealed that for 1998, the best-selling toys were the Teletubbies from Playskool and Eden. Playthings surveyed buyers representing thousands of retail operations nationwide, including K*B Toys, Zany Brainy, Walgreens, Noodle Kidoodle and Toys R Us.
  • In 1999, Teletubbies made their biggest splash with a new line of Microsoft ActiMates Interactive Teletubbies. The newest versions of the interactive toys had the capability to interact with the TV series that aired on PBS in the United States, as well as with ActiMates- encoded videos. The Teletubbies toys responded to touch through a series of sensors. Each individual doll played 13 songs on three instruments and had hundreds of words, animation and sound effects.
  • In 1999, more than 5 million copies of Teletubbies’ video series were sold.
  • In 2001, the Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company released “Go! Exercise with the Teletubbies”, an interactive video aimed at combating childhood obesity and supporting it with an exercise event for preschoolers.

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