Teletubbies

Teletubbies was co-created by Ragdoll Productions with the artist and writer Andrew Davenport. The original series ran to 365 episodes of 30 minutes each, broadcast between March 1997 and April 1999; Teletubbies Everywhere, 52 episodes of 10 minutes each, followed in February 2002.⁠[1]

The Teletubbyland set stood on farmland at Wimpstone, about eight kilometres south of Stratford-upon-Avon; after the series ended the artificial dome was removed and the site became a pond.⁠[2]

The episode Playing In The Rain was shortlisted in the “Pre School & Infants” category of the Royal Television Society’s 1997 Educational Television Awards, which Come Outside won.⁠[3]

The 1997 single Teletubbies Say ‘Eh-Oh!’ peaked at number one on the UK singles chart and is number 128 on the Official Charts list of the best-selling singles of all time.⁠[4]

In the 1997 Christmas shopping season the Teletubbies dolls became the number one Christmas toy, as predicted, with around one million sold.⁠[5]

In 1999 the US evangelist Jerry Falwell warned parents that the character Tinky Winky was a hidden symbol of homosexuality; his comments were widely mocked.⁠[6]

Ragdoll Developments Limited was incorporated in the UK on April 19, 2006; it was renamed Ragdoll Worldwide Limited in April 2010, DHX-RD Worldwide Limited in October 2013, and DHX Worldwide Limited from June 2014.⁠[7]

In March 2011 Teletubbies: My First App!, developed by EM Studios, went on sale in the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, featuring characters from the series, original music and voices, and a Parent’s Zone.⁠[8]

By June 2011 nine Teletubbies learning centres had opened across China.⁠[9]

In January 2013 Stephen Gould joined Ragdoll to lead worldwide licensing for properties including Teletubbies and In the Night Garden, reporting to Ragdoll Worldwide CEO Mark Hollingsworth.⁠[10]

In September 2013 the Canadian company DHX Media bought Ragdoll Worldwide for US$27.7 million and thereby took ownership of Teletubbies.⁠[11]

In June 2014 DHX Media and the UK company Darrall Macqueen announced 60 new episodes for CBeebies, keeping the classic characters with CGI enhancements and a more contemporary look.⁠[11]

In June 2015 Nickelodeon acquired US broadcast and on-demand rights to the new series for Nick Jr. in 2016 and took all 365 original episodes for its Noggin on-demand service. The screens on the characters’ stomachs became touch screens, and the voice cast included Jane Horrocks, Fearne Cotton and Jim Broadbent.⁠[12]

The new Teletubbies series launched in November 2015.⁠[13]

After the series debuted in the UK on CBeebies, DHX Media signed ten more broadcasters in March 2016, among them TVE in Spain, NPO Zappelin in the Netherlands, SIC in Portugal and Hop! Media Group in Israel; earlier partners included Nick Jr. in the US, Family Jr. in Canada, Gulli in France, Rai YoYo in Italy and ABCABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry Kids in Australia.⁠[14]

In April 2016 DHX Media and CBeebies announced a second season of 60 more episodes from Darrall Macqueen, adding a hidden play glade called “the Hidey Hup” and eight younger characters, the Tiddlytubbies.⁠[15]

DHX Media said the original episodes had aired in more than 120 territories in 45 languages, reaching over 1 billion children, and that it was the first Western pre-school property to air on China’s CCTV, reaching about 300 million children.⁠[15]

In March 2017 Germany’s public children’s channel KiKA took exclusive rights to season one of the new series; KiKA had first aired the original in 1999. By then the new series was available in more than 24 territories and had more than 85 licensing partners.⁠[13]

In June 2017 the new series launched on iQIYI, Youku and Tencent and had generated 100 million views in China by January 2018; that month DHX announced its first Chinese licences, with toys going to Dongguan Taimei Culture & Technology Co. and books to Shenzhen Scholar Saint Education and Technology Co.⁠[16]

In September 2022 Netflix announced a 26 x 12-minute live-action series narrated by Tituss Burgess, scheduled to debut on November 14; it was produced that spring in Toronto by WildBrain, which owns the Teletubbies IP.⁠[17]

The CG-animated spin-off Teletubbies Let’s Go!, 52 episodes of about five minutes, began weekly releases on YouTube in October 2022, made with Vicon and Faceware motion capture and Unreal Engine in partnership with the Australian studio Fika Entertainment. WildBrain’s Nico Lockhart said the brand’s social media following had grown from 600,000 to 1.2 million in a year.⁠[18]

In March 2024 WildBrain CPLG licensed the Singapore company MetaPals to launch 5,000 Teletubbies digital companions as NFTs from April 20, each priced at US$100 to US$200.⁠[19]

On June 27, 2026 WildBrain and Max-Matching Entertainments opened the first Teletubbies and In the Night Garden retail experience, a 930-square-foot store in the Magic World Family Entertainment Center in Zhongshan, China; WildBrain plans a second store in Beijing in 2027.⁠[20]

The official website introduces the four main characters Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, along with Noo-noo and Baby Sun; it states that the characters and logo are copyright and trademark of DHX Worldwide Limited and licensed by it.⁠[21]

Teletubbies: Official website: https://www.teletubbies.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]

YouTube: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/@teletubbies (opens in a new window)⁠[21]