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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| In
1999, more than 5 million copies of Teletubbies’ video series were
sold.
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| 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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