Cookie Monster and Elmo to join CBeebies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24426915

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Sesame Street characters Cookie Monster and Elmo are to star in a new programme for CBeebies.

The Furchester will see the pair working in an "almost world-class hotel" owned by a family of "cheerfully incompetent monsters".

The show, which aims to improve children's problem-solving skills, will be co-produced by CBeebies and Sesame Street makers, Sesame Workshop.

The 52-part series will be screened next autumn.

The Furchester hotel will be headed up by owners Funella Furchester, her "beleaguered husband" Furgus Fuzz and their daughter, Phoebe Furchester-Fuzz.

Elmo is Phoebe's cousin who is on an extended visit to the hotel and fascinated by all it has to offer.

Cookie Monster will be working in his dream job as a room-service and dining-room waiter.

The series will begin production in MediaCityUK in Salford in the new year.

"The development of The Furchester has been a wonderful meeting of creative minds from both CBeebies In House Production and Sesame Workshop," CBeebies controller Kay Benbow said.

H Melvin Ming, president and chief executive officer of Sesame Workshop, added: "This partnership brings together two dynamic, enduring brands in children's media and we are confident that The Furchester will prove to be a great favourite with children and their parents and caregivers."

Cookie Monster first appeared on Sesame Street when it started in the US in 1969, with Elmo joining in the 70s and becoming a regular character on the programme in the 80s.

The show is now watched in more than 150 countries and has been adapted around the world, including in China, Brazil and Nigeria.