Teletubbies creator: remaking children's TV classics is 'a bit sad'

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/17/teletubbies-creator-childrens-tv-classics-bbc-cbeebies

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The creator of Teletubbies has said she will not be watching the new series, and dismissed the trend of remaking classic children’s TV as “a bit sad”.

Anne Wood, who sold the rights to the Bafta-winning Teletubbies in 2013 to fund fresh work, told the Radio Times that the new series, the first since 2001, “has nothing whatever to do with me”.

The programme, which she co-created with Andrew Davenport, launched on CBeebies in 1997, and ran up 365 25-minute episodes. The pair also co-created In the Night Garden, which debuted in 2007 and ran to 100 episodes before the BBC decided it would not be recomissioned in 2010.

Asked if she would be watching the new episodes of Teletubbies, due to air on CBeebies later this year, she said: “No. I couldn’t bring myself to. I mean I have nothing against them, it might be brilliant. They tell me they’ve got the best producer possible on it, so that’s a good sign.

“But how could I watch it? All my programmes are like my children. It’s like seeing a child remade in somebody else’s image. So good luck to them. They bought it and I can’t do anything about that.”

Wood spoke out against the trend of remaking old children’s shows such as Thunderbirds and The Wombles, which has sparked a furore among middle-aged parents concerned about classics from their childhood being revamped.

The Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson was famously unimpressed with the 2004 live action version of his 1960s puppet series, describing it as “the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my life”.

He did, however, collaborate with the Thunderbirds rights owner ITV Studios on a new CGI version of another of his 1960s “supermarionation” puppet shows, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, broadcast in 2005.

Wood said: “I’m a bit sad. It comes down to the times we’re in. People feel safer remaking hits of the past rather than investing in something new.”

She added: “I’m just saying that there are such a lot of programmes being remade and I just feel the children’s television industry is worth more than that. It would be nice if more encouragement was given to new work, that’s all.”

Wood’s latest project for CBeebies is Twirlywoos, which she describes as a “situation comedy for three to four-year-olds”.

The stop-frame animation features four brightly coloured bird-like creatures – Great BigHoo, Toodloo, Chickedy and Chick – against a background that is plainer than the lush world of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po.

“I didn’t want it to be cluttered,” Wood said. “I wanted the movements to be very clear – you can ‘read’ them much more clearly against white.”

She added that she had worked with an education consultant from the start on Twirlywoos: “Educational ideas were present in Teletubbies and In the Night Garden but much more subliminally. This show takes in the latest educational research and builds a comedy around it – whereas in the past I’ve just made a comedy and just by chance some of these ideas happened to be embedded within it.”