LAA LAA LAND
Eh-oh! MARION McMULLEN takes a look back at how the Teletubby phenomenon was born 25 years ago
TINKY-WINKY, Dipsy, Po and Laa Laa burst onto our TV screens 25 years ago and changed the face of children’s television. They spoke their own language and lived in the Tubbytronic Superdrome in Teletubbyland with their comic vacuum cleaner Noo-noo.
They had aerials on their heads and toddlers could see a film of real children playing on the television screens in the Teletubbies’ tummies, and were encouraged to join in the songs and dances and learn along with the brightly coloured characters.
Anne Wood, the founder and creative director of Ragdoll Productions
who made the show, said: “The first presentations I ever made on the idea were greeted with a kind of stunned silence. Someone in the BBC asked “Are those real rabbits?” When it was first shown in the US they thought it looked like a post-nuclear landscape caught in sunshine!”
Teletubbies was aimed at preschool children and the BBC show soon began to capture the imagination of youngsters worldwide.
It was called Teletuspuds in
Estonia and in Finland Tinky Winky became Tiivi Taavi, Dipsy was changed to Hipsu and Po to Poi. Only Laa Laa remained the same. Anne said: “If you make something for children, the first question you must ask yourself is ‘What does the world look like to children?’ They perceive the world very differently from grown-ups.” Co-creator Andrew Davenport said: “Teletubbies are extremely good role models. They’re very active. They’re very social and they love each other.” The Teletubbies went on to star in 365 episodes. Toys of the characters sold out in shops and they even had a number one single. Tellytubbyland itself was created on a farm in Warwickshire and the set was populated with giant Flemish rabbits.