Bagpuss, the Clangers and Paddington are among the icons of childhood that fans are determined to save
Are you sitting comfortably? Bagpuss is, but Mother Clanger is not. Dougal may be – nobody is quite sure. And the Wombles – well, they haven’t been seen for years.
Not all of these icons of childhood have been given the care they deserve and now some of the leading lights of children’s TV and animation have called for them to be given their own home.
Continue reading...The artist once known as Jenny from the block is spearheading an animated feature about a Latino construction worker voiced by Anthony Ramos
Move over Barbie: the latest Mattel property set for cultural domination has been unveiled as Bob the Builder, the chirpy construction worker who debuted 25 years ago on CBBC and is being belatedly brought to the big screen by booty-shaking multi-hyphenate Jennifer Lopez.
In something of a spin on the original series, the film’s plot will see Roberto (AKA Bob) travel to Puerto Rico for a major construction job, where he “takes on issues affecting the island and digs deeper into what it means to build”.
Continue reading...Comic, real name Xavier López, fronted children’s TV show that ran from 1967 to 2015
The Mexican children’s entertainer Xavier López, better known by his stage name Chabelo, has died at 88, Mexico’s president has said.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador tweeted that his eldest son “woke up early to see him [on television] more than 40 years ago”.
Continue reading...Delgado, who played fix-it shop owner Luis on beloved children’s show, was a rare Latino face on US TV
Actor and singer Emilio Delgado, the warm and familiar presence in children’s lives for 45 years as fix-it shop owner Luis on Sesame Street, has died.
His wife, Carol Delgado, said he died from the blood cancer multiple myeloma at their home in New York. He was 81.
Continue reading...It’s 65 years today since television sets had to stop broadcasting to allow parents to put children to bed. How did it ever seem like a good idea?
In 1953, when Norma Young was seven, her family became the first in their Glasgow tenement to get a TV set. It was a big deal – the Youngs had had to choose between a car or a TV. They opted for a 14in Ekco TV as deep as it was wide – and Norma was opened up to the world of The Woodentops and Andy Pandy, two shows that rapidly became her favourites. But at 6pm every evening the screen went blank, and Norma’s viewing was at an end.
This wasn’t her parents regulating her TV time – it was the state. Abolished 65 years ago on Wednesday, the break in programming between 6pm and 7pm every night was a government policy, known colloquially as the toddlers’ truce.
Continue reading...The landmark children’s television program introduces Ji-Young, its first Korean American puppet, inspired by a desire to counteract race hate
What’s in a name? For Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of Sesame Street, her name is a sign that she was meant to live there.
“So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong,” Ji-Young explained during a recent interview. “But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.”
Continue reading...He played some of the most memorable characters of all time on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street - then became a brilliant comedy director. What is he most proud of?
I ask Frank Oz if he feels like the Paul McCartney to Jim Henson’s John Lennon, the one left behind to carry the flame after his revered creative partner suddenly and shockingly died. Oz takes a deep breath and turns his head to the side, thinking.
If you grew up in the 1970s and 80s, your childhood was shaped by Henson and Oz and their work with the Muppets, just as the kids who grew up in the 50s and 60s did so in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney. Even if you weren’t a devoted fan of the Muppets themselves, you couldn’t help but take in their influence osmotically, what with The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, the Muppets movies and Labyrinth swirling in the atmosphere. I was pretty much raised on the Muppets, just as I now raise my own kids on them, and I cannot remember a time when Henson and Oz’s creations were not stamped in my mind’s eye.
Continue reading...Critics condemn idea of animated series about a man who cannot control his penis, but others have backed it
John Dillermand has an extraordinary penis. So extraordinary, in fact, that it can perform rescue operations, etch murals, hoist a flag and even steal ice-cream from children.
The Danish equivalent of the BBC, DR, has a new animated series aimed at four- to eight-year-olds about John Dillermand, the man with the world’s longest penis who overcomes hardships and challenges with his record-breaking genitals.
Continue reading...The writer and star of the new Netflix series explain the myriad challenges of turning a manga-style kids’ cartoon into a live-action teen drama
How do you make teen TV magic? You call Brian Young. The writer cut his teeth on The Vampire Diaries, a supernatural teen drama that emerged from the Twilight era of sexy-horror fandoms, but it soon established its own identity, resulting in a successful eight seasons. So, when Netflix wanted to turn Winx Club – the hit Italian cartoon about fairies – into a live-action fantasy series for young adults, they recruited Young.
To him, the challenge of re-imagining the Winx world for a more mature audience was clear: “Tone. It’s trying to figure out how we ground this show in real character moments, things that any audience member would relate to. And this is coming from a massive fantasy fan – I had my Dungeons & Dragons character when I was a kid – but it is very easy to spiral off into absurdity with stuff like this.”
Continue reading...The Liverpudlian actor voiced the children’s programme for 13 series and was known for TV work in The Liver Birds and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Michael Angelis, best known as the narrator of Thomas the Tank Engine series Thomas and Friends, has died at the age of 76.
The actor died suddenly while at home with his wife on Saturday, his agent said.
Continue reading...Three new Muppets, Basma, Jad, and Ma’zooza, will star in new show for the millions of children displaced across the Middle East
Cooperation, kindness and the alphabet. For over 50 years, the characters of Sesame Street, from the Cookie Monster to Big Bird, have helped children from diverse backgrounds navigate the challenges of life as a small person in a big world.
From the moment it launched, Sesame Street has unflinchingly dealt with difficult issues – and from this week they are bringing their special brand of magic to the children who need them the most.
Continue reading...In 1969, it changed the rules for children’s television and in the years since, it’s continued to innovate and provide groundbreaking inclusivity
On a fall day, 50 years ago, PBS began airing Sesame Street, a show inspired by a question: what if the visual flash and frenetic pace of TV were used to teach kids about letters and numbers instead of about breakfast cereals?
Within a year of its 10 November 1969 debut, Sesame Street was a sensation. Children loved it. Hard-working parents were grateful for it. Critics and academics alike couldn’t stop talking about it – both positively and negatively. Some pundits wondered if a popular series geared toward short attention spans would result in a generation that never learned to focus. Others were suspicious of the show’s secondary mission, to make an educational program that reflected the lives of its audience … from their unspoken anxieties to the color of their skin.
Continue reading...From early experiments in claymation TV to its forthcoming Shaun the Sheep big-screen sequel, we rate the animation studio’s output
After it was used for a perfume ad, Nina Simone’s jazz classic made it into the top 10 in the autumn of 1987. Inspired, no doubt, by the (non-Aardman) video for a successful re-release of Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite earlier in the year, this music video became a second bite at claymation-meets-1950s. Peter Lord, who directed, went with a sultry singing cat and some artistic shots of piano keys.
Continue reading...