Teletubbies
From left: Dipsy, Laa-Laa, Po, and Tinky Winky
Created by	Anne Wood Andrew Davenport
Developed by	Ragdoll Productions for BBC Television
Starring	Dave Thompson Mark Heenehan Simon Shelton John Simmit Nikky Smedley Pui Fan Lee
Narrated by	Tim Whitnall Toyah Willcox Eric Sykes
Opening theme	Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	365 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	David G Hiller Vic Finch
Running time	25 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC PBS Kids
Release	31 March 1997 – 5 January 2001

Teletubbies is a BBC BAFTA winning children's television series, primarily aimed at pre-school viewers, produced from 1997 to 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Anne Wood CBE, Ragdoll's creative director, and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The show's original narrator was Tim Whitnall. The show first aired on 31 March 1997, and was syndicated in the United States on the PBS network on 6 April 1998. In 2001 production was canceled and it was announced that no new episodes would be produced, with the last episode being aired on 5 January 2001. It rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad (particularly notable for its high production values), and won a BAFTA in 1998.^[1]

The show centers around the adventures of Teletubbies Tinky Winky, who is purple, Dipsy, who is green, Laa-Laa, who is yellow, and Po, who is red. In the show, the four colorful Teletubbies play in the cheerful and fun Teletubbyland. They do things that little children like to do, such as rolling on the ground, laughing, running about, and watching real children on the televisions on their bellies. Mysterious pinwheels and telephones rise out of the meadow to show the days' activities. The sun, who has a baby's face, makes baby noises during the show, and it rises and sets to begin and end the show. The baby was portrayed by Jessica Smith.^[2]

Although the show is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, it has a substantial cult following with older generations, mainly university students^[3]. The mixture of bright colors, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, ritualistic format, and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to a demographic who perceived the show as having psychedelic connotations. Teletubbies was controversial for this reason, and also for a perception that it was insufficiently educational.^{[1] [4]}

The show was also at the center of a controversy when American cleric and conservative pundit Jerry Falwell claimed in 1999 that Tinky Winky, one of the Teletubbies, was homosexual. Falwell based this conclusion on the character's purple color and his triangular antenna; both the color purple and the triangle are sometimes used as symbols of the Gay Pride movement.^[5] However, despite an ensuing boycott, the show remained in production for two more years, and "Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!"", a single based on the show's theme song, reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1997 and remained in the Top 75 for 32 weeks, selling over a million copies.

Overview

The programme features four colorful characters: Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po, who live in a futuristic dome (the "Tubbytronic Superdome"), set in a landscape of rolling green hills. The environment is dotted with unusually talkative flowers and periscope-like "voice trumpets". The only natural fauna are rabbits (although birds are often heard, particularly blackcaps and wrens^{[citation needed]}). The climate is always sunny and pleasant save for occasional inclement days, with rain and puddles, and snow at Christmas time. The Teletubbies are played by actors dressed in bulky costumes, although the sets are designed to give no sense of scale. The Teletubbies don't normally wear real clothes other than the colored suits they wear. They have metallic silver-azure rectangular "screens" adorning their abdomens. These screens are used to segue into short film sequences, which are generally repeated at least once. When the series is shown in different countries around the world, the film inserts can be tailored to suit local audiences, or default to the British ones.

The Teletubbies have the body proportions, behavior, and language of toddlers. The pacing and design of the show was developed by cognitive psychologist Andrew Davenport, who structured the show to fit the attention spans of the target audience. The repetition of practically every word is familiar to everyone who has ever worked with young children.

The Teletubbies speak in a gurgling baby language which is the subject of some controversy among educationalists, some of whom argue that this supposedly made-up talk is not good for children.^[6] (A similar complaint was made forty years previously about another children's series, Flower Pot Men.) The Teletubbies are at the stage of understanding speech but not yet fully capable of articulating it, exactly like their target audience. They often simply groan in disapproval in situations where a human toddler would throw a tantrum. The Teletubbies' catch-phrases are "Eh-oh" (hello), as in: "Eh-oh, Laa-Laa", to which Laa-Laa will respond, "Eh-oh, (other Teletubby's name)", "Uh-oh", a common toddler response to anything that's not good, "Run away! Run away!", especially from Dipsy, and "Bye-bye" at least four times in a row. Laa-Laa, when flustered, will explode with "Bibberly cheese!", which is as angry as the Teletubbies get. But perhaps the most common exclamation is "Big hug!" which one or more of the Teletubbies will invariably call for during the course of an episode, resulting in an enthusiastic group hug.

All the Teletubbies say "Bye-Bye" three times. The narrator bids each Teletubby goodbye, and they disappear, but reappear a moment later saying "Boo!". The narrator then says "No", (which they copy) and proceeds to say goodbye to each Teletubby again. The sun is then shown setting, and the Teletubbies each say goodbye again, before jumping down a hole in the roof of their house. Finally, one Teletubby says goodbye a fourth time - they pop out of a hole in the house and say "Bye-bye!". For special episodes, and at the end of the "Fun With The Teletubbies" cassette, all four Teletubbies say "Bye-bye" in this way. Many of the occurrences of the show, including the end sequence, and the scene preceding the short film broadcast on a character's tummy were shot only once, and the same scenes are used in each episode. A prominent feature of each episode is a radiant sun with the image of a smiling baby superimposed upon it. The baby in the sun occasionally laughs out loud in short bursts.

Their diet seems to be almost exclusively "Tubby Custard" mispronounced as Tubby Tustard by the characters (which is created by a Tubby Custard machine and consumed by sucking through a spiral straw) and "Tubby Toast" (circular toast with a smiley face on it), and they are spectacularly messy eaters. In one episode, the "Tubby Toaster", the machine that makes "Tubby Toast" went seriously wrong and filled the Teletubbies' house with toast. Fortunately, one of their companions is Noo-Noo, a vacuum cleaner. Machines like Noo-Noo, the voice trumpets, and the televisions in the Teletubbies' stomachs were designed to show small children, who are born into a world surrounded by strange and powerful electronic gadgets, that technology is benevolent and helpful, not something of which they should be afraid^[7]. The Teletubbies' landscape is an outdoor set located in rural Warwickshire, England, at Sweet Knowle Farm, Redhill Bank Rd, Whimpstone, CV37 8NR (between Stratford upon Avon and Shipston on Stour, close to the River Stour^[8]).

Characters

Tinky Winky (played by Dave Thompson, Mark Heenehan, and Simon Shelton) is the first Teletubby. He is the largest of the Teletubbies, is covered in purple terrycloth, and has a triangular antenna on his head. He is notable for the red luggage (described by the show as a "magic bag", but often described by other media as a handbag) he always carries. His character has caused controversy due to allegations that his character's behavior, bag and body color have homosexual connotations (see below).

Dipsy (played by John Simmit) is the second Teletubby. He is green and is named "Dipsy" because his horn resembles a dipstick. He likes his black and white furry top hat, which he once lost and later found. He is the most stubborn of the Teletubbies, and will sometimes refu