This year UK pubcaster BBC’s children’s show Teletubbies celebrates 10 years. On this occasion the broadcaster has formed a joint venture with UK family and children’s entertainment firm Ragdoll.
The new entity Ragdoll Worldwide will look to manage and exploit the Ragdoll catalogue including Teletubbies, In The Night Garden, Brum and Boohbah.
Ragdoll Worldwide will secure the creativity of Ragdoll as it moves into the next stage of its commercial life alongside its long term and most successful commercial partner, BBC Worldwide.
As well as exploiting the current catalogue of Ragdoll programming, the joint venture will launch two new properties, In the Night Garden and Tronji, which Ragdoll are now in the final stages of completing. In the Night Garden, a pre-school property, will be launched at the television trade event Mipcom in Cannes next month, and the CG/live-action programme Tronji is scheduled to air on BBC next year.
BBC Worldwide will manage the international broadcast sales and the UK and international licensing of all Ragdoll properties including: Blips, Boohbah, Brum, Tots TV, Rosie and Jim and the Open a Door series on behalf of the new joint venture.
Ragdoll retains all UK broadcast rights and Ragdoll USA part of the new joint venture, will manage the Ragdoll portfolio in the US.
Ragdoll commercial director Mark Hollingsworth says, “Ragdoll is pleased to further strengthen its unique relationship with BBC Worldwide. Creating a vehicle that is equally owned by, and managed with BBC Worldwide allows both organisations to collaborate and capitalise on our respective strengths around the world. I am certain that the creation of Ragdoll Worldwide will result in additional exposure and awareness of the Ragdoll brand globally”.
BBC Worldwide MD children’s and global TV sales, Mark Young says, “This is an important development for BBC Worldwide as it secures one of our most important relationships in the Children’s business in advance of the launch of their new slate of fantastic properties. Ragdoll and BBC Worldwide have had a long and successful partnership going back over a decade.”
Ragdoll which was formed in 1984 has produced more than 1,400 programmes aimed at the youngest viewers. Ragdoll-produced series can be seen in more than 120 countries and territories around the world, and in the UK are screened by the BBC, ITV and Five.