Where to watch Teletubbies (1997–2001)

Trivia & production notes

• Andrew Davenport drew inspiration for Teletubbies from his interest in astronauts and the Apollo 11 moon landing, combined with concerns about how children were adapting to increasingly technological environments in the late 1990s.
• The show was filmed on a farm in Wimpstone, Warwickshire, chosen because it had a bowl-like dip in the landscape suitable for the Teletubbyland setting.
• Local residents initially protested the filming at the Wimpstone farm due to problems from a previous television production there, but calmed down after being assured it was a low-key children's show.
• In 2013, the Teletubbies filming location owner flooded the land and turned it into a pond specifically to stop trespassers and press photographers from accessing the site.
• Character illustrator Jonathan Hills' original drawings for the Teletubbies were valued at up to £80,000 when presented on Antiques Roadshow in 2022.
• Teletubbies premiered on March 31, 1997, on BBC2's CBBC block, replacing the time slot previously occupied by Playdays.
• The show reached two million viewers per episode by August 1997 and was described as having achieved cult status in less than a year.
• Some critics and parents feared that the characters' use of babbling would harm young viewers' language development, though defenders argued the show was designed for toddlers rather than to provide formal education.
• A magical segment featuring a cut-out lion chasing a cut-out bear was deemed so unsettling that it was banned in several countries before a revised version with adjusted editing and voice acting was created.
• Jerry Falwell sparked controversy in 1999 by claiming Tinky Winky was a gay role model, citing his purple color and triangular antenna, though the BBC responded that he was simply a technological baby character.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Teletubbies, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.