Teletubbies creator Wood says £60m funding not enough to save kids’ TV

The UK is in danger of losing its children’s television industry, Anne Wood, founder of Ragdoll Productions, has told The Bookseller.

Wood, who created "Teletubbies" a little over 20 years ago, said investment in children’s TV had been declining for years. "The challenge is that the BBC is now the only commissioner of original content for children and production companies are working in a climate of increasing spending cuts. The other public service broadcasters have, since the Communications Act 2003, left any commitment to providing new children’s content as it is seen to be too expensive and promises little return.

"At the moment we are left with only the BBC as a customer to go to—and no one should run a business on one customer."

What makes life even more difficult is that the BBC will only pay around a quarter to a third of a production company’s budget, leaving a big gap in finances. Some get around the issue by creating toys and accompanying merchandise, but Wood warned that those methods of making money could become more difficult because of a difficult market for toy sales, such as the closure of Toys R Us in the US. "The whole industry is flatlining, and not many children’s production companies are surviving," she said.

Frustratingly, although the "snobbery" around good children’s television has passed, the industry can no longer afford to adapt children’s novels; the "golden age" of drama has gone, Wood said. "We did a series called ‘Mr Moon’s Last Case’ [based on a 1988 story by Brian Patten published by Puffin] but we can’t do those shows now."

One mistake broadcasters have made is re-making old programmes, Wood added. "You have to pick stories that appeal to children today. Making television should be recognised as a specialist skill, [one] needing observation, training and investment."

In 2016 Wood set up the Save Kids’ Content UK campaign in partnership with the Producers Alliance for Cinema & Television (PACT; the trade association of UK independent production companies) to try and reverse the decline, and can claim some successes in recent months.The government has made an amendment to the digital economy bill, meaning Ofcom should now put pressure on broadcasters to invest in children’s programmes, and last month announced £60m in funding for commercial broadcasters such as Channel 4 and ITV to spend on developing home-grown kids’ programming.

Wood said she was "not ungrateful" for the changes but thinks £60m is just a "toe in the water", stating: "‘Twirlywoos’ [the show she launched in 2015] cost £14m to make, and everyone will want at least £7m out of that pot." She is currently working on a new animation and would love to do a half-hour comic live-action show, with a female lead, but "just can’t find the money".

"Original programming is dying out," she said, "£60m will give pause, but it’s not the answer. The industry needs public service broadcasting across all channels if there is to be a healthy marketplace. Without it, an important cultural heritage will be lost."