The big question television viewers are asking this week is: what on Earth does ATV think it is doing, scheduling Teletubbies in the new Fantastic Friday triple-bill, that starts at 9.30 tonight? Has nobody told them that Teletubbies, probably the most talked-about show currently on British television, is aimed at the under-fours, not grown-ups? The answer is, of course, that ATV knows Teletubbies is for kids. The whole thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt intended to create controversy, and it has certainly done that. 'We wanted to create some noise, to generate a phenomenon,' explains Jeffrey Chan, ATV deputy controller, and the man who bought the Hong Kong rights to the series. 'We had to for it to stand any chance at all.' From June 29, Teletubbies will revert to 4.30pm slot every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on ATV World, and 9.15am on ATV Home from July 14. Mr Chan reasoned that if ATV had simply slipped Teletubbies straight into the standard late afternoon slots, the show would have died the low-ratings death of all children's television programmes in Hong Kong. This way, even if the adults that tune in on Friday nights for the next three weeks don't necessarily watch at the new time, at least the show will have become a talking point. By now those readers who are not British, or parents of small children, will probably be wondering why Mr Chan has gone to such lengths for a children's show. But Teletubbies is not just a kids show. Ever since it appeared on the BBC in April 1997, the mix of fantasy, real-life inserts, baby talk and four adult-size, baby-faced pastel coloured characters performed by real actors in huge round costumes has split the country in two. It has been equally successful in overseas markets: kids in Australia, Estonia, Holland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and the United States love it too. Most parents loathe it for the lack of educational value, but none can dispute the miraculous, effect it has on even the youngest baby. From the first few bars of the signature tune, to the rising of a smiling sun with the face of a baby, they are all enchanted. The Teletubbies are Twinky Winky (blue), Dipsy (lime green), Laa Laa (yellow) and Po (red), each with a curly spike sticking out of their head, and a television screen on their stomachs. Each has a favourite toy, a bag, a hat, a ball and a scooter, and a favourite occupation, dancing, eating, jumping and of course, giving one another a big hug. They talk in a gabble that approximates the speech of an under-two, 'eh-oh' for 'hello' and 'uh-oh!' as a general question mark. Hong Kong's pre-schoolers might also realise what most British children do not: that one Teletubby is not gabbling at all. Po is played by British born Pui Fan Lee, whose parents are from the New Territories. Although her Chinese is not fluent, Po does tell her fellow Teletubbies to 'faidi' and count in Cantonese. The Teletubbies live in Teletubby land, the 'world where television comes from' a world of green hills, tame rabbits, and flowers, in a domed house fitted with nosy periscopes and a talking vacuum cleaner called Noo Noo. There is no violence, no danger, no pain and no conflict, and nothing to indicate what culture the Teletubbies are from. The worst thing that can happen to a Teletubby is to accidentally step in a puddle, or have too much Teletoast to eat. The only moment when the series begins to resemble reality at all is when the Teletubbies' built-in TV screens begin to crackle, and one eventually turns on to reveal a short film of real children playing. It is hard to imagine how regular World Friday night audiences are going to stomach it. Mr Chan, however, is encouraged by the reaction of ATV staff, who have apparently been cooing over the preview tapes for weeks now. 'They love it! They watch it again and again!' he says happily. And of course Hong Kong's young adults have an insatiable appetite for cute kids stuff. Teletubbies has mountains of merchandise: soft toys, books, videos, bags, stationery, card games and jigsaws. Last Christmas, UK parents queued all night to buy the first Teletubbies dolls. The Teletubbies merchandising phenomenon has been if anything more successful than the show, so much so in fact that shrewd overseas buyers of the rights have actually delayed transmission until they have been guaranteed the lucrative distribution rights to the spin-offs. Mr Chan says he has secured no such deal for ATV, but he has held many meetings with Kalms, who have agreed to distribute similar products in Hong Kong from the end of the month; KPS have carried the videos for months. This merchandising success has added to the furore surrounding Teletubbies, which has brought a whole new level to the controversy about children and the pernicious influence of television. No-one can accuse it of being too violent, the usual criticism levelled at successful kids' shows. Instead educationalists and even other television professionals have attacked the show for its blandness. Two months ago Ada Haug, head of children's programming for Norway's NRK channel, which rejected the Norwegian rights to the show, made an impassioned speech at an international television conference in London. 'Teletubbies is the most market-orientated children's programme concept I have ever seen. I cannot see Teletubbies as a programme responding to children's needs.' She also criticised the fact that Teletubbies are truly international creatures. There are no cultural or ethnic reference points in the series at all. This means the series can easily be sold abroad, but also, according to Ms Haug, that it has no identity. She is not an isolated critic. Her peers in Australia and the United States agreed. One TV chief described the show as actually 'regressive' for toddlers learning to speak. Since Teletubbies is one of the few programmes ever made specifically for the youngest age range of all, 1-3 years, this is a criticism its creators deny hotly. One of these, the veteran and highly respected director Anne Wood, has insisted that far from hindering speech development, Teletubbies actually helps, since there is plenty of repetition, and most importantly, the children are presented with such positive images that they become more confident. She makes no bones about the fact that the show caters to please and entertain people who may not have the same ideas about good television as their parents. 'I know people would like to make a wax image of me and stick pins in it' she told the London Times three months ago, 'but I would just like to make a small place in the world for a child's right to enjoy themselves.' As all parents know, what children enjoy is not necessarily what is good for them. Or at least not all the time. Those television critics with long memories have pointed out that parents always get nervous about innovative children's television. Sesame Street, which will be showing head-to-head with Teletubbies in the afternoons, was decried as total rubbish by some anxious parents when it first screened in 1969. Now it is the one show all psychologists recommend we let the children watch. Fantastic Friday, a triple bill hosted by Nury Vittachi and Janey Lee, featuring episodes of Mr Bean, the Japanese game show Ganbare, and Teletubbies, runs for three weeks starting tonight at 9.30 pm on ATV World
