The Wombles set for TV return

The co-creator of The Wombles is developing an animated series based on the children’s property, which first appeared on UK television in the 1970s.

The Wombles

Mike Batt recently took a majority share in Wombles Copyright Holdings via his company Dramatico and now has plans for a 26-part television series alongside a feature film.

The Wombles are fictional, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford that strive to clean up the environment by picking up rubbish and recycling the material.

Batt composed the music to the original stop-motion BBC series that aired in the 1970s and went on to turn the characters into a novelty pop group with songs such as Remember You’re A Womble and The Wombling Song.

More animated episodes featuring the characters were produced in the 1990s and aired in the UK on ITV.

“There are audiences of new children and international audiences who missed the Wombles the first time around will be thrilled to see the brilliant high quality animations and new musical productions we shall be mounting,” said Batt on his website.

Coproduction and broadcast partners for the new series have not yet been announced, although Genevieve Dexter of Serious Lunch is one of the exec producers.