BBC Worldwide Clinches French Deal on Ragdoll Show

October 10, 2008 World Screen

LONDON, October 10: Ahead of MIPCOM Junior, BBC Worldwide
has closed a deal with Gulli and Tiji in France for the acclaimed Ragdoll
preschool show In the Night Garden,
which has now been licensed into 24 markets.

In the Night Garden
launched this week on Gulli, airing every morning and evening. Tiji will
broadcast the show every day at 6 a.m., repeating on weekdays (except
Wednesday) at 2:55 p.m.

Neil Ross Russell, the managing director of children’s and
licensing for BBC Worldwide, noted: “The global success of In The Night
Garden has been phenomenal and this deal in
France gives us yet another opportunity to build the franchise and provide
valuable revenue to be invested back in to programming and services at the
BBC.”

In addition to its on-air success in the U.K., In The
Night Garden has emerged as a successful
licensing brand, becoming the fastest-growing toy property in 2007, with a
value of £10.8 million. To date, the property has sold over half a million DVDs
and more than 1.5 million books. Elsewhere in Europe, the show has launched on
TVE in Spain and been sold to Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Denmark,
Serbia, Sweden and Lithuania.

In Asia Pacific, deals are in place with Everyshow in Korea,
RTM in Malaysia and Kids Central in Singapore, as well as in Hong Kong and
Taiwan. The show also launched on ABC1 in Australia in April and has since
spawned a strong merchandising campaign with 11 book titles selling 121,000
units since June. In the Night Garden
has also sold to New Zealand.

In the Americas, In the Night Garden launched on Canada’s Treehouse in February 2008,
airing daily, with Hasbro and Penguin due to launch product this summer. The
program has also sold to Trinidad.

Alongside In the Night Garden, BBC Worldwide kids’ slate for MIPCOM includes three seasons and two
specials for Charlie and Lola,
the 26×10 minute Harry and Toto,
the 40×25-minute Freefonix, and
the live-action shows The Sarah Jane Adventures and MI High, among others.

—By Mansha Daswani