TELETUBBIES creator Anne Wood has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Warwick.
The 79 year-old, who was born in County Durham, originally trained as a secondary school teacher and became an early pioneer of a children’s paperback book club scheme for schools set up by Scholastic Publications.
She founded Ragdoll Productions in Stratford in 1984 and created ground-breaking children’s television shows including Brum, Rosie and Jim, Tots TV, In the Night Garden, and most famously Teletubbies – with the filming of Teletubbyland taking place near Ettington.
In 1992 a Ragdoll shop found a home in Chapel Street and later transformed into play areas for children as well as selling Ragdoll merchandise.
The shop was hugely popular but there was no room for further expansion and when efforts to find new premises failed it finally closed its doors in 2005.
Anne said: “The best part for me is when you show the cuts to children, before you send them to broadcasters, when you see them smile. Then you know, yes, it is working.
“The success of Teletubbies was amazing, it went out to 156 countries which is astonishing.
“To get into the industry you have to do the nitty gritty, being a runner, you have to attach yourself like glue to any company you want to be a part of or where you think you can get a foot in the door.”
