They’re back, and there’s litter to pick up: The Wombles are returning to our TV screens, it’s been announced.
A nice quiet morning at the Film Stories Shed (TM) suddenly found itself interrupted by a must-drop-everything press release landing in our inbox. Bluntly, it had me at the word ‘Wombles’.
It’s all part of an announcement from Altitude Media Group, which has announced a trio of brand new television projects. So there’s an adaptation of astronaut Chris Hadfield’s book The Apollo Murders, there’s the English language version of Spanish hit Antidisturbios, or Riot Police as it’s about to be known.
And then there’s the return of The Wombles, the legendary children’s characters who first came to television screens in 1973, narrated by the late, great Bernard Cribbins. A second run at The Wombles followed in 1996, and a third was curtailed early by the bankruptcy of songwriter-producer Mike Batt around 2016.
This time? We’re promised a ‘modern remake’ that’s going to be penned by Will Davies. Davies has scripted on How To Train Your Dragon, Man Vs Bee and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. It’s his job to come up with fresh stories of the Wombles of Wimbledon Common.
No word yet on timescales, just that Altitude is co-producing with The Wombles. I assume that that’s a company, rather than the characters themselves turning up to creative meetings, drinking coffee and complaining about the state of the pastries.
The big question? Well, will we get another run at a Wombles musical career too? Mike Batt was keen to make his Wombles music stars, and succeeded too, with hit singles and several albums to their name. If you’ve never had the pleasure, how about this one for a start. This is The Wombles on Top Of The Pops back in 1974, presented by some strange man with a beard…
We’ll keep you posted as we hear more…
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
