As one watches the Teletubbies one of the things ... one of the
very first things that strikes most viewers is the beautiful and
splendid views of Teletubby-land. As the camera pans over hills
filled with flowers, clumps of trees and bushes, all neatly
manicured and cared for as a huge botanical garden might be in
in our time-space reality.
As the narrator's rhytmic, sing-song voice starts that familiar
opening line "Over the hills and far away ..." we have certainly,
at times,
envisioned a huge park or movie lot where Teletubby-land has
been created for young, smallish actors to dress up in small, cute,
furry costumes to entertain us with their alien-like features and
baby-like talk.
However,
nothing could be further from the Tubby-truth.
As you may (or may not) know Teletubbies was created by
-- and is the property of -- Ragdoll Productions with
headquarters in Stratford-upon-Avon in the United Kingdom
(England), just northwest of London.
Nearby, in rural Warwickshire, is Wimpstone Farm. And
this (coordinates in degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal
above the picture are approximate) is where the "set"
that we know as Teletubby-land was constructed. There
was no "sound stage" or enclosed set. All filming was
done live at this location. The only enclosed area is
the Tubbytronic Superdome -- which can be seen near the
center of the picture. If you take the picture at the
top of this page and mentally map it to the picture to
the right, then you can start to get a feeling for just
how small Teletubby-land really is (approximately 80
yards by 130 yards). The larger space
that we are led to believe exists is all accomplished
with careful and clever camera manipulations.
A different angle and at a lower altitude this next
picture gives a little better view of how the Tubbytronic
Superdome dwarfs the Tubby-"set." It does, in fact,
exist and it is where all of the "inside shots" are
filmed. The only "trick" photography that occurs with
regard to the "house" (as the Teletubbies, themselves,
usually refer to it) is in the TV program intro -- there
is no hole in the top of the Superdome. You will notice
that Teletubby-land is in the middle of rural farmlands.
Some thought was given to locating Teletubby-land in a
forest or wood. This idea was scrapped quickly due to
lighting difficulties.
As we zoom in on the previous picture -- if there was
any doubt in your mind at all -- some of the familiar
details start to become visible. Through the "enlargement
fuzz," you can certainly see the front "door" to the Dome
and the familiar curved paths that lead out of the "pit"
to higher locations near the whirlygig or windmill. One of
the things that isn't visible is that the Tubbytronic
Superdome is actually 16 feet high! And this leads us
to some of the other lesser-known "features" or facts of
Teletubby-land ...
You may have been fooled by he cute appearance of the
Teletubbies. But:
Tinky-Winky is nearly 10 feet tall.
Dipsy is about 9 feet tall.
Laa-Laa is approximately 8 foot, 6 inches tall.
Po is about 6 foot, 6 inches tall.
The actors "see" out of the mouth of the costume
while the eye and mouth movements are controlled
remotely by the crew with attached cables.
The costumes are made from a special fabric called
Babygro. The costmes can take up to 8 hours to
refluff after washing
The actors inside the costumes must take frequent
breaks and remove the head to let fresh air into
the costume. The costume can have a significant
carbon-monoxide build-up in it.
Flemish rabbits are used because of their enormus
size. They can grow to a total weight of some
30 pounds.
The Noo-Noo is large enough to hold a small man
who operates it by using a television monitor.
The trick, of course, is to take away any familiar
objects that would give a sense of scale. The illusion
in Teletubby-land is to ensure that all objects
you see on screen are scaled to make it look like it
fits in the Tubby-world over the hills and far away.
![[Map of area northwest of London]](GRAPHICS/ttlStratfordUponAvon.jpg)
![[Aerial photo of Teletubby-land]](GRAPHICS/ttlAirTeletubby-land1.jpg)
![[Aerial photo of Teletubby-land]](GRAPHICS/ttlAirTeletubby-land2.jpg)
![[Aerial photo of Teletubby-land]](GRAPHICS/ttlAirTeletubby-land3.jpg)
![[The House]](GRAPHICS/ttlTubbytronicSuperdome.jpg)
![[Tinky-Winky unmasked!]](GRAPHICS/ttlTinkyWinkyNoHead.jpg)
Teletubbies program, characters and logo: ®
& © 1998 Ragdoll Productions (UK) Ltd.
Licensed by The itsy bitsy Entertainment
Company. All rights reserved. Neither Ragdoll nor
itsy bitsy Entertainment, or The BBC nor PBS have
endorsed or support this site. Any trademarked or
copyrighted material is used here without
permission because they wouldn't answer my
e-mail request!
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![[Dave Thompson Tinky-Winky (1997)]](GRAPHICS/ttlQuestionMark.jpg)
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![[John Simmit: Dipsy]](GRAPHICS/ttlJohnSimmit.jpg)
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