Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide, the commercial arm of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, is celebrating the success of pre-school favourite In the Night Garden, as it breaks through the 1 million mark in international DVD sales. The programme, which reaches audiences in thirty-four countries, has currently sold over 1.2 million copies across the world.

In the Night Garden now entertains children across the globe - from Turkey to Taiwan - but the show's largest DVD-buying audience still comes from the UK, where over 900,000 units have been sold to date. In the Night Garden has seen phenomenal success since its launch in 2007, picking up prestigious awards, and smashing licensed merchandise sales. With a new DVD release planned for the UK market in autumn, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Worldwide predicts that this year will bring the millionth sale within the UK.

Elsewhere, the programme has sold nearly 70,000 units in Spain following its launch on Spanish broadcaster TVE in September 2008. The debut In the Night Garden DVD in Spain went straight to number one in the children's charts, as did the first Canadian release where it held on to the top spot in the Children's DTV charts for three consecutive weeks. Canadian sales of the DVD now exceed 11,000.

The Australian market has also provided great success, with over 140,000 DVD sold, and Polish audiences, who have been captivated by the programme since it launched in Poland in April 2008 on CBeebies.

Internationally, Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy have enchanted children in thirty-four countries in nineteen different languages from South Africa to Serbia, Greece to Ghana. The programme broke new ground in May this year when it became a rare Western import broadcast on China's state broadcaster, CCTV. The launch of the first In the Night Garden DVD in the market, which has over 300 million children, is imminent.

NOTES TO EDITORS
In the Night Garden is produced by Ragdoll Productions and has been created by Andrew Davenport. He also created the Teletubbies with Anne Wood. It is about a magical picture-book place that exists between waking and sleeping in a child's imagination. Words, rhymes and music carry young viewers through a happy world of loveable characters and nursery rhyme nonsense.

In the Night Garden has been filmed in a real woodland setting using High Definition technology to create a compelling and fully immersive experience for young viewers.

Anna Kingsley