CBEEBIES: Baby Jake, Raa Raa & Teletubbies

An occasional look at the weird, occasionally wonderful and often deranged world of programmes for toddlers

My morning routine more often than not involves Cbeebies.  I’m sure I’m not the only parent who is in the Cbeebies zone, although I’m sure some are happier to be there than others.  

One thing I like a lot about most Cbeebies programmes is the freewheeling logic where anything can happen - there’s often the surreal anarchy of Terry Gilliam’s animations for Monty Python.  One of my favourite such moments is from Sarah And Duck, where Sarah and her best friend, a duck, are having a bonfire and the Moon just joins in and starts chatting to them.  It doesn’t change size or anything, it just develops hands and a mouth and the programme carries on as normal.  

I’m planning to look at much more of the Cbeebies programmes over time, but let’s start with some of the ones I see most regularly first thing in the morning:

BABY JAKE

Baby Jake is creepy.  Basically, Jake is a real baby who becomes a South Park-style cut-out animation character with a permanent smile.  In fact, more specifically, he is like Saddam Hussein in South Park: The Movie.  The narration is done by his in-story brother Isaac, and there are songs as well.  Luckily, I’m usually in the shower while Baby Jake is doing his thing, because he really creeps me out.  I think it’s just the cut-out thing - in the live action scenes that bookend the show he’s a perfectly cute little boy.  I’m obviously the sort of person who can’t help overthinking things - I am writing a blog about TV for toddlers for a start - but making the cut-out do things makes me think of some horror concept where a character is forced to do things like a marionette.  The jolly child narration and singing doesn’t alleviate this - in fact it probably reinforces it.  The episodes themselves demonstrate the freewheeling plots I was talking about perfectly - the one I just looked up at random is a space adventure with hamsters, and has plenty of bits of cut-out Jake flying past stars and planets.  

I do sometimes wonder whether in 15 years time real life Jake’s parents will boast to the girls he brings home about how he used to have his TV show and embarrass the hell out of him - I know I would.  I hope his parents are kinder than me.  Anyway, using our own toddler for experimentation purposes, he is mildly interested in the Yaccki Yaccki Yoggi song but generally the programme doesn’t grab his attention.  Sorry, Jake.

RAA RAA THE NOISY LION

Raa Raa is, indeed, a noisy lion.  He lives in a Jingly Jangly Jungle, claymation style.  His friends are a monkey, a giraffe, a zebra an elephant and a crocodile, who are all the same size as him.  Raa Raa is a good entry-level example of this sort of thing - if you can’t hack it with Raa Raa, Bing is going to be too rich for your blood, but that’s for another time.  

Raa Raa and his friends are quite fun - the episode I saw a few days ago had Raa Raa singing about his favourite things, taking them out on a walk, losing them all and his friends help him find them.  The tickling feather Zebra and Monkey were enjoying is nobly given back to Raa Raa when they find out it is his feather - or maybe they’re just worried if they don’t give it back they’ll be eaten.  The jungle setting is strangely white, which I have just realised as I write this, puts me a little bit in mind of episode 1 of the classic 60s Doctor Who story ‘The Mind Robber’.  Raa Raa’s relentless optimism and energy (and indeed noisiness) grates on me after the first five minutes or so, but that’s my problem for not drinking coffee before it’s on.  Lorraine Kelly does the narration by the way - for the uninitiated there’s more than a few ‘spot the celebrity voice’ moments on Cbeebies.  

For our son the theme tune will get him stood to attention watching - however, during the main programme he will run around losing his own favourite things.

TELETUBBIES

Teletubbies is the most famous of the Cbeebies programmes.  If you have never tuned in to Cbeebies you more than likely still know of the Teletubbies and can probably name them.  There is a laughing baby’s face for the sun, then Teletubbies come leaping out of holes in the ground like colourful moles.  The first bit of the programme normally has them picking up signals for us to watch something on their tubs.  This is normally a minute of a day out to a farm or a car show or some such, which is then repeated immediately.  After this, the Teletubbies, go and look at their children (Tiddlytubbies), eat some Tubbycustard or Tubbytoast, then it’s time for Tubbybyebye.

Which actually all seems quite conservative and low key in the current land of Cbeebies.  Even Postman Pat, in his super-turbo-charged Special Delivery Service incarnation somehow seems more modern.  That’s not a criticism of Teletubbies, a lot obviously goes into making it.  Its formula is quite strict, and is never really deviated from - the reasoning presumably being that children find comfort in repetition.  

Spot The Celebrity Voices: Jim Broadbent, Fearne Cotton and occasionally Jane Horrocks - not that you can recognise any of them

It’s not really something that keeps me interested but, crucially this is a programme that really does get our son watching, usually to the point where the only movement he makes is jumping up and down or pointing at the screen.  And that should be the main aim of any children’s programme.