After lengthy discussions with Willy Vandersteen, the artist of the comic strip, this series was put into production in 1973. This happened in collaboration with the Flemish actor and producer Wies Andersen. Instead of adaptations of the existing comics, six new stories were chosen. The puppets were given multiple facial expressions and the sets and props were made based on detailed designs by Studio Vandersteen. Lambik always acts as narrator. A striking difference with the comics is that Jerom's doll now has its eyes open.
Gopal Bhar was a legendary court jester in medieval Bengal. He was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the famous king of Nadia in the 18th century AD. Such was the genius of Gopal that the King considered him as a Navaratna of his court. His statue can still be seen in the palace of Raja Krishnachandra. Stories about his exploits are narrated in Bengal to this day and are immortalized in countless short stories. The stories are short, beautiful, humorous and have a specific social message. Gopal Bhar is famous for stories of his wisdom, in which he outwits other fellow courtiers.
Poland gained its own version of Sesame Street in 1996 on TVP2. It was one of the few countries in Europe that did not translate the famous Sesame Street songs. This version does a lot with their own traditional music.
The Muppets remain the main attraction, but now they speak Polish, have Polish names, and interact with actors playing Polish characters, including a grandfather whose bushy mustache makes him look like Poland's anti-communist hero and former president, Lech Walesa.
Ashley John-Baptiste is a BBC reporter who grew up in foster care and spent most of his life believing he was an only child. That is until his mid-20s, when he received a life-changing message. A man contacted him on social media telling him that he was his brother.
As it was with Ashley, some children in care grow up completely unaware of their siblings. More common, however, are cases where looked-after children do know about their siblings – but are split up once in care. The law says they should stay together if it's safe and appropriate to do so, but around half of sibling groups in care in the UK are separated.
To find out why this is happening, Ashley hears from young people and children whose lives have been changed forever by the impact of separation.
A solo chorister sings Once in Royal David's City to begin the traditional celebration of Christmas from the candlelit chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The world-famous choir sings carols old and new. Filmed amidst the beauty of historic King's College Chapel and first televised in 1954, and annually since 1963.
The story revolves around four divorced sisters who live under one roof, their father's villa. Fate wills that they all get divorced at the same time, so they return to their old home. There, comedic paradoxes occur between them due to their different personalities.
Leon is counting solely on the kindness of strangers for food, shelter and fuel, he travels around the world on a vintage motorcycle looking for the good in humanity.
Ding Dong School, billed as "the nursery school of the air", was a half-hour children's TV show which began on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois a few months before its four-year run on NBC.
A precursor to both Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the show was hosted live by Frances Horwich, and at one point was the most popular TV series aimed at preschoolers.
The show and its host, Miss Frances, were mentioned in the comic strip Peanuts in 1955 and 1956.
The show was revived in 1959 as a syndicated program, now videotaped and distributed by National Telefilm Associates. This iteration ran until 1965.
Five NBC kinescoped episodes from 1954-1955 are housed at the Library of Congress, in the J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection.