Television

Following the success of the books, it wasn’t long before Jane was asked to write a TV series for the toys. Model animation was chosen and sets were built to look just like the drawings in the books. Each ten-minute episode took about five weeks to film and Old Bear Stories won many awards including a BAFTA. Forty episodes were produced and seen in 90 different countries.

The books and TV inspired a huge range of merchandising and soon you could buy Old Bear stationery, mugs, calendars, alarm clocks, bubble bath and baby clothes. You could even have your own Old Bear toy!