Anne Wood,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 18 December 1937) is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

'' with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of ''

Tots TV ''Tots TV'' is a British children's television programme, produced by Ragdoll Productions and Central. The series was first telecast in the UK on the ITV network (part of CITV) from 1993 to 1998. Development ''Tots TV'' was written by two of ...

'' and ''

Rosie and Jim ''Rosie and Jim'' (sometimes written as ''Rosie & Jim'') is a British children's television programme which was produced by Ragdoll Productions and aired on ITV from 3 September 1990 to 16 May 2000. The programme was then repeated periodica ...

''. She was a recipient of the

Eleanor Farjeon Award The Eleanor Farjeon Award is made for distinguished service to the world of British children's books and is given to someone whose commitment and contribution is deemed to be outstanding. Founded in 1966, it is presented annually in memory of the ce ...

Early years

She was born in

Spennymoor Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe. History Origins The ...

, County Durham,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and grew up in Tudhoe Colliery, a small coal-mining village nearby.

Career

She qualified as a secondary school teacher through the Bingley Training College in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and took up her first teaching post back home in Spennymoor. She married Barrie Wood in 1959 and moved to Surbiton in Surrey where she took up a teaching role at Hollyfield Road Secondary School. This was the era of the first children's paperback book and Anne became an early pioneer of a children's paperback book club scheme for schools set up by Scholastic Publications. She retired from teaching on the birth of her daughter and was taken on by ''Scholastic'' as editor of their Children's Book Club.

Children’s books

When the Wood family moved to Byfleet in Surrey, she expanded her interest in how books and children's development could be brought together. In 1965 she founded and edited a quarterly magazine ''Books for Your Children'', a publication aimed at parents, teachers and librarians and fully supported by children's publishers. Initially the UK Arts Council supported the magazine with a small financial grant. As a further promotion of children's books in 1969 Wood set up the

Federation of Children's Book Groups The Federation of Children's Book Groups is a national charity in the United Kingdom that promotes children's books and reading for pleasure for all ages of children, from newborns to teenagers. The organisation is run by volunteers interested ...

, an organisation still in existence today. Also in 1969 in recognition of her contribution to the promotion of children's books Wood was awarded the

Television producer

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...

for ITV 1977 ''Puzzle Party'' hosted by

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

and featuring Gnigel the Gnu #

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

for ITV 1979 – 1983 5 series of ''

The Book Tower ''The Book Tower'' is a British television series for children, produced by Yorkshire Television, that ran for 11 series from 3 January 1979 to 16 May 1989. Initially presented by ''Doctor Who'' star Tom Baker (1979–81), each episode explo ...

'', a programme aimed at stimulating children's interest in books. Hosts included

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...

and Stephen Moore. Winner of a

Children's BAFTA The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Aca ...

in 1979 and 1982. Winner Prix Jeunesse 1980. 1982–1987 Three series of ''

Ragdolly Anna ''Ragdolly Anna'' was a British children's television series, produced by Yorkshire Television and Siriol Productions and based on the books by British writer Jean Kenward. The show was broadcast between 1982-1987 on the ITV network during its ...

'' based on the children's books by Jean Kenward. Innovative technology brought the ragdoll to life. The series starred

Pat Coombs Patricia Doreen Coombs (27 August 1926 – 25 May 2002) was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, ...

as the dressmaker owner of the ragdoll. #Head of Children's Programmes for

TV-AM TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...

. In April 1983 introduced

Roland Rat Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously designed and operated Mooncat, a puppet in the Children's ITV television programme '' Get Up and Go!'' Claridge work ...

a character created by David Claridge in ''The Spectacular Shedvision Show''. The series is generally regarded as the saviour of the ailing breakfast television service. Roland took the audience from 100,000 to 1.8 million. Wood produced six further series, ''Rat on the Road'' (1983), ''Roland's Winter Wonderland'' (1983), filmed in Switzerland, ''Roland Goes East'' (1984), filmed in Hong Kong, ''Rat on the Road II'' (1984), ''Operation Fog I'' (1984), ''Roland’s Countdown to Christmas'' (1984). Concurrent with Roland Rat Wood produced a Sunday morning series ''

Rub-a-Dub-Tub ''Rub-a-Dub-Tub'' was a children's television series broadcast in the United Kingdom on the breakfast television channel TV-am between 1983 and 1984. In addition to the main regular presenters, the programme also featured appearances by some of ...

'' – a magazine-style one-hour programme for very young children. It began transmission in February 1983. # Ragdoll Productions (UK) Limited: Wood founded her own independent children's television production company in 1984.

Productions (with first transmission years)

* '' POB'' for Channel 4 1985–1987 (3 series); 2 special videos produced: ''Pob and Friends'', (1988); ''Pob Goes to Hospital'' (1990) * '' Playbox'' for ITV 1988–1989 (1 series) (35 programmes) * ''The Magic Mirror'' for ITV 1989 (1 series) British animation series with live action opening and closing sequences. First sponsored (Kellogg's) children's programme series shown on British television. * ''Boom!'' for Channel 4 1990–1991 (2 series) Innovative programme series aimed at giving "special needs" children a programme of equal status. * ''

'' for ITV 1990–2000 (8 series) * '' Brum'' for BBC 1991–2002 (5 series) * ''

'' for ITV 1993–1998 (8 series) * ''Open a Door'' for BBC 1994–2003 (4 series) * ''

'' for BBC 1997–2001 (4 series) (365 programmes) * '' Badjelly the Witch'' for BBC 2000 (movie) (Along with Norma Farnes) * ''

Boohbah ''Boohbah'' is a British preschool television series created by Anne Wood and produced by Wood's company, Ragdoll Productions, in association with GMTV. It originally premiered on ITV on 14 April 2003. The series was later broadcast on Ni ...

'' for GMTV and ITV/CITV 2003–2005 (2 series) (125 programmes) * ''What Makes Me Happy'' for Channel Five 2005 (1 series) * ''

Blips BLIPS is an acronym for ''Bond Linked Issue Premium Structure'', or ''Bond Linked Investment Premium Strategy''. It is a type of tax shelter involving investors who take out bank loans that the government considers illegitimate. These loans are the ...

'' for ITV 2005–2006 (2 series) * '' In the Night Garden...'' for BBC 2007–2009 (2 series) (100 episodes) * '' Tronji'' for BBC 2009–2010 (2 series) * ''

The Adventures of Abney & Teal ''The Adventures of Abney & Teal'' is a British animated surreal children's television programme which uses a mixture of 2D and CGI animation based on the works of writer and illustrator Joel Stewart. The show, which follows the adventures of ...

'' for BBC 2011–2012 (2 series) * ''

Dipdap Dipdap is a children's programme on CBeebies, in which a drawn line creates endless challenges and surprises for the unsuspecting little character Dipdap. Background The series was created by Steve Roberts and produced by Ragdoll Productions. B ...

'' for BBC 2011–2012 (1 series) (52 programmes) * ''

Twirlywoos Ragdoll Productions is a British television production company founded in 1984 by Anne Wood, who had previously worked for Yorkshire Television and TV-am. It is located in Stratford-upon-Avon, and has produced a number of children's program ...

'' for BBC 2015–2017 (4 series) (100 programmes) * ''B.O.T. and the Beasties'' for BBC 2021 (1 series) (50 programmes)

Awards

Personal

*1969 Eleanor Farjeon Award (for services to children's books) *1974 Ronald Politzer Award (for book promotion) *1997 The Baird Medal of the Royal Television Society, Midland Centre *1998 Fellowship of the Royal Television Society *1999 The

Veuve Clicquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...

Award for Business Woman of the Year 1998 *2000

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for Services to Children's Broadcasting *2000 BAFTA Special Award Outstanding Contribution in Children's Television and Film *2003 Women in Film & Television awards the

Olswang Olswang was an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom and with additional offices in Reading, Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Singapore and, since 2011, Munich. It worked closely with a network of firms across eighty countries. ...

Business Award *2007 The Harvey Lee Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting British Press Guild Awards *2010 Lifetime Achievement award from Mother and Baby Magazine *2013 Honorary Doctorate University of Birmingham *2014 Voice of the Listener and Viewer Award for Contribution to Children's Television

Productions, For Yorkshire TV

*1979 Children's BAFTA (for The Book Tower) Harlequin Documentary/Factual *1980 Prix Jeunesse (for The Book Tower) *1982 Children's BAFTA (for The Book Tower) Children's Programme (Documentary/Factual)

Productions, As Ragdoll Productions

''Brum''

*1990 New York Film & Television Festival *1991 New York Film & Television Festival *1991 Birmingham (UK) Film & Television Festival

''Rosie and Jim''

*1992

TV Ontario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario E ...

Award

''Magic Mirror''

*1990 New York Film & Television Festival (The Goose Girl, The Hobyahs, Jack & The Beanstalk) *1990 Chicago International Festival of Films

''Tots TV''

*1993

TV Quick ''TV Quick'' was a British weekly television listing magazine published by H Bauer Publishing, the UK subsidiary of family-run German company Bauer Media Group. It featured weekly television listings running from Saturday to Friday, and began pub ...

– Gold Award *1996 Prix Jeunesse *1996 Children's BAFTA (For Best Pre-School Live Action) *1997 Children's BAFTA (For Best Pre-School Live Action) *1997 Retail Marketing Award (Highly Commended) Awards of Excellence (Video Home Entertainment) "Fluffy Little Chicks"

''Open a Door''

*1996 Prix Jeunesse for Brazilian episode "The Boy, The Slum and The Pan Lids" *1998 Festival of Light Filmfest, Seattle, USA Brazilian episode "Tezi" for “ Most Popular Film of the Festival Award" *1998 Seoul International Family Film Festival, Korea First Prize, Short Live-Film Section "Jasper", UK episode *2000 Prix Jeunesse "Tuli" (Namibia) BMW Special Prize for a programme with limited production facilities. *2000 Early Education 28th Contest of the Japan Prize for UK episode "Laura and Barry" *2001 Gold World Medal, Children's Special Category the New York Festivals Television Programming and Promotion Competition for the Open a door series *2002 Grand Award, Best Children's/Youth Programme the New York Festivals Television Programming and Promotion Competition for the Open a door series *2004 Gold World Medal the New York Festivals Television Programming and Promotion Competition for Open a door series 4 *2004 The Japan Foundation President's Prize "Yolanda", Series 4, Open a door, South Africa episode Also one of the two runners-up in the Japan Prize Early Education Program Division *2005 BEST Live Action Short Film 7th Annual BAMKids Film Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), USA "Hic!”, Series 4, Open a door, USA episode

''Badjelly the Witch''

*2002 Finalist Certificate Children's Programs Category the New York Festivals Television Programming and Promotion Competition.

''Teletubbies''

*1997 Grand Prize: Winner, Pre-School Education Category 24th Japan Prize International Contest, Tokyo *1997 City of Birmingham (UK) Award Best Midlands Produced Children's Television Production of 1997 (Celebrating a unique contribution to the media industry in the region) *1997 Royal Television Society the Children's Entertainment Award *1997 Video programmes award – Awards for excellence (Video Home Entertainment) *1998 The NATS Indies children's award Sixth Annual Awards for Independent Television Productions *1998 Children's BAFTA Best Pre-School Programme *1999 The Nickelodeon Indies Children's Award Seventh Annual Awards for Independent Television Productions *1999 International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association 17th Annual Awards GALA in New York **License of the Year **Entertainment/Character license of the year **Entertainment/Character License of the year/Hard Goods (to

Hasbro Inc Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

for Teletubbies) **Entertainment/Character License of the year/Soft Goods (to Children's Apparel Network for Teletubbies Apparel) **International Licensing Agency of the year (awarded to BBC Worldwide and Ragdoll) *2000 BBC Audicall Indies Children's award Eighth annual awards for Independent Television Production (third consecutive year of winning at the Indies) *2000 Royal Television Society Best Pre-School & Infants Award *2003 Ghana's TV and Radio Programme Awards Best Children's Programme *2005

MUMSNET Mumsnet is a London-based internet forum, created in 2000 by Justine Roberts for discussion between parents of children and teenagers. History and finances Mumsnet was created in 2000 by Justine Roberts, who came up with the idea of a webs ...

Best DVDs for 0-1s and 1-2s *2014 Joint Winner of the Most Edgy Programme of the last 50 Years at Prix Jeunesse 2014 *2014 Runner-up in the Great Impact Programme of the last 50 Years at Prix Jeunesse 2014

''Teletubbies Everywhere''

*2002 Children's BAFTA Best Pre-School Live Action Award

''Boohbah''

*2004 The Flash Festival – Paris Best Website Experimental Category – www.boohbah.tv

''What Makes Me Happy''

*2007 Golden Butterfly Award – Iran Best Short or Medium-length Video – at 2007

International Festival of Film for Children and Young Adults The International Film Festival for Children and Youth, formerly International Festival of Film for Children and Young Adults, is an Iranian film festival targeting children and youth. Professional filmmakers with expertise in children's films are ...

*2007 9th China Children's Film Festival Special Award – Ningbo, China As selected by a viewer panel composed solely of children *2008 37th

ROSHD International Film Festival Roshd International Film Festival is eldest film festival in Iran. It is centered on the films with educational and pedagogical themes and is staged every year by the Supplying Educational Media Center, a sub-branch of the Ministry of Education ...

, Iran Golden Statue Award to "Mahmoud’s Film" (Palestine) *2009 Chicago Children's International Film Festival "Angelina’s Film" (South Sudan) nominated *2009

Cine Golden Eagle Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer ...

Award Washington, USA "Angelina’s Film" (South Sudan) *2011 Cine Golden Eagle Award Washington, USA "Jose’s Film" (Colombia) *2011 Toronto International Film & Video Festival "Tung’s Film" (Vietnam) Best Children's Category

''In the Night Garden...''

*2007 BAFTA Children's Best Pre-school Live Action Programme *2007 British Toy Retailers' Association UK Toy of the Year – Igglepiggle Blanket Time *2008 Australian Toy Association Australian Toy Hobby & Nursery Fair Pre-school Licensed Product of the Year – Igglepiggle Blanket Time *2008 BAFTA Children's Best Pre-school Live Action Programme *2008 Licensing Awards 2008 Best Licensed Toys or Games Range in the Night Garden Toy Range from Hasbro *2008 Licensing Awards 2008 Best Baby/Pre-School Licensed Property (aimed at 0- to 5-year-olds) In the Night Garden *2008 Licensing Awards 2008 Best Food or Drink Range in the Night Garden Confectionery Range from Bon Bon Buddies *2008 Right Start Magazine Best Toy Awards in the Night Garden Sit & Ride, MV Sport & Leisure Ltd for Best Use of Character for the Tombliboos in the Night Garden Gazebo Ball Pool, Martin Yaffe won the Outdoor Category in the Night Garden Wooden Ninky Nonk Stacking Train, DanJam was Highly Commended in the Mini Movers Category *2008 Toy Retailers Association Pre-School Range 2008 in the Night Garden by Hasbro *2010 Broadcast Magazine Award Best Pre-school show *2010 Voice of the Listener & Viewer Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Best Children's Television Programme

''Dipdap''

*2011 Children's BAFTA Best Children's Short Form Programme

References

External links

*
Ragdoll Productions"Ragdoll founder fears for children's TV" by Tara Conlan: Guardian Friday March 23 2007 (include's portrait)The Ragdoll Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Anne 1937 births Living people British television producers British women television producers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Spennymoor