Andrew Davenport (born 10 June 1965) is an English writer, puppeteer, producer, composer, and actor, specialising in creating television, music, and books for young children. He is known as co-creator and writer of ''

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 ...

'' and writer, voice artist and puppeteer of "Tiny" on ''

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 ...

''. He is also the creator, writer, and composer of both '' In the Night Garden...'' and ''

Moon and Me ''Moon and Me'' is a stop motion children's television series created by Andrew Davenport. The series airs in the UK on CBeebies while it airs in the United States on Universal Kids. The series was helped out by researcher Dylan Yamada-Rice by s ...

''. Davenport co-created ''

"Andrew Davenport: Ooo, what's all the fuss? – Telegraph"
''The Telegraph'', 17 January 2008.'' (first broadcast in the UK in 1997) with

Anne Wood Anne Wood, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 18 December 1937) is an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as ''Teletubbies'' with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of ''Tots TV'', ''Boohbah'' ...

, and wrote all of the 365 episodes. He created '' In the Night Garden...''"In the Night Garden: Bedtime for Teletubbies – The Independent"
''The Independent'', 18 April 2007."Night Fever – The Observer Magazine"
''The Observer Magazine'', 25 November 2008. (first broadcast in the UK in 2007), wrote all of the 100 episodes 30-minute episodes,http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations/?year=2007 "BAFTA – Best Pre-school Live-Action Award – In the Night Garden...", 2007. and composed the title theme and music for the series. In 2019, Davenport created ''

''. He wrote all 50 episodes and composed all the music for the series. Davenport has been dubbed "the

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

of the under fives" and "the king of kid's TV" following the extraordinary international success of ''

'' and '' In the Night Garden....'' His success with the preschool audience has been credited to "incredible instinct and a lot of painstaking research" and a "slightly terrifying insight into these unknowable little minds". Davenport references child developmental science in the creation of his shows and has described his process as to "engage minds and feed imaginations with the unfailing power of characters and worlds forged with kindness and playfulness".

Early life and education

Andrew Davenport was born in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, Kent and grew up in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. He went to

Hayes School Hayes School is a mixed secondary school with academy status located in the suburb of Hayes within the London Borough of Bromley. The school has approximately 1,800 students, of whom 500 are in the sixth form. History The school became i ...

where, at the age of 13, Davenport was inspired by Sir Jonathan Miller's TV series "

The Body in Question ''The Body in Question'' is a British-based, internationally co-produced medical television series first aired in the UK in November 1978. Premise This is a 13-part series (1 hour episodes) on all aspects of medicine and health science, writte ...

" to be the first in his family to go to university, and to look for a subject that combined arts and sciences. Originally intent on a career as a speech therapist, he studied BSc Speech Sciences (vocational training for

speech therapist Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

s) at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

1983–87. Davenport was President of the UCL Drama Society in his final year, during which the society staged 32 productions in 30 term weeks.

Experimental theatre and performance career (1988–1994)

Davenport wrote and performed in experimental theatre between 1988 and 1994, with performing partner Kate France, whom he met at UCL. He frequently worked with conceptual performance artist Gary Stevens. Stevens later (along with

Tim Whitnall Timothy Charles Whitnall (born 27 June 1961) is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series ''Mike and Angelo'' and narrating the BBC Children's Television programme ''Teletubbi ...

and

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

) sang the theme song for ''

''. Davenport performed variously with France and Stevens at the Edinburgh and Brighton Festivals, London's ICA,

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Galler ...

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

, the

British Art Show The British Art Show (BAS) is a major survey exhibition organised every five years to showcase contemporary British Art. Each time it is organised, the show tours to four UK cities. It usually requires a number of venues in each city to accommo ...

, National Review of Live Art, the Theatre de la Bastille in Paris, and the

Yermolova Theatre The Yermolova Theatre () is a theatre company in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow. It is under the artistic direction of Vladimir Andreyev (). The theatre's building was built in the 1830s, and is one of the largest on Tverskaya Street ...

in Moscow. His dance performance in

Mehdi Norowzian Mehdi Norowzian (Persian: مهدی نوروزیان) is an Iranian-British director. He was nominated for an Oscar for his short film ''Killing Joe'' (1999) at the 72nd Academy Awards. Early life He was born in Iran, and later moved to the UK. ...

's short film ''Joy'' inspired the award-winning

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

"Anticipation" advert, and became the subject of a landmark high court ruling in 1998. Davenport also modelled for

Gilbert & George Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942) are artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Gilbert & George. They are known for their formal appearance ...

's 1992 artwork ''Eyes''.

Children's television career (1991–present)

Ragdoll Productions (1991–2010)

In 1991, Davenport joined

Ragdoll Productions Ragdoll Productions Limited, or simply Ragdoll, 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 Bloxham, Oxfordshire, and has produced a ...

as a puppeteer and co-writer on the double-

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

-winning series ''

'', (first broadcast in the UK in 1993) puppeteering and voicing the character of Tiny. He co-wrote the series of 297 episodes with Tom's Puppeteer Robin Stevens.

invited Davenport to join the company after seeing him perform in Gary Stevens' Animal at the CCA in Glasgow. Davenport went on to play a lead role in turning Ragdoll into a globally recognised, specialist preschool producer.

''Brum'' (1994)

Davenport was writer and line producer on Series 2 of the series '' Brum'', and appeared in two episodes as The Big Town Robber.

''Teletubbies'' (1997–2001)

While he was writing for

, Davenport discussed with

the viability of a show for a younger audience that was based on developmental rather than educational rationale. Davenport had been working on an idea for a set of characters based on spacemen, having noticed the toddler-like proportions and antics of astronauts in footage of the Moon landings. He was invited by

to further develop the characters in response to an invitation from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

to pitch a new preschool show. Wood's invitation gave Davenport opportunity to draw heavily on the studies and theories of child development and language acquisition he was introduced to at UCL. The

stipulated that young children should appear in the show, so Davenport placed TVs in the

' tummies to solve the scale difference between the 'monster'-size

and young children. In an interview with UCL's Alumnus magazine, Davenport said "There was a tendency for makers of children's TV to come from a teaching background, and the accepted form often involved a presenter/teacher leading a group of puppets/children in learning things. It seemed to me to portray a situation alien to the culture of the younger preschool child.

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

learn by self-motivated experimentation, establishing connections and patterns – by gradually assimilating rules and adapting them to accommodate new experiences. Television seemed uniquely well-equipped to address these processes." Despite initial negative critical reception, and rigorous scrutiny by developmental experts, ''Teletubbies'' went on to be one of the most popular and iconic shows in history, pioneering programming for pre-school children, winning 17 industry awards and broadcast in over 120 countries, being translated into 45 languages. Davenport co-created ''

'' with

, and wrote all of the 365 x 25 minute episodes. In 2002, Davenport wrote the

-winning series ''Teletubbies Everywhere'' (52 x 10 minutes). In September 2013,

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...

acquired all rights to

through its purchase of Ragdoll Worldwide, adding new characters and combining Davenport's original scripts with new writing.

''In the Night Garden'' (2007–2009)

In the early 2000s, Davenport noticed that his friends' children had difficulty settling at bedtime. He created '' In the Night Garden...'' to give children a positive narrative around going to sleep. Davenport created the series and the characters, wrote all 100 episodes and composed music for all episodes of the double-BAFTA-winning '' In the Night Garden...'' (100 x 30 minutes).http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/nominations/?year=2008 "BAFTA – Best Pre-school Live-Action Award – In the Night Garden...", 2008.

Shine Group (2012–2014)

In 2012, Davenport joined Elisabeth Murdoch's

Shine Group Shine Group was a British international television production and distribution group with 26 production companies across 12 countries creating scripted and non-scripted content in the global marketplace. Shine Group companies included award-win ...

as head of a new pre-school content division. In 2014, Davenport and Shine incorporated Davenport's specialist pre-school content company, Foundling Bird.

''Moon and Me'' (2019–2020)

Based on his love of popular toy-house stories from the mid 20th century by

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

and

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been tra ...

, Davenport decided to create his own contemporary toy-house story. Davenport teamed up with the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

to create a study of children's play, using a toy house equipped with cameras and microphones. This study revealed young children's "small world play" interests, including stairs, doorbells, and tea time. Davenport used the study to inform his development of ''

'', the story of a group of toy characters, brought to life by the Moon shining on their toy house. Davenport rejects contemporary CGI effects and animation methods, instead insisting on filming with real objects using rod puppets, vast model sets, over 500 miniature props, and stop motion animation to create the series entirely at toy-house scale, and in-camera. Davenport wrote all 50 episodes and composed all music for the series. ''

'' launched on

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

in 2019. It was co-produced by Davenport's company Foundling Bird and

Bento Box Entertainment Bento Box Entertainment, formerly known as Bento Box Animation, is an American animation studio and entertainment company located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scot ...

's Sutikki.

Influences and writing style

Davenport's "absolute hero" and "big influence" is

Oliver Postgate Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English Animation, animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''Bagpuss'', ''Pingwings' ...

. Davenport has paid tribute to Postgate at the 2007 JM Barrie Awards, in a BBC documentary "Oliver Postgate: A Life in Small Films" and on Channel 4 News. At the beginning of every project, he re-watches DVDs of Postgate's programmes to connect himself to the mind of the child he was when he first saw them. Davenport's work has focused on children's natural instinct to play, and how specifically tailored content can engage that instinct effectively. He draws heavily on the studies and theories of child development and language acquisition he was introduced to in his Speech Science degree at UCL. Davenport works from caravans and trailers on the sets of his show. He listens to directors and actors on set and as the crew become more proficient with the filming techniques, Davenport writes more intricate scenes.

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies ( ; born 27 April 1963), known professionally as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for being the original showrunner and head writer of the revival of the BBC sci-fi seri ...

rates Davenport's writing style alongside

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

and

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

Music composition

Davenport has been called "one of the most heard composers on the planet" after composing all music and lyrics for In the Night Garden... and

, as well as writing the multi-platinum single Teletubbies Say "Eh-oh!" based on the series' theme song, which reached number 1 in the UK singles chart in December 1997 and remained in the Top 75 for 32 weeks, selling over a million copies. His music has been performed by

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

(Davenport's "Silly Song" from ''

'') and the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

(''In the Night Garden'' theme at the Royal Festival Hall). The theme for Moon and Me was also performed by the

Chineke! Orchestra Chineke! Orchestra () is a British orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black & ethnically diverse musicians. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language meaning "God". The orchestra was founded by m ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

for the

Prom at the 2019

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

. Davenport invited Bublé to perform the song after seeing him sing the Igglepiggle song from '' In the Night Garden...'' on ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

''. Davenport has said "Music is an emotional entity. It can deepen the experience of the child watching."

Awards

*''BAFTA'' In the Night Garden... – Best Pre-school Live Action Award 2007 and 2008 *''BAFTA'' Teletubbies Everywhere – Best Pre-school Live Action Award 2002 *''Royal Television Society''

– Best Pre-school and Infants Award 2000 *''BAFTA''

– Best Pre-school Programme 1998 *''24th Japan Prize International Contest''

– Grand Prize-winner, Pre-school Education Category 1997 *''Royal Television Society''

– Children's Entertainment Award 1997 *''BAFTA''

– Best Pre-school Programme 1996 and 1997"BAFTA – Best Pre-school Programme Award – Tots TV"
1997.

Bibliography

*Davenport, Andrew (1995). ''Tilly Tom and Tiny and the Fly-Away-Painting Adventure'' *Davenport, Andrew (1995). ''Tilly Tom and Tiny and the Night-Time Funny-Noise Adventure'' *Davenport, Andrew (1995). ''Tilly Tom and Tiny and the Bouncy Bed-Up-In-The-Air Adventure'' *Davenport, Andrew (1995). ''Tilly Tom and Tiny and the Never-Ending Rain Adventure'' *Davenport, Andrew (2007). ''In the Night Garden...:'' ''All Aboard the Ninky Nonk!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2007). ''In the Night Garden...: Ooh, pretty flower!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2007). ''In the Night Garden...: Tomblibloos: The Happy Waving Game'' *Davenport, Andrew (2007). ''In the Night Garden...: Time to Wash Faces!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Where is Iggle Piggle's Blanket?'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: What a funny noise!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Upsy Daisy Loves the Ninky Nonk!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Where are the Pontipines?'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Tomblibloo Trousers on the Ninky Nonk'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Too much Pinky Ponk Juice!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Igglepiggle lost'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: The Bouncy Jumping Game!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Funny Noises!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Upsy Daisy Wants to Sing'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Where is the Pinky Ponk Going?'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: What a Noisy Pinky Ponk!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2008). ''In the Night Garden...: Bouncy Ball: An Amazing Musical Pop-Up Story'' *Davenport, Andrew (2010). ''In the Night Garden...: Nice and Quiet'' *Davenport, Andrew (2011). ''In the Night Garden...: Snowy Day'' *Davenport, Andrew (2011). ''In the Night Garden...: Pinky Ponk Juice Everywhere!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2011). ''In the Night Garden...: A Lovely Present'' *Davenport, Andrew (2012). ''In the Night Garden...: Pontipines' Picnic'' *Davenport, Andrew (2012). ''In the Night Garden...: Everybody Loves Christmas!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2013). ''In the Night Garden...: Wake Up, Igglepiggle'' *Davenport, Andrew (2016). ''In the Night Garden...: Songs and Rhymes'' *Davenport, Andrew (2019). ''Moon and Me:'' ''The Little Seed: A classic bedtime story to read together'' *Davenport, Andrew (2019). ''Moon and Me: Tea Time!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2019). ''Moon and Me:'' ''Moon Baby Sticker Storybook'' *Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: Hello Pepi Nana'' *Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: Goodnight, Moon Baby'' *Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: Onions!'' *Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: Dear Moon Baby'' * Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: Little Library'' * Davenport, Andrew (2020). ''Moon and Me: It's Christmas Time!''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Andrew 1965 births Actors from Folkestone Living people Alumni of University College London English television writers English male television writers English television producers English puppeteers English male actors English male voice actors English male composers Male actors from Kent