CBeebies launches hotel muppet TV show The Furchester Hotel
Hotels are set to get a little more childish as BBC children's television channel CBeebies has teamed up with Sesame Workshop to create new show The Furchester Hotel.
According to the BBC, it has been designed to help children with problem-solving, as the family-run hotel team looks to meet their guests' needs, whatever happens.
[Photo credit: Rachel Joseph/BBC/SesameWorkshop]
Two famous muppets from much-loved American show Sesame Street, Elmo and the Cookie Monster, will join new characters Funella Furchester and Furgus Fuzz, plus their daughter Phoebe Furchester-Fuzz, to help run the establishment. There is also a furry bell monster named Isabel, who signals guests' arrival.
As a cousin of proprietor Funella, Elmo will be a guest at the hotel, but Cookie Monster is set to work as a member of staff, with his "dream job" in room service and the dining room. The only problem is, cookies ordered by guests keep disappearing en route from the kitchenâ¦
The series was filmed at MediaCityUK in Salford, and features puppeteers from the UK as well as Sesame Street puppeteers David Rudman (Cookie Monster) and Ryan Dillon (Elmo). The hotel set was built from scratch over a metre from the floor, to allow the puppeteers to work standing up, rather than crouched down.
Kay Benbow, controller at CBeebies, said: "The Furchester Hotel is the result of four or five years of hard work and conversations - this is a true partnership with the Sesame Workshop team and we've worked hard together to develop an incredibly strong, ambitious series that we're all really proud of."
The series begins on CBeebies on 26 September, at 5pm.