Michael Bond’s much-loved guinea pig, Olga da Polga, is coming to the small screen, starring in a new CBeebies series due to be airing this autumn.
Michael Bond, best known for creating classic characters such as Paddington Bear, first introduced readers to the adventurous Olga da Polga in 1971, when The Tales of Olga da Polga was published. Several Olga da Polga stories have been published since, and we are delighted that this year, Olga will be coming to TV, thanks to a new adaptation from Maramedia, Scotland’s leading independent TV production company specialising in wildlife filmmaking.
The character of Olga was inspired by the real-life guinea pig Bond gave his daughter, Karen Jankel, for her eighth birthday. Karen recently spoke to The Observer about Olga’s retelling for TV: “Olga’s moment has finally come […] They were really wonderful stories and he always believed they would work well on TV, filmed in just this way, with a combination of live action and animation. […] My father had always felt that Olga should be on telly.”
As explained in The Observer article, Maramedia “approached Jankel with the idea of making a show based on the books. Some of the characters in the new 13-part series are drawn from her childhood, just as they were in her father’s original stories.”
We are also delighted that new editions of the original Olga da Polga tales, illustrated by Catherine Rayner, are publishing in mid-November from Oxford University Press.
We look forward to welcoming Olga to our screens soon!
The Observer’s full article can be found here.
