Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and their friends are getting a 21st-century makeover for a new TV animation series in a deal aimed at winning over a new audience of young fans for Beatrix Potter.
Potter's publisher Frederick Warne and its licensing agent Chorion plan to update the characters from the writer's original little white books for a series set to hit screens around the world in 2011.
"Our aim will be to introduce Beatrix Potter to a new generation of children and make her characters as loved today as they have been in the past," said Chorion chairman Waheed Alli.
"At the moment they are the top end. So posh people buy them in America and posh to middle class people buy them here. Our job is to take them from the high end to allow all children to buy into it. It's about democratising the brand."
The company behind Mr Men, Noddy and The Very Hungry Caterpillar has enjoyed rising sales during the economic downturn, putting much of the success down to parents returning to brands they know. Alli believes Potter's characters will tap into that trend particularly well. "Parents want to see the things they grew up with in the hands of their kids."
In the new series, Peter Rabbit will remain the central character in a cast that will return to what Alli calls the "bolder palette" of Potter's early drawings. The likes of Tom Kitten will retain their mischievous personalities but the storylines will be new and "appropriate" for the next generation.
"Peter Rabbit's father being caught by the farmer and being baked into a pie is not going to be our first episode. We'll be skipping over some chapters," said Alli.
Penned as a letter in 1893, The Tale of Peter Rabbit book has never been out of print and Potter's titles still sell at a rate of four per minute. Potter merchandise is also big business and The World of Beatrix Potter licensed property rakes in $300m (£186m) in global sales every year. Peter even has his own website and can be followed on social networking site Twitter.
A raft of new merchandise based around Peter and other Potter favourites such as Benjamin Bunny and Mr. Jeremy Fisher will be developed by Penguin-owned Frederick Warne Chorion and is likely go on sale in spring 2012, once the TV show has become established. Alli said Chorion was mindful of the fact his company was "guardian" rather than owner of all the characters in its portfolio, which also includes Paddington Bear and Miss Marple.
