Nikky Smedley from Ilmington talks about her life in the Teletubbies as Laa-Laa

WHEN the Teletubbies bounced onto our TV screens 25 years ago, no one had seen anything quite like it. Four luridly-bright blobby characters with smiley faces, aerials on their heads and TVs on their tummies giggled and rolled their way around ‘Teletubbyland’.

The nation’s three-year-olds lapped it up and it went on to become a massive hit for the BBC, topping three billion views and broadcast across 120 countries in 45 languages.

The only thing any self-respecting toddler wanted for Christmas 1997, the year it launched, was a Teletubby toy and this sparked a nationwide frenzy that saw shops selling out and desperate parents driving miles to track one down.