Great delivery for Postman Pat

13 April 2012

POSTMAN Pat is to deliver letters to the residents of Greendale until at least 2010 after his owner secured a new deal with the BBC.

Entertainment Rights, which also owns Basil Brush and He-Man, said the BBC had commissioned a third series featuring Pat and Jess the Cat.

The popular postman, who first appeared on television in 1981, was last shown on children's channel CBeebies 18 months ago. He had already been due to return to screens this autumn under a separate contract for 26 programmes.

The latest deal will boost the total number of programmes to 78 and will keep the show on air until 2010.

Entertainment Rights gained the rights to Postman Pat in 2001 when it acquired Woodland Animation, creator of the original series.

It said the autumn launch of the new shows would have a significant impact on demand for Postman Pat merchandise in the run-up to Christmas.

Chief executive Mike Heap said Postman Pat was proving 'hugely popular' around the globe and had now sold to more than 65 countries.

Animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films is creating the new episodes on behalf of Entertainment Rights.

Entertainment Rights bought the Filmation library of cartoons from greetings card giant Hallmark in March, giving it control of rights to He-Man, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, The Lone Ranger, My Favourite Martian and other characters which it hopes to return to TV screens.

This was described by Mr Heap as a 'transforming deal' for the company.

The acquisition came as the group reported an 85% rise in pre-tax profits to £1.6m in the 12 months to 31 December, its fifth consecutive year of record results.

Entertainment Rights was rebuffed in an attempt to buy Chorion - owner of Noddy and other Enid Blyton characters - last year.

Shares in the company rose by nearly 5% or 0.5p to 11.25p today.

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