Famous Five to Get New TV Animation

The first animated series to feature the Famous Five is being made for the small screen more than 60 years after Enid Blyton created her classic.

The adventures of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the Dog are set to be broadcast in the UK in early 2007.

The series will be based on Blyton's original books, but the 26 half-hour episodes will have a 21st-century backdrop.

Broadcasters in France and Germany are interested in buying up the new animated series, which could also be screened in the US and Japan.

Despite making their first appearance more than 60 years ago, Blyton's 21 Famous Five adventures have never been out of print. They sell 1.4 million copies in Europe each year - with more than 450,000 copies snapped up in the UK.

A spokesman for Chorion, which owns the TV rights to the Famous Five, said the books - which feature children solving mysteries on their own through team work, in an environment where there are few adults, and most of those are villains - were still relevant today.

Blyton based the tomboy character of George, short for Georgina, on herself at the age of 12. She wrote the Famous Five Books from 1942 to 1963.

Chorion chair Lord Alli said: "The Famous Five represent the heartland of Blyton for generations of young readers throughout Europe. I am delighted that we will be ma