If you grew up in the late nineties, you probably remember the psychedelic green hills, the giggling sun baby, and four colorful creatures with televisions in their stomachs. It felt like a fever dream. Honestly, it kind of was. But if you think the show was trippy from your living room couch, the Teletubbies behind the scenes reality was actually much more intense, physically demanding, and occasionally bizarre than any of us realized as kids.
Forget the idea of small actors in cozy onesies. These suits were massive. They were over eight feet tall.
The Massive Scale Nobody Saw Coming
Most people assume Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po were roughly human-sized. They weren't. Because the set was built on such a gargantuan scale, the perspective was totally warped. To make the Teletubbies look "small" and cute, the production team at Ragdoll Productions had to build everything—the Tubbytronic Superdome, the flowers, the props—to a giant scale.
Tinky Winky, the largest, stood at nearly ten feet tall if you count the antenna. Even Po, the "baby" of the group, was over six feet. Think about that for a second. If you met Po in a dark alley, she’d be looking down at you.
The rabbits were part of this optical illusion, too. Producers couldn't use standard bunnies because they would look like tiny specks next to an eight-foot Dipsy. Instead, they used Flemish Giant rabbits. These things were the size of small dogs. They were also, according to many reports from the crew, quite fond of "doing what bunnies do" on camera, which led to a lot of wasted film and many retakes.
What It Was Like Inside the Suits
Living inside a Teletubby was a feat of endurance. It wasn't just a costume; it was a heavy, claustrophobic piece of machinery. Each suit weighed about 60 pounds. Imagine strapping a weighted vest to your chest and then putting a giant carpet over your head while trying to dance in a field.
The actors—Dave Thompson (and later Simon Shelton), John Simmit, Nikky Smedley, and Pui Fan Lee—had to breathe through small holes in the costumes' mouths. Carbon dioxide buildup was a real health risk. To prevent the actors from passing out, they could only stay inside the suits for short bursts. Every time the "heads" came off, the actors were drenched.
"You had to be quite fit to do it," Nikky Smedley (Laa-Laa) once mentioned in an interview. She recalled the heat being unbearable, often reaching temperatures that would make a marathon runner sweat.
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The suits were so thick that the actors couldn't hear the director very well. They had internal speakers, but the quality was often grainy. It was a masterclass in physical acting because they had to convey emotion through exaggerated movements since their actual faces were hidden deep behind the animatronic masks.
The Secret History of the Tubbytronic Superdome
The show wasn't filmed in a studio. It was filmed on a farm in Wimpstone, Warwickshire.
The production team literally dug a giant hole in the ground to create the "bowl" where the Teletubbies lived. They planted real grass. They built a permanent home. For years, the location was a guarded secret to keep trespassers away, but fans eventually found it.
Why the Set No Longer Exists
After the show ended in 2001, the owner of the land, Rosemary Harding, grew tired of "Teletubby tourists" constantly trespassing on her property. People were climbing fences and trampling her fields just to see where the magic happened.
Her solution? She flooded it.
The iconic Tubbytronic Superdome was dismantled, and the hole was turned into a pond. Today, if you visit that patch of land in Warwickshire, you won't see any remnants of the futuristic hill. You'll just see water and some very confused ducks. It’s a bit of a somber end for such a culturally massive landmark, but it was the only way the landowner could get her peace back.
The Controversy That Followed Tinky Winky
It’s impossible to talk about Teletubbies behind the scenes without mentioning the Tinky Winky handbag "scandal." In 1999, Jerry Falwell, an American televangelist, claimed that the character was a "gay role model" because he was purple and carried a bag.
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The production team was baffled. To them, it was a "magic bag" for a children's show.
Dave Thompson, the original actor for Tinky Winky, actually left the show after the first season (before the Falwell controversy erupted) because of "creative differences." He later noted that the production felt his interpretation of the character was "too flamboyant." He was replaced by Simon Shelton, a trained ballet dancer, who played the character for the rest of the original run. Shelton always maintained that the character was just a three-year-old with a magical bag.
The Hidden Complexity of Noo-Noo and the Voice Trumpets
The technology on the show was surprisingly complex for the mid-nineties. Noo-Noo, the blue vacuum cleaner, was a remote-controlled robot. A technician was always nearby with a controller, trying to navigate the bumpy terrain of the hill.
Then there were the Voice Trumpets.
These weren't just props. They were a way to bridge the gap between the Teletubbies' world and the "real" world. The voices were provided by seasoned actors, including Sandra Dickinson and Eric Sykes. The timing had to be perfect because the Teletubbies acted against pre-recorded lines.
The Sun Baby: Then and Now
The giggling Sun Baby wasn't a CGI creation. It was a real infant named Jess Smith.
Behind the scenes, her father would sit out of shot and play with a teddy bear or make funny faces to get her to laugh. She was paid £250 and a box of toys. At the time, nobody knew the show would become a global phenomenon worth billions of dollars. Jess kept her identity a secret for nearly two decades before finally revealing herself on social media.
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The Production Grind
Filming was a marathon. Because they were shooting outdoors in England, the weather was a constant enemy. If the sun went behind a cloud, they had to stop. If it rained (which it often does in Warwickshire), the "Tellytubbyland" became a mud pit.
The actors worked 11-hour days.
They weren't just "playing." They were doing heavy labor in high-tech mascot suits. The psychological toll of being inside those heads for years is something the cast has spoken about with a mix of affection and "never again" energy. They were a tight-knit group, often leaning on each other—literally—to stay upright between takes.
Why It Worked (And Why We Still Care)
Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport, the creators, didn't just stumble into success. They studied child development. They knew that toddlers loved repetition, bright colors, and "Oopsy-daisy" moments.
They also knew that the Teletubbies' "language"—that babbling, half-formed speech—mirrored how actual toddlers speak. While critics at the time complained it would hinder language development, experts eventually realized it actually helped children engage because they felt smarter than the characters on screen.
The "behind the scenes" of the show reveals a production that was incredibly ambitious. It wasn't just a "kids' show." It was an experimental, big-budget, outdoor animatronic epic.
Actionable Takeaways for Superfans and Researchers
If you're looking to dive deeper into the history of Tellytubbyland, there are a few things you can do to see the "real" story beyond the colorful facade:
- Watch the "Original" Dave Thompson Episodes: You can find early Season 1 clips on YouTube. Look for the slight differences in Tinky Winky’s movement compared to later seasons; the shift in physical performance is subtle but fascinating once you know the backstory.
- Search for the Warwickshire Site on Google Earth: While the dome is gone, the geography of the surrounding hills is still recognizable. It gives you a sense of just how isolated and vast the set really was.
- Read Nikky Smedley’s Memoir: "Over the Hills and Far Away" provides a first-hand account of the physical toll the show took on the performers. It’s the best resource for understanding the grit behind the glitter.
- Study the Flemish Giant Rabbit: To truly grasp the scale of the set, look up photos of these rabbits being held by humans. When you realize the Teletubbies were twice as big as those massive bunnies, the "giant" reality of the show finally clicks.
The show was a massive undertaking that blended high-concept art with grueling physical labor. It remains a testament to what happens when you take a weird idea and commit to it with 100% of your resources.