The Wombles are returning with a new remake in development

18 October 2023, 12:29

The Wombles feature in a classic McDonald’s advert

After The Ipcress File, The Wombles are due for a comeback.

First as a series of beloved children's books, then as a classic TV series and Mike Batt's novelty pop group, The Wombles are a British institution.

And the inhabitants of Wimbledon Common are due for a comeback with a modern remake now in development.

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Details are currently a bit sparse, but Deadline reports that the TV arm of Altitude will develop the remake, with co-production from The Wombles production house.

The show is being written by Will Davies, who wrote the 2010 movie version of How To Train Your Dragon.

Altitude has form with successful remakes of successful British classics, having recently produced the 2022 ITV reworking of The Ipcress File, the 1965 spy film starring Michael Caine.

The Wombles were created by Elisabeth Beresford, with her first novel released in 1968.

The characters first came to the small screen in 1973 for a series of five-minute episodes and half-hour specials, with narration and voices by Bernard Cribbins.

The show returned in 1996 as an animations, with another reworking coming just a couple of years later in 1998. A planned CGI remake in the mid 2010s stalled.