The Adventures Of Bert And Ernie

Channel 5's Milkshake strand has just earned it's place on TV, at least ten years too late. They've joined with Germany's NDR to bankroll a new series from the Sesame Workshop, The Adventures of Bert and Ernie.

The premise is gold: the puppet Bert and Ernie we know and love page through their scrapbook before bedtime and, prompted by what they see therein, share an appropriate adventure in their dreams before waking up again. The best bit? That the dreams are stop-motion animated in a gorgeous clay style. The only image I have been able to find, up above, is of claymation Ernie on a banana crescent moon before a sky of rubber ducky stars. I wish it was bigger or clearer, but it's better than nothing.

Of course, this being Bert and Ernie, they each have quite a different perspective on what really happened in their scrapbooked adventure, or how their lucid dream should go, so they tug events in different directions. Hijinks will doubtlessly ensue.

Series one of 26 episodes, each five minutes long, won't air until at least March 2008 but already the second series has been comissioned for March 2009. My nephew Henry should be just the right age.