Stock up on sugar lumps and rouse Dylan the rabbit. The Magic Roundabout will spin once again when a new version of the children’s classic returns to teatime screens.

Dougal, Florence and Zebedee are reunited in a computer-generated series that promises to rescue the programme’s original spirit after the disappointment of a feature film overloaded with celebrities.

First broadcast by the BBC in 1965, The Magic Roundabout’s witty scripts and psychedelic visuals attracted a loyal audience of children and adults.

The series was first created for French television by the author Serge Danot. Eric Thompson, father of the actress Emma, invented his own stories for the hit BBC version.

After almost 700 adventures, the series ended in 1977. Danot died in 1990. A £14 million film in 2005 voiced by Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue proved a box-office failure.

Despite that setback, Danot’s estate has agreed to a 52-part television series which will be scripted and voiced in England then animated in France. Graham Ralph, the series director at the London-based Silver Fox Films, said: “We are getting rid of the big stars and going back to the true spirit.”

Each episode will last 11 minutes, there will be no new characters and no modern intrusions into the world of Ermintrude and Brian the snail. Mr Ralph said: “They haven’t suddenly discovered mobile phones. The magic garden is a timeless, sunny place. But there will still be moments adults understand better than children.”

With Dougal’s sugar-lump habit and Dylan’s lethargy, devotees believe the original series was awash with drug references. The 1960s linger on for one character. Mr Ralph said: “Dylan does still look as though he is on something.”

The Magic Roundabout was revived briefly in the 1990s by Channel 4, narrated by Nigel Planer. The new series will not have a narrator. A fear that it may not appeal to today’s web-crawling preschool children contributed to the BBC’s decision to reject the new series. It will be screened by Nickelodeon UK, the children’s network, on its Nick Jr channel. Theresa PlummerAndrews, a former BBC executive who brought Bob the Builder to the screen, will oversee it.

Round about

— The creator Serge Danot helped to paint the Eiffel Tower

— The original French theme tune was speeded up for British tastes

— Dougal’s voice was modelled on Tony Hancock

— A Macclesfield woman named her child Zebedee in homage

— The series was exported to 28 countries, including Iran

Source: Times database

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