Entertainment
Hey Duggee welcomes friends from Ukraine to ‘bring to life’ real experiences of child refugees in Britain-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
New characters also means a new song.
The children’s TV show will welcome new friends from Ukraine, looking for a home (Picture: BBC)
Award-winning BBC children’s series, Hey Duggee, has launched a new educational episode featuring characters arriving from Ukraine.
The show wanted to ‘bring to life’ the real experiences of thousands of children taking refuge in Britain amid the war with Russia, and help them to feel at home.
Like thousands of children at schools and nurseries around the UK, Duggee has been joined by some new Ukrainian friends, called Mavka and Swampy the Kittyfrog, who many Ukrainian children will recognise from Mavka.
Being from Ukraine, Mavka and Swampy speak a different language from Duggee and his friends so, to help them settle in, Duggee, The Squirrels and Hummingbirds burst into song – The Welcome Song.
The tune is complete with translations of Ukrainian phrases to help the new arrivals feel at home (and to give children watching some phrases to use for a nice big welcome), along with lots of waving, something everyone understands!
It is hoped that seeing some friendly faces with Duggee and friends will help make the real-world new arrivals feel even more welcome.
The new arrivals also mean a new song (Picture: PA)
Creators of the show want to ‘bring to life’ real experiences of child refugees in Britain (Picture: PA)
Hey Duggee narrator Alexander Armstrong voices the story, and he is joined by children from the UK and recently arrived from Ukraine – who all sing the words of the song in their native language.
Harriet Newby-Hill, VP Marketing – Kids & Family at BBC Studios said of the new arrivals: ‘We are delighted to team up with Mother and Animigrad, and feel very proud that Hey Duggee is playing its part to help children coming to the UK from Ukraine feel welcome in such a charming and educational way.’
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Mavka and Hey Duggee were introduced by Mother, as part of its Friendly Faces project. Felix Richter, a Partner at Mother London, added: ‘Collaborating together on this project to help thousands of children see the value of friendship, across language barriers, has been an absolute privilege.’
This extra special episode of Hey Duggee, The Welcome Badge, is available across all Hey Duggee social channels: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, HeyDuggee.com, and on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer.
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