Tinky Winky has courted controversy

That charge is not accepted by the programme makers, who say the Teletubbies help infants develop their communication and language skills.

But translation of the Teletubbies' unique language for a Chinese audience may prove to be a problem.

There have been reports that, after trying to recreate the four characters' method of talking into Mandarin, new actors had to be found to dub the lines to the BBC's satisfaction.

'Gay lifestyle'

The export success of Teletubbies has brought other problems.

When the show was first broadcast in the US in 1999, the Christian campaigner Jerry Falwell accused Tinky Winky of "modelling the gay lifestyle".

Tinky Winky, though apparently male, carries a handbag, is purple - "the gay-pride colour" and his antenna is "shaped like a triangle - the gay-pride symbol".

But Steve Rice, a spokesman for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment, which licenses the Teletubbies in the US, responded by saying: "It's a children's show, folks. To think we would be putting sexual innuendo in a children's show is kind of outlandish."

And Dave Thompson, the first actor to play Tinky Winky, was sacked in 1997, after producers said he had interpreted the character incorrectly.

'Risks'

The British actor said: "I was always the one to test out the limitations of the costume.

"I was the first to fall off my chair and roll over. I took all the risks."

World sales of Teletubbies and its spin-off merchandise has made a fortune for its creators as well as for the BBC.

In 2001 it was reported that the Teletubbies had made �116m for the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.