How the studio behind Numberblocks began in a uni bar

In a student bar, a group of undergraduates unknowingly laid the foundations for one of the world's most successful children's TV shows.

Numberblocks, which their studio went on to produce, has become a phenomenon - far more successful than those Bournemouth University animation students ever imagined 26 years ago.

If you do not have pre-school kids, you might not have encountered the CBeebies show, which uses colourful blocks to introduce children to numbers and simple mathematical concepts.

But last year it was the sixth most requested programme on BBC iPlayer and viewed by millions globally for a total of almost 1,750 years.

"During our final year we had a number of lectures from people in the industry," says Oli Hyatt, who set up animation studio Blue Zoo with his friends at Bournemouth University.

"I realised that some of the people who set up companies and were being successful were actually not as good as we were."

While setting up their company, he describes how the friends began recruiting others, conducting interviews under the stairs of the student union bar.

"When we started the company, Bournemouth was the only course that was really doing CGI animation which is what we specialised in so for a while we did only employ people we knew from Bournemouth," he says.

"Now we've got people from all over the UK and all over the world who work with us.

"It's amazing that at any point there are between 400 and 450 people working, making animations for the next generation of children in this country."

In the years since, Blue Zoo has gone from strength to strength and in December won a special Bafta award to recognise its contribution to children's entertainment and education.

In 2014, Hyatt was awarded an MBE for his work on a tax relief scheme for UK animation.

For almost 10 years - and over the course of almost 200 five-minute episodes - the team at Blue Zoo have been making Numberblocks.

Speaking from his Camden offices - a world away from those early days - Hyatt now estimates the show pulls in 13 billion views a year.

"I forget how many zeroes we have to put on the amount of views we get," he says.

He calls it a "behemoth", adding that it is now "the ninth biggest selling toy in the US".

Blue Zoo has also gone on to create the CBeebies hits Alphablocks, which helps children to learn words, as well as Colourblocks, which helps children to see and understand colours in a new way.

Among those to have benefited from watching Numberblocks is three-year-old Myles, who is autistic and was born with a congenital heart condition.

His mum, Hannah, says: "There was a time we thought he would never talk, much less count - but here we are at barely three years old and he can count to 27."

She says he has significant speech and developmental delays but has learned how to count thanks to help from Numberblocks.

From their family home in Louisiana in the US, Hannah says: "We didn't teach him. He found Numberblocks on YouTube and fell in love with it.

"When I posted about it on Facebook, comments flooded in about other peoples' kids who loved the show as well.

"Numberblocks has been a blessing to me and so many other families here in the deep south of the US.

"The show has taught Myles so much and truly changed the entire trajectory of all of our lives.

"England should be proud of a show that is changing the lives of families all over the world."