Bringing the Muppets to Moscow
Natasha Lance Rogoff’s daunting task of making Sesame Street in post-Soviet Russia. Along the way, she’d face mobsters with shark tanks, bankruptcy, and the kidnapping of Elmo.
In the early 90s, American journalist Natasha Lance Rogoff was covering the collapse of the Soviet Union – until the Muppets came calling, and she was tasked with bringing Sesame Street to Moscow. After decades of communism a new Russia was emerging, but could it embrace a US TV show?
Creating Ulitsa Sezam was a daunting challenge for Natasha. She would have to overcome a huge culture clash and, along the way, face mobsters with shark tanks, bankruptcy, and the kidnapping of Elmo. Natasha has written a book called Muppets in Moscow: The unexpected crazy true story of making Sesame Street in Russia.
Get in touch: [email protected]
Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Maryam Maruf
Ulitsa Sezam archive is courtesy of Sesame Workshop
(Photo: Natasha Lance Rogoff with the Russian Muppet, Businka. Credit: Courtesy of Irina Borisova)
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- Wed 8 Feb 202312:06GMTBBC World Service
- Wed 8 Feb 202318:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Wed 8 Feb 202323:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 9 Feb 202300:06GMTBBC World Service South Asia
- Thu 9 Feb 202303:06GMTBBC World Service except South Asia
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