Here Are All The People Who Played The Teletubbies

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Teletubbies ended 16 years ago (yes you’re very old), but the four brightly coloured, monkey-esque creatures made their mark on all noughties kids.

They say never meet your heroes, but it’s interesting to see the adults who clambered into the chunky suits to entertain us every morning.

Their names are Simon Shelton, John Simmit, Nikky Smedley, and Pui Fan Lee, in the order of the classic theme song.

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Tinky Winky was originally played by Dave Thompson, but he was fired from the post for making the character seem too camp (I thought that was the point).

Simon Shelton then took on the role of the big purple friendly giant. Shelton was a professionally trained ballet dancer when he took on the role.

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The actor and dancer, now 51, always used to get asked if Tinky Winky was gay.

He said:

People always ask me if Tinky Winky is gay. But the character is supposed to be a three-year-old so the question is really quite silly,

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The coolest of all the Teletubbies was of course the bright green Dipsy who was supposed to be a funky Jamaican toddler.

Dipsy was played by stand up comedian John Simmit throughout the show’s original four year run.

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Speaking to iNews, John said:

I don’t think anyone knew what a phenomenon Teletubbies would become.

You became an attachment to the whirlwind. But as a grounded Jamaican-Brummie, I continued producing theatre shows, DJing and doing stand-up as the show exploded.

Laalaa was usually everyone’s favourite because of her bubbly, warm demeanour, and which kid doesn’t love a huge bouncy ball?

She was played by trained dancer Nikky Smedley who won the role after replying to a newspaper advert looking for a children’s actor.

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She revealed in an interview that playing the character was good fun and she liked the Warwickshire countryside but it was hard work wearing the heavy suits for 11 hours on end.

Since the show, she has stuck to children’s TV and choreographed In The Night Garden.

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Po, the cute baby of the group who loved nothing more than her scooter, was played by familiar Cbeebies face Pui Fan Lee.

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Pui has gone on to take a leading part in Cbeebies and presents the channel and hosts Show Me Show Me with Chris Jarvis.

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You can also see what the baby from the Teletubbies sun looks like now.

There you have it. Next time you watch it you can imagine their little faces dancing around.

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