"The Russians stripped all of the joy out of Bellytelly Land," says series creator Roy Royston. "It was a very unhappy place."
With the huge success of Bellytellys in the UK, it was inevitable that the show would be franchised around the world. The Russian version (телевидение-желудки) hit the airwaves in 1999, and Royston was stunned when he saw the transformation.
"It was horrible. The Solar Baby had been replaced by the glowering face of Vladimir Putin, the Belly Trumpets spouted endless propaganda and Noof-Noof the vacuumn cleaner had been written out of the show entirely. In his place was a member of the Spetsnaz - Russia's elite special forces."
The four Belytellys had undergone a dramatic makeover too. Renamed Sasha, Pascha, Dascha and AK-47, the Russian Bellytellys were less interested in harmless fun and more interested in teaching children obedience to the state, discipline and how to survive a nuclear winter.
"There was one episode where Sasha succumbs to radiation poisoning after a border dispute in the Ukraine escalates into full-blown thermonuclear war between Russia and the United States," says Royston. "I expected the other Bellytellys to rally round and save their friend, but they just left him to die slowly and horribly while they hid in the Bellytronic Superbunker. The following week Sasha had been replaced with a new Bellytelly called Masha and he was never spoken of again. It was heartbreaking."
The Russian version of Bellytellys ran for eight series, covering subjects such as killing and skinning a bear, mending a boiler in the middle of winter, how to make .45 calibre bullets, fixing the engine on a Lada VAZ-2101 and reporting a neighbour to the FSB.
"It would have run for nine series," says Royston, "but just as they began filming, the entire cast and crew were rounded up by the secret police and never heard from again. It's now illegal to mention the show in Russia and anyone who gets caught doing so can be sentenced to up to thirty years hard labour. I fear for the children of that awful country."
Next Time: Boobs, Bribes and Berlusconi - The Downfall of ItaliaBellies.
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