Postman Pat plans to deliver profits from China

by Amy Judd | July 23, 2008 at 02:48 pm

1278 views | 7 Recommendations | 13 comments

Beloved UK children's series, Postman Pat will be marketed to Chinese children, as Greendale's favourite postman will be available in plush form in China and on DVD there for the first time ever.

China has around 100 million under-five year olds so there is alot of potential there for marketing.

The crucial licensing agreements come a fortnight after the first episodes of Pat’s exploits began being shown on the national CCTV Children’s channel. The hero in the red van is dubbed in Chinese, but still bears his original name.

Merchandising and DVD sales are key to profitability in the children’s character business, while the function of the television programme is to make youngsters aware of the character in the first place. The licensing deals helped to lift the shares by 29 per cent, or 1.47p, to 6.47p yesterday.

China may still be developing economically, but its one-child policy is a potential boost because it means that there are a high number of adults who may be willing to buy toys for children in their family. An estimated 22 million children are born each year in the world’s most populous country.

Entertainment Rights has sold the first eight series of Pat, totalling 106 episodes, to CCTV. It has yet to agree a deal with the state broadcaster and regulators for the forthcoming series, in which the postman has been promoted after more than a quarter of a century to a job that will take him away from rural Greendale to the city.

I remember watching Postman Pat when I was little and I still have a plastic toy of him and his cat Jess.

Each episode followed the adventures of Pat Clifton, a friendly country postman, and his "black and white cat" Jess, as he delivers the mail through the valley of Greendale. Although he initially concentrates on delivering his letters, he nearly always becomes distracted by an issue of one of the villagers and is usually relied upon to resolve their problems. Notable villagers include the postmistress: Mrs. Goggins, Alf: a farmer, Miss Hubbard, (who is nearly always seen out on her bicycle), and the local handyman, Ted Glen.

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petermello

at 19:56 on July 23rd, 2008

Luke hopped aboard at the Southwold Pier to help Postman Pat with his daily rounds.

petermello has contributed a photo to this story.

Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:19 on July 23rd, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. Excellent story Amy, not to be a Negative Nancy though, but when they counterfeit all this stuff over there Canada will be left with zilch

Baby Bichon

at 23:53 on July 23rd, 2008

Baby Bichon has contributed a photo to this story.

bexteroonie

at 00:40 on July 24th, 2008

Pat and Emily - taken at Newquay in Cornwall Summer 1992

bexteroonie has contributed a photo to this story.

sbryan

at 00:59 on July 24th, 2008

I like the story, I fine it very interesting that a children's british tv series could work in China. It just goes to show how small the world has become. Many years ago this would not have been thought a good idea due to cultral differances.

firfiris

at 01:01 on July 24th, 2008

This photograph was taken in one of Beijing's "hudongs"

firfiris has contributed a photo to this story.

Njbrunnock

at 06:02 on July 24th, 2008

A childrens coin-operated Postman Pat ride on Brighton beach.

Njbrunnock has contributed a photo to this story.

sapixie

at 11:55 on July 24th, 2008

Postman Pat was my her as a small girl and we never had rides like this.... so as hard as I tried I couldnt fit
Think its wonderful

sapixie has contributed a photo to this story.

SKIT-HEADS

at 01:44 on July 25th, 2008

This was the last time I saw my best friend as he was heading to the USA, at Gatwick airport we saw this last photo oppertunity so we took the moment as we both do a load of movie producing and this was a great end to our adventures in the UK.

SKIT-HEADS has contributed a photo to this story.

tkdmom

at 16:55 on July 29th, 2008

This photo of my daughter was taken in Singapore. When my kids were younger, my Dad gave them Postman Pat books and they loved them so much though they didn't have much idea who he is. We lived in Singapore for two years after that and they got all excited when they saw Postman Pat's van in one of the malls there, my daughter just had to have her photo taken as a souvenir.

tkdmom has contributed a photo to this story.

antaoc25

at 11:10 on August 2nd, 2008

Postman Pat is an old classic here in the UK. I remember watching Pat and Jess his cat when I was a child, now 25 years later he is a firm favourite of my friends little boy who is 2! My 7 year old son also loved Postman Pat.
I made this cake for my friends little boy, he loved his Po Po Pat cake!

antaoc25 has contributed a photo to this story.

antaoc25

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:20 on August 2nd, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's nice to think that Postman Pat is going global! Hope he continues to bring happy memories for years to come.