Aside from the odd joyous re-run from the movie back catalogue and the 2002 BBC-produced I Love Muppets doc, Jim Henson’s felt characters have been absent from the Beeb since the late nineties, but no more. It was announced in March that The Jim Henson Company and the BBC were to co-produce a custom chat show for the channel, featuring new Henson Company-designed puppets, and now TV veteran Danny Baker has stepped forward as the new show’s head writer.
"I'm writing the new Muppet/Puppet show for BBC/Henson. There I've said it."
The working title for the new show is No Strings Attached (we see what they’ve done there), and the plan is to feature a mix of puppets and real-life celebrities. Apparently Stephen Fry turned up to film the non-broadcast pilot, which isn’t too shabby.
Back in March, the BBC’s executive producer for entertainment, Karl Warner, outlined his view for the show, saying “The idea is that it would be very firmly anchored in the world of the chat show, but based around a new character created by the Henson company”. This is all in addition to the new Muppets series currently being developed stateside. Muppets as far as the eye can see!
