Postman Pat heads for Hollywood

Oh, dear. The residents of Greendale may soon have to find a new postman.

The ever-reliable Pat and his faithful cat, Jess, could soon be packing up their little red van and heading for the bright lights and glitz of Hollywood.

The film rights to the characters are being chased by US studios wanting to cash in on the worldwide success of British children's programmes.

Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros and Universal Pictures are among those bidding to land Pat and a string of other favourites.

Mike Heap, the chief executive of Entertainment Rights, which owns the rights to Pat, the Tweenies and He-Man, confirmed that talks were taking place with film- makers. However, the Tweenies, co-owned by the BBC, are likely to be the first of its children's characters to make it to the big screen.

Other movie projects include Tales Of The Riverbank, which first aired on TV in the 1950s and followed the exploits of characters such as Hammy Hamster, GP the guinea pig and Roderick Rat.

Work on a 70-minute big-screen version will begin next spring.

Michael Seres, from TV company Celador, which recently bought the rights to the show, said: 'We believe that the new Tales Of The River Bank can be a multi-million-pound brand.'