NEW EDITION - BBC TO REPLACE 'LIGHT-SKINNED' CHILDREN'S DOLL

BBC TO REPLACE 'LIGHT-SKINNED' CHILDREN'S DOLL

A doll based on a character from the BBC's In the Night Garden show is to be replaced after viewers said its skin is too light.

A new edition of the Upsy Daisy toy will be released after the corporation received a "handful" of complaints that the doll appeared white, despite the character's brown skin on the programme.

And following a consultation conducted by brand experts Sparkler, a version of the Hasbro doll with a "darker skin tone" will go on sale from April.

"The findings showed most consumers were happy with the toys but a number of people wanted the Upsy Daisy doll to have a darker face colour to more closely represent how she appears in the live-action element of the TV show," said a BBC spokesman.

"In collaboration with our partners we have now elected to change the Upsy Daisy dolls in future lines."

The BBC has stressed the doll's skin tone had not been lightened for commercial reasons and was a representation of the lighter-skinned animated version of Upsy Daisy.

The creators of In the Night Garden, Ragdoll Productions, said the character of Upsy Daisy had not been "intended to represent a specific race or culture".

"The characters are toys, not representations of people," a statement added.

"The culture they collectively embody is unique to the garden setting in which they live – and they are loved by pre-school children for that first and foremost.

"They depict a wide range of diversity in the traditional sense of the word – that is, in their personality, size, shape, scale and colour."

In the Night Garden became the UK's most successful children's television franchise last year, making close to £10 million in the year to October 31st 2008.