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An Antiques Roadshow guest was left smiling after it was revealed that her Teletubbies drawings collection could be worth up to £80,000.
The Toys & Childhood special featured many valuable nostalgic treasures, but nothing prepared viewers for the massive estimate given by expert Mark Hill.
Throughout the episode, beloved toy rabbits, a rare Action Man set, and a Subbuteo collection were among the items checked over to determine their value.
The last item to be put in front of Mark was a collection of original drawings of the Teletubbies owned by Lucy, the wife of BBC designer, Jonathan Hills.
One of the BBC’s flagship children’s shows of the 90s, the Teletubbies and its four titular characters became one of the most recognisable shows of its day.
Hills died in 2020 at the age of 66, leaving the collection of drawings to Lucy, as well as the two children the couple had.
Lucy was asked how much she might pay for one of Hills’ drawings, to which she agreed that £500 to £2,000 would be reasonable value.
The drawings were valued at roughly £1,000 each – Lucy owns 80 of them (Picture: BBC)
When Mark asked how many drawings she owned, Lucy revealed she had 80 of them. Mark said: ‘Let’s just take a median price of £1,000 each. That’s £80,000.’
The huge total left Lucy smiling as she thought of her late husband, saying: ‘That’s a lot. He’d be so thrilled. It’s great.’
While analysing the drawings, Lucy gave viewers some insight into how her husband came up with the characters, and also revealed their original name.
‘My husband was asked to develop some characters for a programme they were making, which was directed at children at home watching TV without an adult.’
Lucy was left beaming after her husband’s drawings were valued at £80,000 (Picture: BBC)
Lucy continued: ‘He was asked to visualise these creatures. They started off almost mouse-like. As a group, they developed into the Teletubbies.’
She went on to reveal that the Teletubbies were once called ‘the Teleteddies’ during an early stage of their development.
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As Mark described the Teletubbies as ‘magic’, Lucy agreed and celebrated her late husband’s work: ‘This is his legacy. This is what he’s left.’
Earlier this month, Jess Smith, the child who played the sun-baby that rose every morning in Teletubbyland, revealed behind the scenes details of how Teletubbies creators captured those iconic shots.
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The collection was drawn by the original designer.
