Postman Pat could get multi racial friends

Children’s television favourite Postman Pat could get more black and Asian friends in order to make the show more multicultural.

Entertainment Rights, which owns the copyright to Postman Pat after a £5.1m buy-out of Woodland Animations in November, says the move is part of an attempt to update the brand.

A spokeswoman insisted that ‘‘nothing is written in stone’’ but said: ‘‘We realise that the brand has to be redeveloped and refreshed in order to keep pace with the changing lives of children.

‘‘There have been very few new programmes developed in the last 10 years.

‘‘We want to appeal to two and three-year-olds, most of whom have not seen programmes that have been developed in that time, and a lot changes in 10 years.’’

No black characters have appeared on screen in Postman Pat’s 20-year television run, although he once worked with a Jamaican postlady.

The character’s author, John Cunliffe, was inspired to base the programme in the fictitious Lake District village of Greendale after he spent years working in the area.

The author said that at the time there were no people of Asian or West Indian origin living in the area.

The Entertainment Rights spokeswoman said broadening the show’s cultural scope was just one of several options being examined, although she declined to give details about possible future changes.

‘‘We are just looking at how we can extend the global popularity of the Postman Pat brand,’’ she said.

‘‘Broadening the multi-ethnic range is something we are looking at, but it is not something we definitely want to introduce.’’