The beloved 90s children’s series Pingu is making a highly anticipated return, but not without recalling a few of its more controversial moments.
The stop motion show about a young, mischevious penguin named Pingu captured hearts worldwide when it first aired in 1990.
Now Pingu is set to reappear in a new 3D animated series to bring fresh tales from the South Pole.
This is part of a collaboration with Mattel and Aardman Animations - known for Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.
While largely remembered for its innocent charm, Pingu stirred some controversy over the years, and a number of episodes were banned or edited after being deemed inappropriate for young audiences.
One banned episode, called Hello, Pingu, featured the main character being smacked on the head by his mother Pingg.
This raised concerns about depictions of violence, and the scene was cut from VHS, though it initially aired unedited on TV.
Another banned episode, Pingu Runs Away, showed the young penguin leaving his family’s igloo after being spanked by his mother - a scene that ultimately led to its removal from British TV.
Perhaps the most notorious of all is Pingu’s Dream, which featured a giant, menacing walrus that unsettled both children and parents.
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The creature’s horrifying design saw the episode pulled from British screens in 2003.
Another scene that was met with disapproval saw Pingu being stuffed into a cupboard, and that was also edited for VHS releases.
Countries outside of the UK took issue with other controversial moments in the cartoon series.
The episode Jealousy came under fire for Pingu pretending to vomit, while Little Accidents contained "toilet humour" and allusions to alcoholism which received criticsm internationally.
Bizarrely, Pingu’s First Kiss was pulled from screens in the US for its depiction of "beak-to-beak contact", though it aired without issue in the UK.
Aardman’s Chief Creative Director, Sarah Cox, has praised Pingu for its timeless charm and character-driven storytelling that "transcends language barriers to speak to audiences everywhere".
She added that she welcomes the new series, as it provides an opportunity to introduce Pingu’s whimsical South Pole adventures to a whole new generation of viewers.
