Pip the Pixie set to be a huge hit

toddlers.

Noddy is currently drawing in the pre-school viewers every morning on Channel 5, and now Chorion, the company which owns the Blyton characters, is in talks to launch another of her characters.

The author's daughter Gillian Bavestock, from Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, said she was delighted that Pip could be poised to be the next champion for toddlers.

"I have always loved Pip, he's a lovely little character. I used his stories when I taught four and five-year-olds about nature."

Andrew Sholl, from Chorion, said the final choice of character had not been made, adding: "Pip, is a young character that young viewers identify with.

"As a pre-school appeal we hope he or whoever is chosen will have the same appeal has Noddy has proved to have on Channel 5.

"If Noddy can be revived then other Blyton characters are ripe for revival."

Pip was created by Blyton before Noddy and first appeared in the Sunday Graphic newspaper on May 6, 1945, and ran until May 1949.

The first sixty of his adventures were put into two books printed in 1948, The Adventures of Pip and More Adventures of Pip.

The tales tell of Pip's encounters with the world of nature around him as he goes about his daily life in the woods.

Mrs Bavestock, added: "Youngsters absolutely adored the days when I would read the Pip stories, and thought the little stories were wonderful as well as being educational."

Mrs Bavestock also believes Noddy was actually planned to take over from Pip when he was launched in 1949 as the British challenge to Mickey Mouse.

Since his relaunch in September 2002, sales of Noddy products have quadrupled in Britain alone, and in France he is more popular than native characters such as Asterix.

She said: "It would be funny if Pip now became bigger than Noddy. I'm not sure it will happen, but he is a wonderful little character."

Chorion is also hoping to re-introduce other Enid Blyton characters in the future, such as those aimed at older children like the Famous Five.