Ragdoll Productions was founded on 26 July 1984 by
Anne Wood, who produced shows for the
ITV network. It was incorporated as
Ragdoll Productions (U.K.) Limited in April 1985 and was originally based in
Birmingham. The company at first produced puppet-based programmes, and their mascot was originally a female
rag doll that was based on one that belonged to Wood's daughter. The rag doll wore a chequered shirt with matching trousers, and black flats. In 1992, the company moved their operations to
Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire and opened up The Ragdoll Shop. In the mid-1990s, Ragdoll expanded operations to the
United States, and signed a deal with The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company to sell all their programmes in the market. In June 2000, Ragdoll dropped their rag doll mascot for a more simplistic logo designed by
Lambie-Nairn, with the company also adopting a new name of
Ragdoll Limited by that point. During that time, the company started to move away from puppet-based shows (which started with
Teletubbies in 1997), by making costume-based programmes and animated cartoons. In October 2001, Ragdoll parted ways with Itsy Bitsy following a failure to reach an agreement with the company's majority owner, the Handleman Group. Ragdoll then started to sell their programmes on their own from then-on, renaming Ragdoll USA. In January 2002,
Teletubbies: Everywhere, a spin-off of
Teletubbies, was announced to air on
CBeebies within its launch debut. On 14 June, a new series titled
Boohbah was announced and was pre-sold to
CITV and
GMTV for a 2003 delivery. The show later saw an international roll-out. At MIPTV 2005, Ragdoll announced a new series titled
Blurrfect and that CITV had acquired broadcasting rights for an autumn 2005 delivery. By September 2005, the series was renamed
Blips, and soon premiered on 29 September 2005 as part of the CITV's autumn schedule. On 13 October, Ragdoll unrevealed two new series that were pre-sold to the BBC:
In the Night Garden... and
Tronji, for a 2007 delivery. In October 2005, Ragdoll subsidiary The Ragdoll Foundation announced that
Five's
Milkshake! block had commissioned a series of six short films titled
What Makes Me Happy?, which would air daily from 19 December. In September 2006, Ragdoll formed a collaborative venture with
BBC Worldwide called Ragdoll Worldwide, to sell and license the company's programmes outside of the UK and North America.
In the Night Garden... and
Tronji would be the first two programmes created as part of the venture, while existing programmes were handled by BBC Worldwide, which managed the international broadcast sales and the UK and international licensing of all Ragdoll properties (including
Blips,
Boohbah,
Brum,
Tots TV,
Rosie and Jim, and
Open a Door), with Ragdoll retaining all British broadcast rights. A new subsidiary, Ragdoll USA Inc., part of the new joint venture, would manage Ragdoll's distribution in North America. In January 2013, Ragdoll opted to end their agreement with BBC Worldwide and put up Ragdoll Worldwide for sale. On 16 September 2013, Canadian studio DHX Media (currently named
WildBrain) purchased the venture from both companies for £17.4 million (or USD$24 million) The deal included the rights to most of Ragdoll's programming produced from 1990 to 2012. The company also changed to its current name of
Ragdoll Productions (UK) Limited, with "Productions" added back to the name after 13 years. In 2015, Ragdoll produced the live-action/stop-motion series
Twirlywoos with DHX, making it the first and only co-production between the companies. In 2018, the company co-produced a short film with
Disney UK for the Hope Works initiative, titled
What Shall We Do With The Angry Monster?. In 2021, Ragdoll formed a deal with British distribution company
Cake Entertainment for them to distribute their new series,
B.O.T. and the Beasties, for
CBeebies. On 29 March 2021, the company was relocated to
Shenington, with Anne Wood resigning as a person with significant control of the company on 10 December, and leaving her son Christopher Wood to take over as director. On 13 June 2024, Ragdoll would once again move their operations, this time to
Bloxham, another small town in
Oxfordshire. == Pre-Ragdoll productions ==