RTE woos pre-school children with ~Morbegs'

JUST what do they think they're doing over at RTE - first they lash out millions of pounds on an Irish-language television station and now they've just spent another £1 million on a series for preschool children.

To make matters worse, RTE is boasting that The Morbegs will be transmitted in an "ad-free zone" and incorporates Irish as well as English, so there's little chance the outlay will be recouped at home or abroad. Begrudgers, reluctant licence payers and lovers of soap operas, panel shows and repeats, take note.

But Ireland's answer to Sesame Street is something RTE has never done, a children's programme that mixes education and entertainment, technology and traditional story telling. Best of all, it has been allocated a decent budget and makes use of the latest in sophisticated "animatronics" technology.

The Morbegs - so called because what seems beag to us is mor to young children - are two furry monsters, Molly and Rossa. Beneath that hairy exterior and long ears beats the human heart of a puppeteer, but their heads and expressions are manipulated electronically by remote control.

The series has been researched and piloted to children throughout the country over the past two years. Some 120 programmes are already "in the can" and the first goes out on September 30th. The Morbegs will be transmitted Monday to Friday in two slots, 10.15 to 10.30 a.m. and 2.45 to 3 p.m.

The puppets, and their magician friends are "passionate, inquiring and expressive", according to the executive producer Ms Stephanie Fitzpatrick.

"Unlike adults, children don't make a distinction between `educational' and `entertainment' programmes; their outlook on the work is unprejudiced and original, and they respond to what they see with spontaneity and freshness. However, even very young children have an instinctive need for artistic and aesthetic satisfaction, and we hope to meet this with stories that are real dramas, with a beginning, middle and ending."

Each daily programme has a different theme: for example, emotions on Mondays, social and environmental issues on Tuesday. Pre-maths and science concepts, and pre-reading and verbal skills feature on other days. Story-telling, wildlife footage and cartoons are also part of the programmes.

According to the chairman of the RTE Authority, Dr Farrel Corcoran, children are one of the station's most important minority audiences. He described the current state of children's programming internationally as "depressing", with fewer programmes being made and much recycling of old cartoons.

The Morbegs was "exactiy what RTE shouhl be about", he concluded. To judge from the laughter of the audience which viewed a pre view in The Ark in Temple Bar yesterday, he is right. And that was just the adults.