The Wombles: New TV series in 2023

The Wombles had four albums and performed on popular chart show, Top of the Pops!

Underground, overground, Wombling free, the Wombles of Wimbledon Common, are we.

If you have no idea what any of that means don't worry - you soon will.

The Wombles were created by children's author Elizabeth Beresford in 1968, and were made even more famous by a BBC TV series two years later.

Now the children's show is getting a 21st century re-boot by Altitude Films, the makers of "Horrible Histories: The Movie".

The original line-up of The Wombles included Great Uncle Bulgaria (second from right) and Wellington (second from left).

Who were The Wombles?

Their author, Elizabeth Beresford, describes them as "a bit like teddy bears to look at but they have real claws and live beneath Wimbledon Common" - an area of green open space in London.

The Wombles were secretive creatures, who lived in burrows underground but had a positive environmental attitude and did a lot of recycling of other people's rubbish and litter.

Their motto was "make good use of bad rubbish".

The show's environmental themes of cleaning up and looking after public spaces - particularly in rural areas - is thought to be an important element of the new TV series.

The Wombles had some big hits with their wombling ways

The Wombles through the years

Over the years, there have been various spin-off shows, and even a string of hit singles.

"Remember you're a Womble" peaked at number three in the UK charts in 1974 and "Wombling Merry Christmas" reached number two in the same year.

The group were even the interval entertainment act at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest!

Appearing on Blue Peter with then presenter Lesley Judd in 1974

New Womble series - what can we expect?

How To Train Your Dragon screenwriter Will Davies will be lending a hand with the series.

However, we will have to wait to find out when or where we will be able to watch the reboot.

Although the BBC series was created using stop-motion technology - or animation - it is not yet know how the new show will look.