Palin To narrate Clangers shows

Michael Palin has been confirmed as narrator for the new Clangers series - a contemporary version of the British animated TV show.

The award-winning actor, writer, presenter and comedian is best-known for being one of the members of the comedy team Monty Python and for his ground-breaking travel documentaries.

The new series is being co-produced by CBeebies, Coolabi Group, Smallfilms and Sprout, and will air in the UK next spring.

"The world of the Clangers is delightful and irresistible," Palin said. "It's a real pleasure and a great privilege to be a part of its return to television."

The Clangers originally launched on the BBC in 1969 and are pink, long-nosed, inventive and loveable mouse-shaped creatures who live on a small blue planet not far from Earth.

Kind and generous creatures, they communicate with distinctive whistles and a narrator comments on the events that take place in their world.

Palin takes up the mantle from the late Oliver Postgate, creator and narrator of the original series, who is often cited alongside original Clangers co-creator, Peter Firmin, as one of the founding fathers of UK animation.

Oliver's son, Daniel Postgate, who will be executive producing the new series alongside Firmin, commented: "Michael Palin was my first and favourite choice, so of course I'm absolutely delighted.

"Among other things, he's been a warm and charming guide for us all in his extensive travels around this world, so it seems wonderfully appropriate that he should pack his bags once more, go off across the starry expanse of space and do the same for the world of the Clangers."