Peter Rabbit is slugging it out with Hamlet on German television in a breakthrough for one of Britain’s leading program distributors.
Two acclaimed series of animated classics are being shown on rival German public networks.
The six episodes of Beatrix Potter’s “The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends” were screened by ARD each day between Dec. 25 and 30. Meanwhile, ZDF showed three episodes of “Shakespeare, the Animated Tales” on Christmas weekend, with the remaining three broadcast over the New Year holiday.
The decision is a coup for distributor HIT Entertainment, which is building a reputation for developing animated versions of literary classics.
HIT, which emerged from the former Jim Henson entertainment empire, is 24 percent-owned by the cable and satellite TV group Flextech. This, in turn, is about to become a 60 percent-owned offshoot of Tele-Communications Inc., America’s largest cable operator.
