Cbeebies Live

Sitting at a parents group the other day, surrounded by first time mums and their babies, I happened to bump into another mum of two. One way or another, the conversation got round to what our ‘elders’ were up to, and thus began a bit of a ‘Tumble’ vs ‘Maker’ conversation.

Pausing after a few minutes, we looked around the room and realised we were being stared at like we were talking an alien language.

Mothers of six weeks to six month old babies had expressions varying from ‘self-righteous-my-child-will-never-watch-televison’ to ‘what-on-earth-am-I-missing-out-on’, with others just displaying slack jawed amazement at the seemingly randomness of the subjects we were discussing.

Going back a year or so, I would have been one of those mums. But then along came Iggle Piggle, gaily waving his blanket about and gibbering gobbledegook, and from then on the Wee Man was hooked. Zingzillas followed hotly on the heels of the fleecy blue one, and then with much joy the Tweenies, Mr Tumble, Mister Maker and Postman Pat were discovered and demanded as viewing at regular intervals.

Which is why this Saturday saw us trekking to Wembley Arena to see CBeebies Live.

Many, many months ago, I saw a really good early bird offer for Cbeebies Live tickets and thought it’d be a nice day out for us and the Wee Man. Two weeks ago, following a reminder email (good thing they sent it!) I scrabbled about in the enormous heap of post, papers and randomness that never seems to get sorted, and sighed with relief when I found the tickets. Grandma stepped in for Bubby D babysitting duty (the show is not suitable for under 18 months) and the adventure began!

Turns out, those early bird tickets bagged us some really good seats. The best I’ve ever had at Wembley Arena actually, and when I was scrabbling to get into the mosh pit for a Muse concert there back in 2003, I never dreamed that nearly 10 years later I’d be sitting watching colourful cartoonish characters dancing about with my enthralled 2 year old son and a fantastic view of the stage…

Finding our seats was easy, and there was a massive buggy park for all the many, many pushchairs which was great. Sitting and waiting for the show to begin, the Wee Man was excited when ‘Tumble’s’ voice came over the speakers to announce a five minute countdown.

Five minutes later, and the excitement turned to momentary fear as the music and voices boomed around the arena and star and flower shaped spotlights zoomed around stands. Looking at it from a two year old point of view, I can see how it’d all be a bit overwhelming and scary – Wembley Arena is after all a massive place for an adult, let alone a small child.

However, his worriedness and clinging lasted only until Mister Maker made his entrance in conjunction with Katy from ‘I Can Cook’ – followed by five dancing cakes – and one rendition of ‘five currant buns’ later, the Wee Man was grinning from ear to ear.

The show followed Robbie Rotten from Lazytown as he tried to capture all the ‘CBeebies’ stars, until he was the only ‘star’ left. Much booing in a pantomime stylee was encouraged whenever he appeared – quite regularly as it happens as he managed to capture Sportacus, Stephanie, Postman Pat (and Jess the Cat), the Zingzillas, Squiglet, and Mr Tumble.

The Zingzillas were a particular favourite of the Wee Man’s as a multitude of bubbles erupted from the stage whilst they sang their Big Zing. Mister Maker did a pretty spectacular underwater scene ‘make’ too which had adults and children alike ‘oohing’ in delight, and of course Mr Tumble provided excellent entertainment with a singalong of ‘Mr Tumble has a farm’.

Needless to say, Robbie Rotten did not emerge victorious, and the Wee Man was very relieved to see his favourite characters return to the stage at the end of the show for an all singing, all dancing finale.

Two hours after we went in, we were back on the tube and heading home with a happy but exhausted Wee Man.

All in all a great day out. (And the Wee Man was very relieved to see that the ‘Beebies’ were ‘back inside the TV’ on Sunday!)