BBC puts In the Night Garden to bed

It is the news that millions of parents of toddlers have feared — the BBC is to put In the Night Garden to bed for good.

With its lilting music, soothing storylines and dreamlike setting, In the Night Garden has become a children's classic. It is narrated by Derek Jacobi, who sings such memorable lines as "Yes, my name is Igglepiggle, Igglepiggle-niggle-wiggle-diggle!", and has proved an enormously popular — and lucrative — hit with pre-school audiences.

However, the BBC has confirmed that it will not be commissioning another series, though it is likely the existing episodes will continue to be repeated on the BBC and its pre-school digital channel CBeebies. At £14.5m for 100 half-hour episodes, In the Night Garden is the most expensive children's programme commissioned and co-funded by the BBC. It is produced by Ragdoll Productions, the company behind the Teletubbies.

Launched in 2007, the show is now watched in 35 countries and its theatre show In the Night Garden Live! has been a sell-out success across the UK. It has also been a merchandising hit for the BBC, selling about 1m DVDs and 4m cuddly toys.

Such has been the popularity of the show's characters — a blue teddy called Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, with her multi-coloured hair and penchant for kissing everything, the stone-loving Makka Pakka, and the Tombliboos, whose trousers always fall down — that they have also attracted tabloid attention.

Igglepiggle was revealed to be a 31-year-old tattooed rocker called Nick Kellington, while Isaac Blake, 28, a dancer who played one of the Tombliboos, claimed unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal and complained about his electronic suit. There was also a story about one of the characters allegedly swearing when his words were translated into Mandarin.

The CBeebies show ends with the characters in bed and lights being turned off. When it was moved from the pre-bedtime schedule in 2008, parents complained in droves and the BBC made an official statement assuring them the show would return to the bedtime slot.In the Night Garden creator Andrew Davenport, who also created the Teletubbies, told the Guardian that "as far as it goes in that format, that's it for Night Garden", but said there may be "some other types of broadcast", such as "TV one-offs".

Davenport said that there may also be some kind of musical project based on the programme, but not a Christmas song.

Richard Hollis, the BBC Worldwide head of UK licensing, said that In the Night Garden was "our biggest brand". He added that the BBC had always intended to order 100 episodes. "It was a huge commission for 100 episodes. It was a massive project to make. But that quantity is probably enough as the market is continually being renewed by new children."

The BBC also has new pre-school shows such as the yoga-influenced Waybuloo and musical series Zingzillas following in the footsteps of Igglepiggle and his cohorts.

There is good news for fans of In the Night Garden and Teletubbies . Davenport is developing a new show, details of which have yet to be unannounced. As Jacobi's narrator might say — isn't that a pip?