Each seven-minute episode involves a bunch of animal children (a crocodile, octopus, hippo etc, all confusingly referred to as “squirrels”) spending time with Duggee, a kind of canine scout leader who heads up Squirrel Club. It is littered with pop-cultural references: Apocalypse Now, Donkey Kong and the Cure to name just three. I think in the middle of all this fear, obfuscation, lack of trust and mixed to poor messaging, Hey Duggee is uncomplicated and feelgood,” says Landreth.

Parents grappling with home schooling could turn to Science With Duggee on YouTube, which has now had 12. The brightly coloured animation is creative, inclusive, joyous and ever so gently educational – and the ratings reflect that. They want to hear Hey Duggee played on a Dean Dimebag spiky guitar with double kick-drum and somebody screaming into a microphone.Betty wants to make costumes, Happy wants to sing, Tag wants to make music, Norrie wants to dance, Roly wants jelly and they all want you to join them at the Clubhouse.

HEY DUGGEE THE LIVE THEATRE SHOW is presented by award-winning theatre producer Kenny Wax and theatre and live entertainment promoters Cuffe and Taylor in association with Live Nation. It wrestles with some of life’s biggest philosophical questions, from the nature of existence to the meaning of art. I just think it’s a masterpiece, and I’m over the moon that I get to be in it,” says Armstrong, before adding with customary flourish: “Well done, squirrels! Fans of the smash hit CBeebies series HEY DUGGEE are delighting in the Olivier Award-winning ‘joyous’ interactive stage show. What makes it significantly better than it sounds on paper is the amount of love poured into it – from the acid-house-inspired music and smart visual gags to the hilarious regional accents of characters such as Chew Chew the Panda (whose sarf-east tones have been compared to those of Adele).

People have said to me: ‘It’s clearly a show written for adults that kids also enjoy,’ which is not the case. Sometimes, those characters carry a message: Rochelle in The Making Friends Badge uses a wheelchair, and Mr and Mr Crab are married, although there are no gay rights badges or disability badges. Most people get that he’s adopted, but I’m pleased we are posing that question, even if we don’t explicitly answer it on the show,” he says. I really liked the idea of this patrician, faintly military-sounding character having that huge capacity for warmth and affection. Duggee endeavours to award them a badge at the end of each show, once they’ve been shown the ropes of a particular subject: “Well done, squirrels!