The Nurdles take on the Tombliboos

Heard about the Nurdles, the latest set of characters to captivate the under fives, with their special Schmurdle dance routine? The trio of cartoon characters, pictured above, created to promote Aquafresh stripy children's toothpaste, star in a 90-second promo played every night at the close down of Turner pre-school channel Cartoonito. Despite the powerful lure of the CBeebies hit, In the Night Garden, at the same time, the Schmurdle is proving so popular that Cartoonito's ratings are showing an upward blip, as parents and kids tune in specially, delegates to last week's Thinkbox conference on the media habits of young people were told. Adam Eagle, the ad sales sponsorship and promotions director, UK, for Turner Broadcasting, which produced the Nurdles promo in-house for drug firm Glaxo Smith Kline, says they may well have a future as characters with their own TV show. Parents, you have been warned.