IC&G’s character takes it away on primetime TV slot with Ant & Dec
Barley Bear hit the big time at the weekend as International Cards & Gifts’ cute and cuddly character starred in the first prank of the new Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway series.
ITV1’s prime-time weekend show kicked off with a 17-minute segment helping new mum Amy Gorman get her revenge on serial prankster hubby Liam that followed through from the ultrasound scan and antenatal classes to a photoshoot with four-week-old baby Finlay – which is where Barley Bear stepped in.
Having followed the new family for nearly a year, after Amy contacted stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly when she was three months’ pregnant, the final three-minute section of the prank on Saturday, 25 February, saw the new dad dress up in Barley Bear’s suit for the photoshoot, where the TV stars quietly nipped in to be in the pictures, to the soundtrack of Teddy Bears’ Picnic – you can watch it on the video below.
“We were so pleased and excited that ITV wanted our little brown bear to have a guest appearance on the first of the new Saturday Night Takeaway series,” IC&G co-owner Ian Wagstaff told PG Buzz
“The programme has over eight million viewers and we hope they all love Barley as much as we and over 400 of our independent customers do.
“I had a call from Rainbow Productions, who designed and made our Barley Bear costume, saying ITV was looking for a bear outfit, they didn’t have one to hand so immediately thought of us, which was good of them.
“The ITV team came and picked the suit up – they also took five of our large Barley Bears and two of each of the small bears as they were doing a theme with loads of teddies, and all of ours were included in the shoot, which looked great. It was all quite exciting!”
The show’s rules meant nothing could be revealed before it aired on TV, so only a few teasers could be shared on Barley’s Instagram and Facebook feeds, but the whole series 19 episode one show is still available to watch on ITVX.
Barley Bear has been a successful greeting card range for IC&G since it was launched at PG Live four years ago, based on designs by artist Tracey Colliston, and Ian and his co-owner brother Simon took it to the next level in October when 30,000 of the cute bears arrived and went down a storm with retailers, as did the life-sized character who made his debut appearance at Spring Fair earlier this month.
Noel Tatt Group is another publisher which featured on primetime TV at the weekend when its RSPCA and Bree Merryn ranges were spotted looking fab in the background of new series Beyond Paradise on BBC One on Friday, 24 February, in a scene in the gift shop owned by the victim of the attempted murder.
Top: TV stars Ant and Dec needed Barley Bear’s help to prank new dad Liam
