The author behind hit children's TV show Charlie And Lola has revealed that her character caused anxiety at the BBC - with a forward roll.

Lauren Child has sold millions of copies of her books about Charlie and his younger sister, Lola, and the stories have been adapted for the small screen.

But the illustrator and writer said that when it came to making the animated TV series, the corporation was concerned about the potential for injury when Lola performed a forward roll.

"We almost had a problem with Lola doing forward rolls," she said. "The BBC got terribly worried she could have a dreadful accident and break her neck.

"It doesn't matter that she and Charlie are fictional, and they're made of paper. The designers had to draw a very squishy mattress for her to do her forward roll on."

Ms Child's comments came as Radio Times magazine compiled a shortlist of the best BBC children's characters through the decades, featuring the likes of Sooty and Sweep from the 1950s, The Magic Roundabout from the 1960s, Paddington Bear in the 1970s, Willo The Wisp in the 1980s and more recently, Teletubbies and In The Night Garden.

She also said that an episode she proposed in which Lola caught headlice was rejected by the Disney corporation, which had partially financed the show.

Richard Starzak, who devised the much-loved Shaun The Sheep, told the magazine that children's TV had become too safe.

"Slapstick is a universal language," he said. "There's a lot of comedy in other people's pain. But we don't want to be responsible for kids hitting each other with frying-pans. I sometimes think children's TV can be overly safe."

He said of watching ITV's Tiswas during his childhood: "They used to lift children out of tea chests by their ears. Can you imagine the front pages of the newspapers if that happened today?"