The World Cup of CBeebies – A celebration of the best shows on CBeebies

Every now and then something comes along that makes you smile that you never know you needed in your life. One of those things is definitely the World Cup of CBeebies – a celebration of the best CBeebies shows we parents (and of course the children) know and love.

2021 marks the 4th year that the Twitter tournament has taken place, and the first year that Happy Family Hub has hosted it. We caught up with it’s extraordinary, amazing founders Laura (@wizard_of_loz) and Chris (@ChrisFunnell90) to find out how the #worldcupofcbeebies came about!

Who are you and how did you come up with the idea?

Our names are Laura McWilliams and Chris Funnell and we are from Lincoln. Basically it started when I had a bit of a bug and was feeling unwell so stuck on the sofa! Originally I thought of doing CBeebies theme tunes! It was Chris who said no just do the shows and that’s how it started.

How did it take off?

It really escalated once CBeebies HQ and the their shows got involved. I have a few follows but once that happened the notifications went off! It was surprising how invested the shows got. The first year Andy got really involved and filmed a video and everything. Maddie Moate was brilliant last year and got so involved too.

What has been the biggest challenge?

The challenge is firstly the stress of making sure you get the polls set up ok. Last year we had a few that people didn’t see them properly and I was getting hammered in my mentions. That’s the other thing too, my account isn’t a CBeebies World Cup account, it’s my own account that I happened to start doing this on. Therefore, I do have my own quite passionate opinions on things such as politics (I’m an elected city councillor) and some people really took exception to that , which is frustrating as this is my personal account! I did have one man tweet saying he noticed I was an ‘awful leftie feminist’ and he would be following me as soon as the World Cup was over. So I blocked him.

What have been your favourite moments?

On the other hand the favourite moments have been gaining some really lovely followers who I still interact with. Also having shows be so competitive and involved in it all. It has such a feel good factor and shows the good side of social media.

What do you think are the best shows on CBeebies and who do you think will win this year’s tournament?

It’s tricky for me to pick as my little girl doesn’t watch CBeebies any more. But I love Tee and Mo, Gigglebiz and Hey Duggee. I think all parents enjoy Hey Duggee and that means the big old dog will no doubt have it in the bag again!

Join the conversation!

Are you a fan of CBeebies? (Come on, who isn’t?) What are you and your child’s favourite shows? Leave a comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages. The Grand Final of the #worldcupofcbeebies 2021 takes place on Saturday 6th February 2021 on Twitter at @happyfamilyhub.

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