Peppa Pig is a British preschool animated television series created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker.

[4] On 16 March 2021, it was announced that the series was renewed until 2027, with the original creators and studio (Astley Baker Davies) replaced by Karrot Animation (producers of Sarah & Duck).

Episodes tend to feature everyday activities such as attending playgroup, going swimming, visits with their grandparents, cousins, and friends, going to the playground or riding their bikes.

The other animals make their respective noises when they talk, with some exhibiting other characteristics, such as the Rabbit family's squeaking sounds and enjoyment of carrots.

The Rabbit and Mole families are the exceptions to the rule of human-like habitation, as they live in a burrow in a hill, though it has windows and is furnished in the same way as the other houses.

The narrator of the series, John Sparkes, reinforces the action and humour, saying things like "Oh, dear" when something unfortunate happens (such as when George starts crying) or "Look out!"

The second series of 52 episodes began on Channel 5 on 4 September 2006, with Cecily Bloom replacing Lily Snowden-Fine as Peppa, among other cast changes.

In the United States, the series first aired as part of Cartoon Network's Tickle-U preschool programming block from 22 August 2005 to 2007.

The first one, titled Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots, was released by Entertainment One on 14 February 2015 and featured the titular 15-minute special, and other episodes.

It is located in Günzburg, Germany within the Legoland Deutschland Resort and is the first standalone theme park based on the series in Europe.

[28] On 23 January 2024, a themed-play area dedicated to the Lego Duplo Peppa Pig subtheme was added to Legoland Billund Resort.

[30] On 23 June 2021, Merlin announced a dedicated Peppa Pig-themed resort located in Sichuan, China for a planned opening in 2024.

According to NPD figures for 2010, Peppa Pig had become the number one pre-school property in the total toy market, moving up four places from its 2009 position.

The range was expanded to include household items such as bathroom products, stationery,[34] bed-linen, food, drink, clothing, and jewellery.

It released on 22 October 2021 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows, exactly 11 years after Peppa Pig: Fun and Games.

[47] In April 2010, during the UK General Election campaign, E1 Entertainment said that Peppa would not attend the launch of the Labour Party's families manifesto "in the interests of avoiding any controversy or misunderstanding".

Australian Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce made reference to the character as a menu item at a Thai restaurant, while conservative columnist Piers Akerman thought that Peppa "pushes a weird feminist line".

[49] On 28 May 2014, Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull tweeted: "Contrary to media rumours, Peppa's is one snout we are happy to have in the ABC trough".

[50] In 2015 Norman Lamb, a former UK health minister, said that programmes such as Peppa Pig should include gay characters, because having arbitrary boundaries as to what relationships are acceptable in children's television was "not equitable".

[51] The British Medical Journal carried a light-hearted article in its Christmas 2017 edition, which suggested that although the programme includes numerous "positive public health messages, encouraging healthy eating, exercise, and road safety", it ran the risk of "contributing to unrealistic expectations of primary care" by depicting general practitioner Doctor Brown Bear as making out-of-hours home visits as soon as contacted about apparently trivial illnesses, and dispensing medicines rather too freely.

[53] In November 2021, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at a Confederation of British Industry conference lost his place in his speech for about 20 seconds and diverted into a lengthy tangent about Peppa Pig,[54] describing the character's shape as a "Picasso-like hairdryer".

[55] Since 2019, it has been observed that children in the US, where Peppa Pig had become an extremely popular programme, had been acquiring some Anglo-English, rather than American pronunciation and vocabulary.

For example, tomato and zebra are pronounced in the English, rather than American way; words such as satnav (instead of GPS), petrol (instead of gas), mummy (instead of mommy) and "biscuit" (instead of "cookie") are used; and comments such as "how clever", "Oh dear", and "can I have a go?"

[59] A written statement by Entertainment One Ltd. when asked of this phenomenon went on saying: "Young Peppa fans see her as a friend… and, as we do with friends that we admire, pick up some of their characteristics... imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[65] The ban was in response to the prevalence of adult content featuring Peppa Pig created by shehuiren (simplified Chinese: 社会人; traditional Chinese: 社會人; pinyin: shè huì rén; literally "person of society") subculture, which used Peppa Pig as a criminal "mobster" icon, with members of the subculture creating memes and tattoos using imagery from the cartoon, containing adult humor.

[citation needed] Despite the controversy regarding its memes, the series and character remain popular within mainland Chinese culture, as two Peppa Pig theme parks are set to open in Beijing and Shanghai in 2019.