Adaptational Nice Guy: Tony, Colin, and Lamp, three of the villains from the web series, have minor roles in the show, but all of them appear to be friends of the puppets in this version. This gets a possible justification in "Electricity", which hints that the versions from the web series were Killed Offscreen at some point and replaced with new versions with different personalities. Rebecca Sloan, Joseph Pelling (23 August 2022). "Don't Hug Me Im Scared TV Series"– via Internet Archive. don-t-hug-me-i-m-scared-08fc1516-a01a-45c6-912f-22995f07b722". sundance.org. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021 . Retrieved 12 April 2020.

Instead of making the show bigger and bigger [for television], we wanted to turn around and get intensely claustrophobic instead” — Baker Terry, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared co-creator

The Channel 4 series contains examples of:

Joseph Pelling as Red Guy, Colin the Computer, Brain Friends Theme Singer, Brain Friends Announcer, Big Red Guy and Bigger Red Guy Astley, Sab (22 September 2022). "The decade-long journey to bring 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' to television". Rolling Stone UK. Guide, British Comedy (17 February 2023). "National Comedy Awards 2023 results". British Comedy Guide. Here are the best photos from the winners’ room at the Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin a b "The Long-Awaited Don't Hug Me I'm Scared TV Series Will Debut This September". TheGamer. 19 June 2022.

After the release of the original YouTube web series from 2011 to 2016 and its resulting popularity, the creators planned a new television series and developed a pilot in 2018 which was eventually scrapped. A new series was announced in 2020 and released on All 4 on 23 September 2022. Episodes 1–2, 3–4 and 5–6 aired on 30 September, 7 October and 14 October respectively on Channel 4. [3] Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: your guide to the cult webseries making the jump to TV". Nationalworld. 9 September 2022 . Retrieved 10 September 2022. Here’s what went down at the after party of the Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin a b Mullins, Sean (22 October 2022). "Review: 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' is a lesson in making great TV". Joy, Samantha (27 July 2016). "Five of the Best: YouTube Animations". TenEighty . Retrieved 16 August 2016.McGhee, Will (22 October 2015). " 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' Melds Comedy with Horror". The Wesleyan Argus . Retrieved 17 April 2016. In 2018, a video titled "Wakey Wakey..." was uploaded to the official channel, and teased an upcoming television show, and the pilot premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. [8] [9] However, the series was later scrapped. [10] In an interview, Terry stated that "we were going to have to actually write jokes that functioned as jokes without a prop in every single instance." [11] Release [ edit ] The series as a whole has "how not to teach something". It's widely speculated that the series is also about how the media conditions children to think in certain ways. In the series, each episode starts like a typical children's series, consisting of anthropomorphic puppets akin to those featured in Sesame Street or The Muppets. The series parodies and satirises these TV programmes by contrasting its childlike, colourful environment and its inhabitants against disturbing themes; each episode features a surreal plot twist in the climax, including psychedelic content and imagery involving graphic violence, dark humour, existentialism, and psychological horror.

Dark Parody: Besides the show as a whole being one to preschool-oriented puppet shows like Sesame Street, Grolton and Hovris is one of these for Wallace & Gromit.Big Bad: The TV episode "Electricity" has the massive reveal of Lesley, a colorfully-dressed woman with stitches on her face who apparently controls the main characters' lives with a miniature version of their house... which she also lives inside. Or she might actually be trying to help them. It's all very unclear. Deliberate VHS Quality: The Art Shift in the Old Train's song from "Transportation" is done up in this way, making it look like some sort of animation from The '90s.