Emma Wiggle reveals her next project with the ABC, Reef School

The ABC announced a number of new shows at a Sydney event on Thursday, including a comeback role from Emma Watkins.

Popular ABC Kids star Emma Watkins will be returning in the new series Reef School as a narrator.

Watkins took over from founding member Greg Page as the new Yellow Wiggle in 2012, and shocked fans when she announced that she was stepping aside. At the time, she explained that forced downtime during the Covid pandemic caused her to re-evaluate “what was important in life”.

The ABC announced a number of new shows at a Sydney event on Thursday.

“As we celebrate ABC’s 90th anniversary, our commitment to provide distinctive, diverse and world class Australian programs remains unrivalled. ABC is thrilled to announce a new slate of shows set to entertain, engage and inspire audiences, throughout the year and into 2023,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

The ABC said Reef School will focus on educating children about “the extraordinary wonders of an imaginary Australian coral reef”.

“Join the little Reefies and their teacher Mr Flip as they discover the extraordinary wonders of an imaginary Australian coral reef. Featuring the voices of Emma Watkins, Courtney Act and Tony Armstrong, Reef School is a 20x11 minute series for ABC Kids,” the statement said.

Speaking to Stellar last year, Watkins said she was “really sorry” to any young fans she’d disappointed by leaving.”

The ABC will launch a ‘delightful new ABC Kids series’ named Reef School, narrated by Emma Watkins.

“I never, ever, ever – ever – want to let down the children. But I relate it to when I took time off after I had surgery for my endometriosis in 2018. I had two beautiful performers replace me on tour for a period of weeks. I felt terrible and kept thinking, how are we going to do this? But the children still came to the shows, because they love the music. That experience helped me make this decision, because everyone was OK after that,” she said.

And while she left the group as arguably one of Australia’s best-loved entertainers, Watkins explained to Stellar that it wasn’t always this way.

Just as last year’s announcement of new, culturally diverse Wiggles members was met with a backlash from some quarters, Emma faced some pushback more than a decade ago when she became the first-ever female Wiggles member.

“It was a beautiful time. However, it wasn’t without its challenges. It took about two or three years to actually have people accept that there was a female among the group; that was a massive deal back then. It wasn’t really liked,” she said.

“A lot of people were very territorial about the original group and in a way I could understand, because I grew up with that group. So to then see how that changed over the decade, and children coming to the show dressed in beautiful Emma costumes, or wearing bows … it’s powerful.”

Originally published as Emma Wiggle reveals her next project with the ABC, Reef School