Sacked actor's claim thrown out

Isaac Blake played a Tombliboo in the series

An actor who claimed he was unfairly sacked after being made to wear a faulty robotic suit in a children's show has had his case thrown out.

Isaac Blake, 28, from Cardiff, was claiming unfair dismissal against Warwickshire-based Ragdoll Productions.

He had played a Tombliboo in the programme In the Night Garden.

The tribunal, ruling he was sacked because of his conduct, awarded him £2,000 compensation for "faggot" comments made to him by a cast member.

Mr Blake, who played a Tombliboo in the series, claimed production staff at Ragdoll ignored his reports of abuse.

The panel dismissed his claim that he was an employee of Ragdoll Limited, which also produced the Teletubbies series, ruling instead that he was working for them as a self-employed contractor.

Mr Blake broke down when he told the hearing in Birmingham that when his contract was terminated in the summer of 2006 he felt "like the oxygen went out of my mouth".

Representing himself at the tribunal, he said his dismissal led to him gaining weight and entering a "depressive state".

Speaking after the hearing, Marcus Difelice, represented Ragdoll, said: "We are very happy with the outcome.

"We had always accepted that another cast member had used the word faggot and we had spoken to her about that.

"We had asked her to watch her language and told her that was unacceptable."