First BSL-signed story to air on CBeebies this weekend

EastEnders actress and current Strictly Come Dancing champion, Rose Ayling-Ellis will be the first celebrity to sign a CBeebies Bedtime Story, which will air on Sunday 8^th May. A previous episode saw a story told in Makaton, but this will be the first time that BSL will be used on the programme.

The actress will be recording a telling of Can Bears Ski? In BSL to make Deaf Awareness Week. The story itself, written by Raymond Antrobus, follows the journey of a father and son as they learn how to manage deafness.

Speaking to the BBC, Rose Ayling-Ellis, said: “I am super excited to read my first CBeebies Bedtime Story in British Sign Language and it's even more wonderful to share a story written by a deaf writer. I hope deaf children enjoy the story and that it inspires hearing children to want to learn BSL.”

As well as being the first celebrity to sign a story for Bedtime Stories, Rose Ayling-Ellis is also Strictly Come Dancing’s first deaf winner. She rose to fame as Frankie Lewis in the soap, EastEnders and has since been nominated for a BAFTA for one of her Strictly performances which honoured the deaf community. Her Bedtime Story will air on Sunday, 8^th May to mark the close of Deaf Awareness Week and will be the first of two stories that she has recorded for the BBC.

CBeebies Bedtime Stories airs daily at 6.50pm with episodes featuring a BSL interpreter shown every Saturday and Sunday.