Sesame Tree is the Northern Ireland adaptation of Sesame Street that premiered on BBC Two in 2008. Its first episode aired in Northern Ireland on April 5, 2008, before the first series received a wider CBeebies broadcast later that year.
The program was made entirely in Northern Ireland by Belfast-based Sixteen South in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Instead of centering on the original show’s urban street, the local series used a hollow tree as its shared setting. Children could ask questions there, giving the program its own regional identity while preserving Sesame Street’s educational approach.
Sesame Tree combined original puppet stories with short documentaries showing children’s lives in Northern Ireland and selected classic Muppet material from the Sesame Street library. Its characters included Potto, the central resident, along with Hilda and Archie in the second series.
The international alternatives are adaptations from other regions: Sesamstraße is German, Takalani Sesame is associated with South Africa, and Plaza Sésamo is the Latin American version. Sesame Tree is specifically the Northern Irish production.