Not content with dominating children's television ratings, Peppa Pig has taken to the stage in her first live show.

Peppa Pig's Party sees her celebrating her birthday and features true-to-life puppets operated by actors who remain on stage with them, perform alongside them, and provide the voices.

Know-it-all expert Daddy Pig gets into one scrape after another, anxious Mummy Pig tries to bring a sense of order to the day, Peppa’s baby brother George obsesses about dinosaurs, and Peppa and her friends - audience included - sing along to their favourite songs, play games, and partake in Peppa’s favourite pastime of splashing in muddy puddles.

“Choosing to use puppets was a risk," says the shows puppetry consultant Nigel Plaskitt, who has worked on shows like Pipkins and Spitting Image.

"But I knew it would work much better than using adults dancing around in costumes for this kind of show.

“Costumes can be cumbersome on stage and to a child they can be quite terrifying.

"If we had made Peppa five foot tall then to keep everything to scale, Daddy Pig would have had to be 10-feet tall and would have ended up looking more like a hot air balloon.”

The Fiery Angel and Limelight Productions team went to huge lengths to ensure none of the magic of the original animation series was lost during the transition from small screen to stage.

They've kept away from whizz-bang special effects and eye-popping visuals too as Plaskitt believes children will always be drawn to puppets.

“It’s because they are not human,” he says.

“Puppets are nearly always some kind of animal or abstract being, so they fire a child’s imagination.

"They see puppets as similar to their own toys, which they bring to life at home while playing.

"That’s why children don’t really notice the puppeteer.

“We also decided against animatronics as we didn’t feel there was a need to make Peppa and her pals any more believable than they already were.

“After all, Miss Piggy went around for years without ever blinking.”

Peppa Pig's Party, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, February 13 and 14, 10am, 1pm and 4pm, £8 to £14.50. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.