Ukrainian refugee children will be able to watch popular British shows dubbed into Ukrainian on pop-up channel Sunflower TV this Christmas.

A dedicated TV channel is screening a range of British children’s favourites, from Peppa Pig to Thomas & Friends, specially dubbed into Ukrainian, according to the i newspaper.

Sunflower TV, a non profit-making initiative designed to provide entertainment and respite for traumatised child refugees, is planning to expand its programming after becoming a hit with families who have been displaced across Europe.

Sunflower TV was launched by PACT, the trade body representing the UK’s screen sector, which asked producers and broadcasters to make their catalogue of kids shows available to the new service, with the channel available free-to-view on YouTube,

The programmes’ makers have given up their rights and agreed to bear the expense of dubbing the shows into Ukranian to give kids some much-needed welcome light relief as they adapt to their new surroundings. Around 200 hours of programming is available including the BBC’s Go Jetters and Jojo and Gran Gran to CITV’s Mr Bean: The Animated Series.

“Children who have lost their homes, friends, and relatives benefit from having at least some sense of familiarity by being able to access materials in their native language,” Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, who advised on the project, told i. “And it is important that children don’t feel their own language is being drowned out as they start rebuilding their lives away from home.”

John McVay, PACT chief executive, said many of the shows had not been seen before in Ukraine before because the country’s broadcasting industry could not afford to buy them..

Around two-thirds of Ukrainian children have been forced to leave and find new homes in the UK and Germany since the Russian invasion and the programmes have been targeted at pre-school children, who might need them the most.

However, as the population settles, PACT is asking programme makers to offer it more shows for older children.

“We know the programmes will give entertainment and comfort to children at Christmas – and the Ukrainian Christmas which is celebrated in early January,” McVay said.

Sunflower is also now offering its young viewers a chance to participate in their new favourite shows. Welsh broadcaster S4C commissioned a new version of its popular children’s series Cyw and Friends in Ukrainian, called Коко Ta Друзі, and invited refugee children who have settled in Wales, to voice the programmes.

Sunflower also hosts shows from Ukrainian producers with titles such as Brave Bunnies and Eskimo Girl and is talking to broadcasters in Ukraine about airing more of their local shows.

Bafta recently hosted a special screening of Sunflower programmes for an invited audience of 160 families and the channel is launching a social media marketing campaign to extend its reach further.