Look what Disney's done to the Famous Five

They've been popular with children ever since they first leapt into junior crime-solving action in 1942.

But even their creator might be hard pressed to recognise the latest version of the Famous Five.

Enid Blyton's terribly British young adventurers have been given a modern make over by Disney for an animated series.

The company has succeeded where a host of baddies failed and done away with Julian, Anne, Dick and George. In their place come their descendants, Jo, Max, Dylan and Allie. Only Timmy the dog gets to keep his name.

Rather than tackling smugglers and crawling through secret tunnels, the Five will use webphones and laptops to take on villains including sellers of pirate DVDs. Half-Indian Jo is the daughter of original tomboy George. Her real name is Jyoti, a Hindu word meaning light.

Allie is the Californian daughter of Anne who supposedly moved to the U.S. after college.

Dylan is the wannabe business tycoon son of Dick, while Max is the adventure-loving son of Julian. Fun times are no longer 'gay' and also gone are expressions such as 'gosh', 'golly' and 'jolly nice'. Instead, the characters will judge things to be 'cool'. One of the episodes is called The Case of The Thief That Drinks From The Toilet and another The Case Of The Impolite, Snarly Thing.

Disney said: "The new characters are smart kids that love to get down and dirty in the outdoors."

But some Blyton devotees are not happy with the changes made for the 26-part series, which starts on the Disney Channel in May and is called Famous 5: On The Case.

Blyton's biographer Barbara Stoney said: "I am not in favour. How can you say it is Enid Blyton when it is nothing like her original stories and the characters are not the same?"

"I don't think Enid Blyton would have appreciated too much the playing around with her stuff."

Tony Summerfield, of the Enid Blyton Society, said. "The only loose connection is that they are the Famous Five's offspring. Inevitably, anything that is brought up to date is likely to be different, shall we say."

Disney made the series after striking a deal with Chorion, the British firm that owns the film and TV rights to the Blyton catalogue.

The first book, Five On A Treasure Island, was published in 1942 and the 21st and final instalment, Five Are Together Again, in 1963.

In excess of 100 million books have been sold and they still sell more than a million copies a year.

-Daily Mail