Handmade, the film company established by George Harrison in the 1970s to finance The Life of Brian, has turned to Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, to spearhead its entry into children’s television.

The company, which also produced Withnail & I, Time Bandits and The Long Good Friday, has signed an agreement with the duchess to turn her Tea for Ruby and Little Red characters into an animated television series to be broadcast in the United States.

Tea for Ruby, a tale of a girl learning to perfect her manners before meeting the Queen, was the bestselling children’s book in the United States last year, while Little Red, a red-headed girl, has featured in four books. Handmade has also signed up the duchess to present a series of documentaries about female explorers, starting with Gertrude Bell. Patrick Meehan, the former Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath manager who is chairman of Handmade, said that the series would look to replicate the success of recent television series, such as Charley Boorman’s Long Way Down, that often trigger strong DVD and book sales.

Handmade declined to comment on what it had paid the duchess for the rights to animate the books, but there will be a “significant” upfront payment and then a large share of future sales. “She can make a great deal of money out of this deal,” Mr Meehan said, noting that her share of future revenue would be above 20 per cent but less than half.

The deal comes a week after the duchess celebrated her 50th birthday amid speculation that she is experiencing financial difficulties. She declined to comment on her finances and instead focused on her characters, in particular Little Red, who was invented on a napkin in 1995. “Coming from what’s been a really difficult year, this is fantastic news,” she said.

She also revealed that she had been approached before about animating the characters by Disney, but had turned down the opportunity. “I haven’t let her go into animation until now. [Little Red] is very special. I thought she would get lost in Disney,” the duchess said.

Handmade will look to create television shows based on the characters next year. The production will be handled by Animation Collective Group (ACG), which Handmade has acquired for $12 million (£7.3 million). ACG is the company behind the Thumb Wrestling Federation series that is shown on CBBC.

Larry Schwarz, founder of ACG, said that he had already approached Amerfican networks, including PBS and Nickelodeon, to gauge receptiveness to the shows being developed. “There’s a tremendous amount of broadcaster interest,” he said.

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