Mischief maker

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“At the moment, our most visited posts are dad jokes, so I think there’s an appetite for some fun and light relief for children, ” says Helenor Gilmour, director of insight at Beano, speaking via Zoom in the midst of the UK’s lockdown. “When the schools were closed, we had a little girl saying to us that it felt really serious, but now they’ve settled into family life, so a bit of light relief is a great thing. Obviously, we’ve got to keep the nation laughing.”

Laughter is Beano’s business. An increasingly rare breed in publishing, as Britain’s longest running comic, it began life in 1938 and has been a childhood companion for many generations. In 2016, it was relaunched as part of Beano Studios, an entertainment network inspired by the original comic. Beano.com is now one of the biggest online channels for children, offering games, quizzes and jokes.

It is undoubtedly part of a crowded digital space and, ...