Fünf Freunde is a long-running German radio program for children, based on characters from the popular series of books by author Enid Blyton. Together, the characters regularly find themselves caught up in exciting adventures as they go exploring and run afoul of villains. After several of Blyton's stories were adapted into plays for voices by the German record label Teldec, the series premiered in 1978. In addition to the early Teldec recordings, many episodes of the radio series have been released on compact disc and continue to be popular with youngsters. Enid Blyton's characters have also inspired a number of television series in Europe, the U.K. and Canada, and have even appeared in a line of computer games. ~ Mark Deming