HBO announced Tuesday that it has acquired the U.S. pay television rights to “Postman Pat,” the hit United Kingdom family series from Entertainment Rights PLC.

“Postman Pat” is an animated series that has been running in the U.K. since 1981, when 52 15-minute episodes were originally produced. The episodes have been packaged into 26 half-hour shows that HBO will run daily in both English and Spanish on its HBO Family channel beginning in fall 2005.