Bedtime stories go online as Noddy signs up to Windows Live Messenger

Bedtime stories may never be the same after the launch of an online tool to let parents and children who cannot be together share classic tales.

Built by entertainment company Chorion for the Noddy stories, Time for a Story lets parents and grandparents contact a child through Windows Live Messenger and lead them through a digital version of stories about the character.

Parents control the speed of the story by clicking through pages, while the child can interact with pictures and words on screen for each part of the story.

"There's no way we're saying this should replace that one-to-one contact or reading to a child while you are there, but we are trying to create a tool that allows parents or grandparents to interact with the child in a meaningful way when they can't be there."

was from a producer who was working late a lot and not getting home to speak to his child, and ended up talking to them through IM