TELLY fans have been convinced for years that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street - who shared a basement apartment - are lovers.

With their adorable bickering and easy chemistry, every TV series from Friends and The Simpsons to Family Guy lovingly painted them as partners too.

Now, after decades of speculation, one of the show's writers has lifted the lid on its most famous and beloved characters.

Mark Saltzman, who joined the Sesame Street team in 1984, has revealed he did indeed write Bert and Ernie as a gay couple.

He told Queerty the characters reflected his own same-sex relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman at the time.

Now, here are some other things you didn't know about your favourite TV shows:

Winnie the Pooh

According to Odyssey Winnie the Pooh characters all suffered mental illnesses.

Winnie would do whatever it took to get honey, displaying an impulsivity which was sometimes dangerous.

Meanwhile fretful Piglet suffered badly with anxiety.

Tigger might have been energetic but he also had ADHD, it has been claimed.

Sad Eeyore suffered from low self-esteem, while tightly wound rabbit showed signs of OCD.

Teletubbies

The Teletubbies were actually racially diverse.

Dipsy's face was slightly darker than the faces of the other Teletubbies.

When the show was broadcast in the US, the makers told American audiences that Dipsy was intended to be black and Po was Chinese, like the actors who played them (John Simmit and Pui Fan Lee).

Real life giant rabbits were used while filming the Teletubbies, according to The Telegraph.

This was needed to keep everything in scale - but they spent a lot of time at it, well, like rabbits meaning there were a lot of retakes needed.

Care bears

According to Cracked the very concept of the Care Bears - monitoring Earth and then love bombing a child and agreeing with everything - is exactly how a cult works.

It's said they were on a mission - to ensure little ones were developing into productive and happy members of society.

It sounds a lot like 1984 to us, but with more cuddles.

Futurama

Futurama superfans claim the show very clearly has a secret language in it - you just need to read the graffiti in it to work it out.

At least that's according to this Futurama fanpage.

He-man

Cracked claims two things give He-man's true sexuality away - his name and his fashion sense. They claim he dresses like a "middle age woman on his way to an aerobics class".

And let's not mention the huge sword he carries round with him.

But when he was his alter-ego, Prince Adam, our cartoon star wore a simple button down shirt, which the fan site claims was to "throw everyone off the scent".

In The Night Garden

A mum blogger has found a pretty deep meaning of In The Night Garden. MumBlog said: "It starts with Iggle Piggle on a boat, sailing to a far off land.

"In Egyptian mythology, Ra’s boat would take his subjects to the afterlife and the image of a boat to the afterlife has pervaded literature and art throughout history.

"The night garden is clearly, therefore, purgatory, and Iggle Piggle must try and earn his way out to heaven."

The Little Mermaid

Mic suggest that Little Mermaid baddie, Ursula, isn't just evil - she's fabulous!

Apparently she's actually based on a drag queen called Divine from Baltimore - and you only need to look at her fashion sense to realise it.

"She wears two large shell earrings, a necklace with a gold nautilus and heavy eye makeup with blue eyeshadow that extends far up to her eyebrow," they said.

"Her lips are smacked with red. Her hair is styled in a sleek, waterproof bouffant.

"Ursula's mannerisms and much of her look — the eyeshadow, the swivel, the humour — was inspired by Divine, a Baltimore drag queen who frequently teamed up with filmmaker John Waters, playing notable characters in his films Pink Flamingos and the original Hairspray, and thusly became an infamous actress and queer icon."

The Magic Roundabout

Dougal, from The Magic Roundabout, spent much of his time chewing sugarcubes which people claimed was LSD.

Combined with the rabbit being called Dylan, there were allegations made of drug use.

And, dare we say it, the show was pretty bonkers.