In January 2021, when Covid deaths were surging and many preschools were closed, Netflix launched a show about a girl who wears cat ears, sings cheerful songs about science and says things like “miaow-mazing”, “pawesome!”, “ab-so-cat-a-loutely” and “hug attack!”

Gabby’s Dollhouse may be unfamiliar to anyone who does not cohabit with young kids, but it was a balm for many during that bleak winter, when anxiety and screen time shot up across the world. Gabby – a wholesome, upbeat girl who lives in a cat-themed world – became an avatar for resilience, cuteness and hope.

In its almost three years and eight series, it has frequently made Netflix’s top 10 in 57 countries and has spawned a toy industry to make Barney weep. It was recently named the US’s second-biggest preschool toys license, with more than 1 million of its mint green and pink cat-themed doll’s houses sold. It has spawned conspiracy theories, too: on Reddit and TikTok, armchair detectives speculate that the actor who plays Gabby, Laila Lockhart Kraner, is 25 years old (“she looks like she has two kids and a mortgage!” says one on Tiktok).