TV, emphasis on the 𝓣

August 12, 2021 5:33 AM

Doctor Who wasn't the only British TV series to start out educational and become its own thing. There's a reason 1985's Wonders in Letterland was later renamed Trouble with T-Bag. The following seasons (bar the last) followed a modified formula revolving around the show's breakout characters - the witch-like T-Bags (Tallulah Bag and later her sister and successor Tabitha) and their young assistant T-Shirt enacting a plan that and only be stopped by artifacts (or pieces of one) scattered across history and/or folklore, prompting a girl's journey through existence. The complete seasons and specials on YouTube: 1 2 3 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 9
posted by BiggerJ (9 comments total)

BiggerJ

Hmm.
posted by zamboni at 6:02 AM on August 12, 2021 [4 favorites]

This sounds like it belongs in the Excalibur post from the other day!
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:54 AM on August 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

T is for terrifying! (Seriously, Elizabeth Estensen is every inch Her Majes-T)

Curse you, BiggerJ, you clever clogs! I never thought of making a T-Bag post, but let's pretend I did so I can say that you beat me to it fairly and T-squarely.

(For anyone not familiar with it, this show is absolutely one of the finest things ever made.)
posted by trig at 9:42 AM on August 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

Dr. Who was meant to be educational? It certainly started with teachers. . . but, that was lost on me as either a kid of an adult.

This sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to it.
posted by eotvos at 12:49 PM on August 12, 2021 [1 favorite]

AAaaaaahhhh T-Bag!!!

Pretty sure that T-shirt was one of my first crushes.

Thanks for this!
posted by freethefeet at 5:42 PM on August 12, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've heard this thing about Doctor Who starting out as an educational program so many times, but I've watched much of the first Doctor, and I don't really see it.
posted by pompomtom at 7:38 PM on August 12, 2021

T-Bag and T-Shirt were played on Australian public television, and much loved. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 2:32 AM on August 13, 2021 [3 favorites]

Ha, I loved these as a child, and they still come to mind from time to time - but I had no idea there were NINE series; I thought there were only three or four! Intersection of the years they were showing and the years I was home from school early enough to watch them, at a guess.

Thanks for this!
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:13 AM on August 13, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm an American who's never heard of this show before, and I'm going to cry if this show made it all the way through the 80s without a Mr. T cameo.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:55 AM on August 14, 2021