T-Bag
Along with Knightmare, an ITV kids favourite of the eighties and nineties. It consisted of nine seasons, each of which had its own title. There is no official title for the series as a whole but it's known as T-Bag for simplicity's sake.
T-Bag (short for either Tallulah or Tabatha, depending on which season you're watching) is a witch who wants to Take Over the World but is constantly thwarted by either a young girl collecting the scattered MacGuffins which can defeat her and using them to do just that or by having her own MacGuffins scattered through time and space and a young girl beating her to finding them again. There were five different girls (Debbie, Holly, Sally, Polly and Penny) throughout eight seasons and the ages at which they were cast changed to match the age of the one constant character, T-Bag's assistant, T-Shirt. Originally a little boy but, being played by the same actor throughout nine seasons, he wasn't so little anymore by the end. T-Shirt (short for Thomas) is abducted from the real world by Tallulah and put under mind control in order to brew T-Bag's magical-power-giving tea and help her collect the MacGuffins. At the end of each season T-Bag almost reaches her goal but then the MacGuffins are reunited and T-Bag's control over T-Shirt is broken and he helps the girl defeat T-Bag and return home. When Tabatha came along, T-Shirt seemed to be helping her out quite willingly but then Tabatha wasn't really scary. For Season Nine the idea of a girl on the opposite side of things was dropped and a previously unmentioned cousin of T-Shirt's appeared instead.
Originally intended to be reasonably educational but that idea was dropped pretty quickly.
Seasons.
- Wonders in Letterland (1985).
- T-Bag Strikes Again (1986).
- T-Bag Bounces Back (1987).
- Turn On to T-Bag (1988).
- Revenge of the T-Set (1989).
- T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom (1990).
- T-Bag and the Rings of Olympus (1991).
- T-Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma (1992).
- Take Off With T-Bag - which broke the mould and changed the format. (1992).
Christmas Specials.
- T-Bag's Christmas Cracker (1988).
- T-Bag's Christmas Carol (1989).
- T-Bag's Christmas Ding Dong (1990).
- T-Bag's Christmas Turkey (1991).
- Adults Are Useless.
- Alliterative Name: Sally Simpkins.
- Big Bad: Tallulah (Tabatha, not so much).
- Big Good: Apparently, The T-Set. But only its leader, The High-T, appeared and only in one season.
- Christmas Episode: Four of.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Tabatha.
- Mr. Fanservice: T-Shirt, after he'd grown up.
- For the Evulz: Why else would a witch want to take over the world?
- Heel Face Turn: What T-Shirt did in the last episodes of most seasons.
- Hey Its That Girl!: Both T-Bags spent the 2000s in Emmerdale.
- Kellie Bright who played Sally grew up to be Ali G's girlfriend Julie and then Del and Rodney's mother in Rock and Chips.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: What T-Shirt grew into. Well, almost, he still kept losing the Mc Guffins.
- Good Colours Evil Colours: Nearly all of T-Bag's dresses were red whilst Debbie wore yellow and Sally and Holly wore pink.
- It Belongs in a Museum: An archaeologist's view on The Sunstones of Montezuma.
- Love Potion: In one episode caused T-Shirt to fall in love with Polly and give her the week's McGuffin.
- McGuffin: Naturally.
- Punny Name/Theme Naming: Guess.
- Revenge of the Sequel.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Two T-Bags and five girls.
- Techno Babble: Regarding the Booster Device in Season Four.
- The Professor: Professor Sparks in Season Four.
- The Theme Park Version: Of The Wild West, Pirate Ships and Ancient Egypt among others.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Holly was was noticeably taller than T-Shirt which looked a bit odd.
- Servile Snarker: T-Shirt when dealing with Tabatha.
- Take Over the World.
- Victorian London: Appeared more than once.
- Villain Song: "Ignorance is Bliss" sung by Tallulah in the first episode.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: The second Christmas episode.