Watch with Mother

This page is about UK–originated TV programmes for pre–school children. See also Animated Cartoons – which covers US–originated cartoons, for both TV and cinema release.

We never forget the characters we loved as children, and this is reflected in the number and variety of questions on this page.

Bob the Builder

Bob's voice		Neil Morrissey
Bob's business partner		Wendy
Scarecrow who stands in for the child audience – has to learn to be patient, not to eat all the food, etc.		Spud
Farmer who helps Bob out		Farmer Pickles
Bob's cat		Pilchard
Bob's digger		Scoop
Bob's bulldozer		Muck
Bob's concrete mixer		Dizzy
The crane		Lofty

Danger Mouse

Lives under a pillar box on Baker Street (221c Baker St.)		Danger Mouse
Baron Silas Greenback is the arch–enemy of
Baron Greenback is a (type of creature)		Toad
Nero (Greenback's pet) is a		Caterpillar
Stiletto Mafiosa and Leatherhead, Greenback's henchmen, are		Crows
Voice of Danger Mouse		David Jason
Danger Mouse's boss		Colonel K
Danger Mouse's faithful companion		Penfold
Penfold is a (type of creature)		Hamster
Voice of Penfold		Terry Scott

Count Duckula

Count Duckula first appeared in (was a spin–off from)		Danger Mouse
Count Duckula: voiced by		David Jason
Count Duckula's favourite food		Broccoli

Fireman Sam

Fireman Sam is based in		Pontypandy
Fireman Sam's appliance (fire engine)		Jupiter

Hector's House

Hector is a		Dog
The cat that lives with Hector		Zsazsa
The frog that lives next door		Kiki

The Herbs

The 13 episodes of The Herbs were first broadcast in 1968.

Writer		Michael Bond
Lion		Parsley
Dog		Dill
Owl		Sage
King of the Herbs (wore a deerstalker and was fond of hunting)		Sir Basil
Sir Basil's wife		Lady Rosemary
Gardener		Bayleaf
Policeman		Constable Knapweed
Witch		Belladonna
Dragon		Tarragon
Snake charmer		Pashana Bedi

Ivor the Engine

Author		Oliver Postgate
Driver		Jones (the Steam)
Idris, his wife Olwen, and their twins Gaian and Blodwyn, are		Dragons

The Magic Roundabout

French creator		Serge Danot
Narrator of the English language version		Eric Thompson
Narrated 52 previously unbroadcast episodes for Channel 4 in 1991, following the death of the above – in a "pastiche" of his style		Nigel Planer
Operator of the roundabout – seen operating his barrel organ during the opening sequence		Mr. Rusty
Name of the cow		Ermintrude
The elderly gardener, who rode a tricycle		Mr. McHenry

You might occasionally get asked the name of the snail, the rabbit or the dog (or vice versa) but this website is not going to insult the intelligence of its readers by including those as questions.

Mary, Mungo & Midge

Creator		John Ryan
Narrator		Richard Baker
Mungo was a		Dog
Midge was a		Mouse

Mary was a girl – but this is too simplistic to be asked in any self–respecting quiz (except maybe as an attempt at a bluff).

In the Night Garden

There were two series of In the Night Garden, of 100 episodes each, first broadcast from 2007 to 2009.

Narrator		Sir Derek Jacobi
Central character: a blue doll, with a red "sideways mohican"; carries a red blanket		Iggle Piggle
Rag doll		Upsy Daisy
Has a trolley called the Og–Pog		Makka Pakka
Unn, Oo, Ee		The Tombliboos
Family of peg dolls (a similar family called the Wottingers occasionally appears)		The Pontipines
Five very large inflatable pillow–like creatures, of various shapes and colours, with eyes and smiling mouths; make springy "boing–boing" noises		The Haahoos
Ten tropical birds of various descriptions		The Tittifers
The Ninky Nonk is a		Train
The Pinky Ponk is an		Airship

Peppa Pig

Peppa's younger brother		George
Voice of Grampy Rabbit (also voiced Grandpa Pig in early series)		Brian Blessed

Postman Pat

Creator of Postman Pat (and Rosie & Jim)– died in 2018, aged 85		John Cunliffe
Postman Pat is based in		Greendale
Postman Pat's surname		Clifton
Pat's black and white cat		Jess
Pat's wife		Sara(h)
Greendale Post mistress		Mrs. Goggins
Policeman		PC (Arthur) Selby
Vicar		Rev. Timms
Registration number of Pat's van		PAT 1

Captain Pugwash

Creator of Captain Pugwash (also of Mary, Mungo & Midge, and Harris Tweed in the Eagle comic)		John Ryan
Theme tune (a traditional tune, probably Irish, learned from Jimmy Shand by the BBC's composer Philip Lane; played on piano accordion by Tom Edmundson)		Trumpet Hornpipe
Captain Pugwash's first name		Horatio
Captain Pugwash's ship		Black Pig
Captain Pugwash's arch–enemy		Cut–Throat Jake
Cut–Throat Jake's ship		Flying Dustman
Captain Pugwash's cabin boy		Tom
Character known for his malapropisms and mispronunciations		Master Mate

Note: characters such as Master Bates, Seaman Staines and Roger the Cabin Boy exist only in urban myth.

Rag, Tag and Bobtail

Rag was a		Hedgehog
Tag was a		Mouse
Bobtail was a		Rabbit

Sooty

Sooty's magic words		Izzy Wizzy, let's get busy!
Sooty's creator (1952; died 1989)		Harry Corbett
Sooty's first companion (a grey dog with long black ears, introduced 1957)		Sweep
Panda (Sooty's girlfriend; introduced 1964; voiced by Brenda Longman, 1981–2002)		Soo
Snake		Ramsbottom
Harry Corbett's son Matthew took over presenting		1976
Later presenters		Richard Cadell, Liana Bridges
Presenter's line that ended every show		By–bye, everybody! Bye–bye!
Musical instrument that Sooty played		Xylophone

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends

Narrator		Ringo Starr
Setting		The Island of Sodor

Trumptonshire

Creator and writer of the Trumptonshire trilogy (Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Chigley). Also produced Captain Pugwash and Rubovia		Gordon Murray
Narrator of the Trumptonshire trilogy		Brian Cant
First of the 'Trumptonshire trilogy': featured characters (one episode each) Peter the Postman, Windy Miller, Mr. Crockett the Garage Man, Dr Mopp (who makes house calls in his vintage car), Farmer Jonathan Bell, Captain Snort, Paddy Murphy, Roger Varley the Sweep, PC McGarry (Number 452), Mr. Dagenham the Car Salesman, Mr. Carraway the Fishmonger, Mickey Murphy the baker, town gossip Mrs Honeyman (always seen carrying her baby)		Camberwick Green
Camberwick Green: name of the military academy, run by Captain Snort and Sgt Major Grout		Pippin Fort
Brewed his own cider, which always made him sleepy		Windy Miller
Each episode begins with the Town Hall Clock, "telling the time, steadily, sensibly; never too quickly, never too slowly; telling the time for …"		Trumpton
The Mayor, Mr Troop the Town Clerk, Chippy Minton the carpenter and his apprentice son, Nibbs; Mrs. Cobbit the florist; Miss Lovelace the milliner and her three Pekingese dogs; Mr. Platt the clockmaker		Trumpton
Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb are the firefighters in
Leader of the above firefighters (carries out the roll call)		Captain Flack
Mr Swallow of Treddle's Wharf; biscuit factory owner Mr Cresswell; Harry Farthing the potter and his daughter Winnie; Lord Belborough of Winkstead Hall and his butler Brackett, who operate a private railway; also features guest appearances by characters from Camberwick Green and Trumpton		Chigley
Name of Lord Belborough and Brackett's railway engine		Bessie

Willo the Wisp

Narrator		Kenneth Williams
Arthur (a gruff cockney caterpillar), Evil Edna the witch (depicted as a walking television), Mavis Cruet the fairy, The Moog (a "supposed dog" who is not allowed to think for himself), and Carwash (a snooty, bespectacled cat, said to be based on Noël Coward) were characters in		Willo the Wisp

The Wombles

Narrator (original 1970s series)

Bernard Cribbins

The Wombles were all based on members of the family of their creator Elizabeth Beresford, and named after places that had family connections.

The oldest and wisest Womble, and their patriarch – named after an Eastern European country; based on Beresford's father–in–law		Great Uncle Bulgaria
Engineer and handyman – named after a Scottish island town		Tobermory
Lazy Womble – named after a South American river		Orinoco
Over–enthusiastic and bossy Womble – named after an ancient province of Japan		Bungo
Athletic Womble – named after a city in Siberia		Tomsk
Scientifically inclined young Womble – same name as a Commonwealth capital city (but actually named after the Berkshire school that Elizabeth Beresford's nephew attended)		Wellington
The Wombles' cook – based on Beresford's mother – named after a French town		Madame Cholet

The Woodentops

Names of the twins		Willie
		Jenny
Name of the cow		Buttercup
Came to help Mummy Woodentop with the housework		Mrs. Scrubbitt

Titles (and title characters)

Ran from 1950 to 1970, although only 26 episodes were made		Andy Pandy
Lived in a picnic basket, with Teddy (a teddy bear) and Looby Loo (a rag doll, who only came to life when alone)
Regularly featured the songs Here We Go Looby Loo and Time to Go Home
Rumour has it that Paul Atterbury – one of the 'experts' on The Antiques Roadshow, noted for wearing colourful striped blazers – was the inspiration for
Fictional elephant with a wife called Celeste		Babar
Alter–ego of Eric Twinge (more commonly referred to as "Little Eric"; known in the comic strip version as Eric Wimp)		Bananaman
Title character was a talking purple dinosaur who conveyed educational messages through song and dance (originally broadcast 1992–2001)		Barney (& Friends)
BBC One (Watch With Mother) – 13 episodes, first broadcast 1975–6: title character created by husband and wife Joanne and Michael Cole; narrated by John Le Mesurier		Bod
Animated series, ITV 1976–9: main character is a dragon, named after the suburb of Manchester where the series was produced; also featured Fenella Fellorick the Kettle Witch, King Otto and Queen Doris, Claptrap von Spilldebeans (a talking book of magic), and Pablo Perdito (a Latin American dancing duck)		Chorlton and the Wheelies
Eponymous characters ate blue string pudding and green soup; also featured the Soup Dragon, the Iron Chicken and the Froglets		Clangers
Peyton–Jones is the surname of		Fireman Sam
Broadcast on BBC1 at the end of 'Children's Hour' and before the Six O'Clock News, 1968–70: the French programme Le Maison de Toutou, revoiced in English		Hector's House
CBeebies cartoon series, first broadcast in 2014: narrated by Alexander Armstrong; title character (a big, friendly brown dog) is the leader of the Squirrel Club		Hey Duggee
First broadcast in the 1960s, repeated in the 70s; featured a German Shepherd dog called London		The Littlest Hobo
First appeared in a series of books by Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Larsson and her brother Lars; large, pale–colouredhippo–like creatures, they featured in a TV series that was dubbed in English and first broadcast on CBBC in 1990–1		Moomins
Cartoon character: bowler hat, lived at 52 Festival Road, London		Mr. Benn
Humpty the egg–shaped doll, Big Ted and Little Ted, Jemima the rag doll, Hamble the little doll, and Poppy the Afro–Caribbean doll, featured on		Play School
Pippin and Tog appeared in		Pogle's Wood
Bungle the bear, George the hippo, Zippy		Rainbow
Title characters are an enthusiastic green dog and a cynical pink cat		Roobarb and Custard
Character in a series of 78rpm records produced by Capitol Records, 1947–54: had a talking train, a magic echo, a magic baton, and most famously a magic piano		Sparky
First appeared on S4C, 1982, dubbed into Welsh; Texas Pete (henchmen Bulk and Skeleton) is the arch–enemy of; the first British cartoon series to be aired on the Disney Channel in the USA		SuperTed
Bella, Milo, Fizz and Jake are the main characters; Max and Judy are the two adults who look after the children, in		Tweenies

Other

Roobarb and Custard (BBC1 1974, and Channel 5 2005): narrator		Richard Briers
Creator of Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol		Keith Chapman
Tweenies: Doodles and Izzles are		Dogs
Rainbow: George, Zippy and Bungle are looked after by (most famously)		Geoffrey (Hayes)
Cartoon cat with friends called Mosey Mouse and Chris Rabbit, and enemies called Farmer Giles and Constable Bulldog		Henry's Cat
Narrator of Paddington Bear		Michael Hordern
Button Moon: planet that the Button family lived on, and which Button Moon (presumably) orbits		Junk Planet
Rosie and Jim's narrowboat		The Rag Doll
First appeared in Wallace and Gromit / A Close Shave (Aardman – Nick Park); featured in his own CBBC series from 2007		Shaun the Sheep
Bill and Ben (the Flowerpot Men): name of the tortoise		Slowcoach
Larry the Lamb and his friend Dennis the Dachshund lived in		Toytown
Teletubbies: Noo noo was a		Vacuum cleaner

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23