Tickle on the Tum

Tickle on the Tum
Starring	Ralph McTell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	118
Production
Running time	10 mins
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	5 November 1984 – 29 November 1988

Tickle On The Tum was a series of ten-minute programmes for young children produced by Granada Television and aired on the ITV network from 1984 until 1988. The series was set in the General Store and Post Office in the fictional village of Tickle-on-the-Tum (the humorous double-meaning of the title was explained obliquely in the theme song). The original presenters were folk-singer Ralph McTell, fresh from his stint on Granada's other children's series Alphabet Zoo, and Danusia Harwood.

From about the middle of the second series, Harwood was replaced by Jacqueline Reddin. In the final series, the setting changed to the newly opened Tickle Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) studios. Reddin became the show's lead presenter and sang the theme song, after McTell returned to his recording career. She was joined by a puppet cat named Dexter, performed by John Eccleston. In this series, Jacqueline occasionally appeared as another character, movie star 'Gloria Glamorous'.

Ralph and Danny (or Jacqui depending which series you were in) would be working in the shop when a local resident would come in and recount at length an incident in their week, accompanied with illustrations by Valerie Pye. A song, written and sung with guitar (and occasionally, piano) by McTell, would follow based around either the week's story or simply the visiting character. The three of them would also read aloud jokes from the 'Tickle Post', which were usually credited to have been submitted by children from various schools.

Pet-shop proprietor Bunny was played by Nerys Hughes, McTell's co-presenter on Alphabet Zoo and several songs from the earlier series were reused in Tickle on the Tum, including "Kenny the Kangaroo" and "Ollie the Otter". Favourite characters amongst children were bumbling odd-job man Barney Bodger, Mike the Milkman and G.P. Dr Dimple, played by Bill Oddie.

When Danny was working at the shop, it was implied that she was just an assistant and Ralph was the proprietor. But during the Christmas Special from series 3, Ralph is shown returning from a music tour and mentions that the shop belongs to Jacqui now. Despite being twice as long as a regular episode, the Christmas special didn't feature any guests stars at all, but did feature an uncredited cameo by Jacqueline Reddin's baby daughter Jenna (as Farmer Field's youngest).

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