Tickle on the Tum
Tickle on the Tum is a series of ten-minute programmes for young children produced by Granada Television and aired on the ITV network from 5 November 1984 until 29 November 1988. The series was set in the General Store and Post Office in the fictional village of Tickle-on-the-Tum. 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 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'.
Format
Ralph and Danny 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 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.
The original opening credit sequence, illustrated by Valerie Pye, featured several town inhabitants standing in front of the General Store. They were, from left to right: Farmer Field, Roland Crust, Lilly Lolly, Bobby Bins and Barney Bodger. When Billy Connolly left after just two episodes, his character was replaced by the similar Tommy Tidy, played by Willie Rushton. Tommy's outfit was almost identical to that of Bobby, making it seem that the drawn figure in the opening credits represented Tommy Tidy instead of Bobby Bins.
Cast and characters
Sources:- Gary Ball – Brian Bovell
- Barney Bodger – Tim Healy
- Bessie Bagwash – Mollie Sugden
- Bobby Binns – Billy Connolly
- Bunny Brown – Nerys Hughes
- Connie Caper – Joan Sims
- Mayor Choudhury – Zia Mohyeddin
- Mrs. Cravat – Barbara Lott
- Miss Dibbs – Patricia Brake
- Dora – Penelope Keith
- Dr Dimple – Bill Oddie
- Farmer Field – John Wells
- Freddy the Fireman – Graham Stark
- Lily Lolly – Bertice Reading
- Mickey Moon – Adam Sunderland
- Mike the Milkman – Kenny Lynch
- Miss Marker – Susan Wooldridge
- Roland Crust – Billy Dainty
- Tommy Tidy – Willie Rushton
- Winnie Walker – Madge Hindle
- Willie Wok – Burt Kwouk
Series guide
- Series 1: 18 editions 5 November 1984 – 1 April 1985
- Series 2: 31 editions 2 September 1985 – 23 June 1986
- Series 3: 30 editions 1 September 1986 – 30 March 1987
- Series 4: 26 editions 8 February 1988 – 22 August 1988
- Series 5: 13 editions 6 September 1988 – 29 November 1988