T-Bag

T-BAG
Made by: Thames TV
Shown on: ITV
Years shown: mid 80s-early 90s

Elizabeth Estenson starred as the tea-addicted witch Talula Bag, who somehow lived in a teapot in an antique shop. Her objective: total world domination. But unfortunately for her, the only aid she had in this task was a blond kid, T-Shirt (John Hasler), who she’d somehow trapped in her little world.

Each of the seemingly innumerable series progressed in exactly the same manner. A young girl would enter the antique shop with the intention of buying something nice for her mum/granny/therapist, but would be zapped into the teapot by T-Bag as soon as she touched it. Once inside, the girl would be dispatched on missions by T-Bag to collect a different object every episode, which gave the whole thing a bit of a Crystal Maze feel, but which somehow forwarded the witch’s chances of become the supreme world dictator. Midway in the series, T-Shirt would secretly join forces with the girl, and they would always succeed in thwarting T-Bag, and sending her spinning back into the teapot for another series, although T-Shirt never managed to liberate himself. Still, his double-dealing was so predictable that I always wondered why T-Bag didn’t just have the little brat vaporised, or at least turned into a ferret? After the fourth series, Talula was replaced by her sister, Tabitha Bag (Georgina Hale), although the now teenage T-Shirt still moped around waiting for the next stage-school girl to arrive down the spout.

For those who fondly remember these luke-warm paranormal antics, here is a comprehensive run-down of the series we were treated to by writers Lee Pressman and Grant Cathro: T-Bag Strikes Again, T-Bag Bounces Back, T-Bag and the Revenge of the T-Set, T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom, T-Bag and the Rings of Olympus, T-Bag and the Sunstones of Montesuma, and Take Off with T-Bag.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 5/10