Tikkabilla (1970)

Tikkabilla was a UK children's television programme, shown on BBC1, BBC2 and on the CBeebies channel. The programme aims to educate pre-school children in an entertaining manner. The title "Tikkabilla" comes from the Punjabi word meaning "Hopscotch", a popular children's game. It was an exceptionally well loved children's television show. Each programme is introduced by two adults and a small dragon puppet named Tamba, who resembles Spyro the Dragon in colouration. Tamba serves as the programme's naive child; the programme's educational content is introduced as the presenters explain things to Tamba. Whilst Tamba appears in every episode, a team of presenters take it in turns to pair-up in each show. These presenters include Justin Fletcher, Sarah-Jane Honeywell, Paul Ewing, Simon Davies, Lorna Laidlaw, Veejay Kaur, Toni Fruitin and Amit Sharma and Beverley Hills. Tamba is performed by puppeteers Sue Eves who created the voice for Tamba; Alison McGowan and Katherine Smee. Sue Eves has also written many scripts for the programme. Beverley Hills also writes for the programme as well as writing for the sister show, The Story Makers.