Tots TV

Infobox Television
show_name = Tots TV


caption = Tilly, Tom and Tiny
format = Children's television series
runtime = 25 minutes
developer = Ragdoll Productions
starring = Tilly Tom Tiny
country = UK
language = English, French Spanish
network = CITV
first_aired = January 3, 1993 - April 27, 1998
num_episodes = 276
imdb_id = 0843233

"Tots TV" was a television show, produced by Ragdoll Productions and Central (later owned by Carlton Television) (Both Ragdoll and Central also produced "Rosie and Jim" and Ragdoll independently produced "Teletubbies" for the BBC). Tots TV was also broadcast in the USA on PBS from January 3, 1993 to April 27, 1998. It featured three ragdoll friends: Tilly, a French girl, with red hair, who spoke in basic French (in the U.S. broadcast, she spoke Spanish), Tom, a blue haired boy with glasses, and Tiny, the youngest Tot, who was smaller than the others and had green hair. The show won two BAFTA awards. In September 1999 "Tots TV" moved to Carlton cause Central Television was going to be replaced By the network.

The show was written by Robin Stevens and Andrew Davenport who also played the characters Tom and Tiny in the show. Claire Carre, who also played as Tilly, wrote, along with Robin Stevens, the episode "Melon Chase". It was originally shown on ITV's children's television strand, Children's ITV. The show is now broadcast in the UK on CBeebies, the BBC's children's television station on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Characters

* Tilly - Has red hair, wears bright yellow tights and is French (in the American version of the show, she spoke Spanish)
* Tom - The eldest male tot, has blue hair and is black. Sported blue dungarees and a yellow sweater as well as wearing glasses.
* Tiny - He has green hair and is the youngest of the group, wears a green cardigan
* Furry Boo - A small cheeky dog that the tots do not know about.
* Donkey - The pet donkey who lived in a stable in the Tots' garden.

Plots

Going out

Often but not always the Tots would go out to explore an everyday area on the human world. This often involved them helping out a young child. This also sometimes involved them using their magic bag (Sac Magique) which they always took with them, Tiny always carried it and Tilly always operated it. When asked to help it would always produce an item to help them in the situation. In some of the episodes they would go out and watch 'Jane' find out about different animals. A few episodes starred a man called 'Jack' who would set up some sort of play area for some children, the tots would secretly watch him and the children play.

taying in

In all other episodes the Tots would do something in their house - the secret house. Because the full titles featured the tots leaving the house they were altered for such episodes.Sometimes these episodes would feature one of the tots reading the other two a story. These episodes always feature the reading tot preparing to read using dolls of the characters in the story. Apparently the other two were unaware they were preparing to read a story because they would always ring them up on their personal phone to ask if they wanted to listen to a story. This was despite the fact they all lived in the same house.

Other

If the episode was a full-length double-bill (usually the 1st half with Jane and the second half an adventure in the secret house) in the earlier episodes, they would be joined with a 2 minute animation of a 'Noah's Ark' story (based on the toy Noah's ark in the secret house) or an animation of a picture that a viewer had sent into the program.

Episodes

Episodes Included:
* Middle Of The Night
* Hippo
* Furry Beat
* Tom's Trumpet
* Old McTom
* Tiny's Box Song
* Tilly's Recorder
* Castle
* Cleaning Windows
* Birthday Surprise
* Naughty Little Pig
* Tiny Leaves Home
* Lost in the Supermarket
* Postwoman
* What's That Noise?
* Vegetable Guard
* Disco Machine
* A Sticky Mess
* Missing the Bus
* Naughty Mysterious Person
* The Dentist
* Owl
* Hedgehog
* Peacock
* Bus Ride
* Rabbit
* Space Robots
* Tiny's Box
* Rhino
* Dreamy Tilly

UK and USA DVD & Video History

*UK
**Video Collection International (1993-1997)
**Carlton Video (1997-2003)
**Granada Ventures (2005-2007)
**ITV DVD (2007-present)

Productions

Central Television 1993 - 1997
Carlton Television 1997 - present

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/totstv/ Tots TV at BBC]