Rag, Tag and Bobtail

Rag, Tag and Bobtail is a BBC children's television programme that ran from 1953 to 1965 as the Thursday programme in the weekly cycle of Watch With Mother. The scripts were written by Louise Cochrane,[3] and the series was produced by Freda Lingstrom and David Boisseau. Narration was by Charles E. Stidwell, David Enders, and James Urquhart.[1]

The three main characters are Rag, a hedgehog; Tag, a mouse; and Bobtail, a rabbit; five baby rabbits also appeared occasionally. All the characters are glove puppets, created and operated by Sam and Elizabeth Williams. The stories were simple and there were no catch-phrases as there were in other programmes in the cycle, but the series is still remembered with affection. Twenty-six 12-minute episodes were made, two of which were never broadcast,[1] each shot in a single take.

The repeat showings came to an end in December 1965, replaced by Tales of the Riverbank (moved from its normal Monday slot by Camberwick Green).

In 1987, a Watch With Mother video was released by the BBC. The episode of Rag, Tag and Bobtail featured a scene in which Bobtail discovered that the baby rabbits had been playing in a muddy pool and had turned black. He was unable to clean them, but in the end the mud was washed off.