TITLE: T-Bag
CAST: Elizabeth Estensen, Georgina Hale
ORIGINAL RELEASE: 1985–1992 on CITV
NUMBER OF SERIES: 9
NUMBER OF EPISODES: 94
I am a witch, I love anything remotely connected to witches and witchcraft. I have previously written about my love of Grotbags. Well, Grotbags now has a rival for my top TV witch: T-Bag.
When our Editor, David Saunderson, asked me to revive the retrospective television articles, this was my first stop.
T-Bag Backgrounder
T-Bag is a 1980s children’s television show which appeared on CITV. It had a stonking 94 episodes across nine series, running from 1985 until 1992.
The original T-Bag was played by soap icon Elizabeth Estensen, also known as Diane Sugden in Emmerdale. In 1990, the role of T-Bag was played by Georgina Hale, a stellar, award-winning actress and performer.
T-Bag is required to drink a special tea brewed from a plant that provides her with powers. It is prepared and served by her assistant, T-Shirt.
But it isn’t that straightforward.
T-Bag constantly runs short of her magical tea and is at risk of losing her powers. Throughout each series, a young girl is magically transported into T-Bag’s world and works to solve a range of clues to try to stop T-Bag from getting her magical brew.
The Episode
We watched Series 1, Episode 1 on YouTube.
In this episode, a young girl called Debbie is on her way home from school when she gets drawn into an antiques shop and to a board game.
The board game is the entrance to T-Bag’s world and she encounters T-Shirt, who calls her into the game for help.
Debbie soon finds out who T-Bag is and why she is to be feared. She then begins her journey with T-Shirt to find the missing letters to open a mysterious trunk.
My T-Bag Review
I don’t recall watching this as a child, and so I was also viewing it for the first time.
I loved finding out that T-Bag gets her name from the fact that she is always drinking tea, something that I can absolutely relate to.
Her outfit. Can we talk about her outfit for a moment…
A long cloak made out of long pieces of red and black fabric. Did it look a bit like a bin bag? Yes, it did.
But would I wear it? Yes, I bloomin’ well would!
As well as being perfectly polished and menacing, T-Bag also sings.
I do not like singing in general on television. I avoid musicals like the plague, but T-Bag’s song was called ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ and I can very much get on board with that.
What Did Aubrey Think?
I watched it with my daughter Aubrey. Here is what she thought of the episode:
“I laughed when Debbie was transported into the board. She was spinning and she looked like a little doll.
“I liked T-Bag’s style and her outfit was cool. My least favourite part of it was T-Shirt’s character because he was a little annoying.
“Also, Debbie’s accent changed from being very posh to not.
“If this episode was made today, they could do a better job with getting Debbie into the board.
“It was alright. It isn’t something I would watch all the time, but it was interesting.”
T-Bag vs Grotbags
T-Bag is more menacing than Grotbags for sure but, fear not, that old green grump still remains in the top spot…
For now.
