DVD
T.Bag
The Reunion Documentary

Starring: Elizabeth Estensen, Georgina Hale, Kellie Bright, John Hasler, Lee Pressman and Grant Cathro
Fantom Films
www.fantomfilms.co.uk
RRP: £14.99

Available 17 September 2007


Once described by the
Guardian as "...time travel drama somewhere between Doctor Who and Blackadder", it is easy to see why T.Bag defined a whole generation of children's television. The series ran for ninety episodes and four Christmas specials between 1985 and 1994. The show received critical acclaim from critics and viewers alike; between five and six million viewers tuned in each week to witness the weird and wonderful adventures of T.Bag and her sidekick, T-Shirt...

Everybody of a certain age remembers T.Bag. This was one of the few children's television shows that didn't patronise its young audience and, over the years has become as strong a gay iconic (I'm reliably informed) as Judy Garland and Charles Hawtrey.

The charm of the show was the fact that every week the viewer was transported to a magical place and, for a change, the action centred on the villains of the piece (T.Bag and her young helper T-Shirt). To be honest though, I remember Jennie Stallwood's Deborah annoyed the hell out of me, so I always wanted T.Bag to win the day - which she never did.

After the wonderful Elizabeth Estensen left the show Georgina Hale took over as a very different member of the T.Bag family. I was a little older by this point and really couldn't abide her ridiculously poor overacting. It just seemed too much after Estensen's more believable character.

Watching this documentary I was surprised to see Hale alive and well. For some bizarre reason I was convinced Georgina Hale was dead. I could have sworn that she died a few years ago, but apparently not as here she is alive and well - and as eccentric as ever (bless her).

T.Bag: The Reunion Documentary sees the cast and crew together again for the first time since the show ended.

It was interesting to hear from guest actor Matt Zimmerman that the cast and crew all seemed to have hardly aged since production finished - and something I can relate to. When I was reviews editor at DreamWatch I interviewed both Lee Pressman and Grant Cathro when they were writing The Tomorrow People, as well as spending a day on the set of Delta Wave with Pressman. What's really scary is that both Pressman and Cathro seem to have discovered some fountain of youth. Their appearance on this DVD makes them look younger than I remember them.

Extras include additional interviews; Set Footage (10 mins of behind the scenes footage from episodes of the final year's episodes); A Fan's Perspective (interview with the editor of a T.Bag fansite); and T. Bag Reunion Photo Gallery (which is a collection of photos set to music).

Anyone who was a fan of the series should check out this fascinating DVD.

Darren Rea