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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
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