"Once upon a time there were three little animals
     called Rag, Tag and Bobtail..."
 
    
   Rag the hedgehog, Tag the mouse, and Bobtail the rabbit joined the BBC's
   "Watch With Mother" line-up in 1953. The series was adapted from the stories
   by Louise Cochrane and episodes were broadcast every Thursday afternoon.
   These three would embark on various gentle adventures, with mishaps and
   much ado along the way, but they'd always return home snug and sound to
   survive another day.

    

   The three friends and stars were simple glove puppet creations, operated within
   a small woodland set. Bobtail was slightly more sophisticated in construction
   than his pals, because his ears could twitch. Bobtail also had his own gaggle
   of baby rabbits who would participate from time to time. They were created as
   a one-piece glove puppet, with a baby on each finger.

   So the puppets were simple, and the stories even simpler. Narrator Charles
   E. Stidwell told each tale slowly and carefully as the puppets moved around their
   restricted set. There was no theme song to stick in the memory, and no silly
   language to lodge in the mind, which means that "Rag, Tag and Bobtail" isn't
   held in the quite the same esteem as its broadcast companions. But even so,
   for its time, it was a perfect little confection of puppets and stories.

 
    
     a Westerham Arts Ltd production
     from the stories by Louise Cochrane  

    producers:     Freda Lingstrom, Maria Bird
    puppeteers:   Sam Williams, Elizabeth Williams
    narrator:        Charles E Stidwell