Puddle Lane was a rather magical slice of British children’s telly that popped up on ITV courtesy of Yorkshire Television. Taking over from Mooncat & Co., it brought a dash of whimsy to pre-school programming.

Neil Innes (he of Bonzo Dog Band and The Rutles fame) played the programme’s resident Magician, having stumbled into the role after growing weary of music industry shenanigans. As he put it, he’d simply “leaned against the right door” when an old art school chum at Yorkshire Television came calling.

The show’s premise was delightfully simple: the Magician, living in his rambling house at the end of Puddle Lane, would tell tales to Toby the Spell Dragon (voiced by Richard Robinson). These stories would magically appear as he swirled his finger through either a puddle indoors or a bird bath in the garden. Adding to the charm were a chatty cauldron and equally talkative water barrel, while Kate Lee narrated the animated stories that sprang from the Magician’s watery storytelling.

The programme proved popular enough to spawn a proper collection of Ladybird Books, making it a proper reading scheme as well as telly entertainment. Written by Rick Vanes, with animated tales from Sheila K. McCullagh (who’d already made her mark with Tim and the Hidden People), it perfectly embodied that peculiarly British knack for educational entertainment that never felt like a lesson.