What is "tikkabilla"

Tikkabilla is a UK children's television programme, shown on BBC1, BBC2 and on the CBeebies channel. The programme aims to educate pre-school children in an entertaining manner. The title "Tikkabilla" comes from the Hindi word meaning " Hopscotch", a popular children's game. It was an exceptionally well loved children's television show.

Each programme is introduced by two adults and a small dragon puppet named Tamba. Tamba serves as the programme's naive child; the programme's educational content is introduced as the presenters explain things to Tamba. Whilst Tamba appears in every episode, a team of presenters take it in turns to pair-up in each show. These presenters include Justin Fletcher, Sarah-Jane Honeywell, Paul Ewing, Simon Davies, Lorna Laidlaw, Veejay Kaur, Toni Fruitin and Amit Sharma (both series 4 only) and Beverly Hills (series 1-3 only). Tamba is performed by puppeteers Sue Eves (series 1 - 4) who created the voice for Tamba; Alison McGowan (series 2 & 3) and Katherine Smee (series 4). Sue Eves has also written many scripts for the programme.

Beverly Hills writes for the programme as well as writing for the sister show, The Story Makers. Francis Haines and Liz Kitchen wrote the majority of the programme's music. Francis Haines and Jake Hook co-wrote one of the songs.

Much of the show's format follows that of 1964-1988 UK children's programme Play School and later show Playdays. Tikkabilla presenter Simon Davies also presented Play School in its later years. In the Tikkabilla studio, which features a large, colourful house, the presenters and Tamba perform songs, tell stories and make things. Occasionally, special guests visit, normally to demonstrate a special skill or performance. The iconic square, round and arched windows made famous by Play School are again used as a device to transport the viewer from the studio to the outside, real world. Location items, sometimes featuring the presenters and Tamba and usually including young children, introduce the wider world to the young audience.

Tikkabilla features mini-series inside the programme, such as Bonny, Banana and Mo, Sami's Worlds, Summerton Mill and Higgledy House, two of them of which are now shown as standalone programmes on CBeebies. Tikkabilla sometimes shows animated clips originally from other educational BBC programmes mostly from Words and Pictures and Numbertime. One episode once showed an animated clip from Hotch Potch House.

Tikkabilla began in 2002 and was produced by the BBC's pre-school unit.