T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom- Cult TV Series Review

I was ill a couple of weeks ago, nothing serious mind you, but I was having some strange fever dreams. Suddenly, a few images came to mind; some pearls, a tea pot, some theatre style backgrounds and a weird witch with a strange cadence to her voice. Waking up I tried to make sense of it all and realised that I'd been dreaming about a television programme from my youth. Yup, I'd been dreaming about T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom.

I loved the show as a kid and it was an enjoyable watch even now

I hadn't thought about the show for many years and, looking back with hindsight, it's a strange show now and was weirder even in my youth. The tale of a magic teapot, a tea plant that grants powers, a boy names T.Shirt who works in an old junk shop and is her tea caddy and a little girl seeking various macguffins over a myriad of Mario World locations is a strange story but it was all so... enjoyable.

Researching it, I found that there were 9 series and 4 specials but Pearls of Wisdom (series 5 I think) was the one I remembered the most as it had the girl I remembered and saw years later in sitcom The Upper Hand, Kellie Bright. However there were a few beforehand with a different protagonist and antagonist but the story was much the same, just a different macguffin to collect.

I looked for it online and saw that some kind soul had put the entire series on YouTube. Watching it over the course of the day, I have to say that I found the whole thing wonderfully nostalgic but also highly entertaining in a pantomime kind of way. The jokes about the flea circus, 'mind the cat', broken mirror curses, 'hopping mad', are all very cheesy and sweet in just the right way. The show is cheaply made but the matt art paintings are beautiful and the theatre style broad acting was immediately intriguing. The new setting each week kept the show fresh and interesting and watching in one go I loved the set dressing and costumes.

Over the several episodes we see Sally travel to the Wild West, Scotland, Victorian England, 1800s century British navy ship, Ancient Egypt, Merry England and Beau Geste era Morocco. It's pretty much a fetch quest in that she wants the pearls but has to jump through some hoops to get them in a fair and ethical manner.

It's a very British show as I don't think any other country would get away with so many tea based puns but it's wholesome, gentle and very 80s/ early 90s . Finding out about the actors I could see that they hailed from my part of the woods with T-shirt coming from Barking (my neck of the woods) , T-bag from Ilford and Sally from Brentwood... all very local.

I'm much better now and back at work but if I tried to explain to someone who hadn't seen the show or heard of it the premise, I think they'd still think I was unwell and fevered.