Clangers

A puppet TV show for children was available in England during the 20th century.

History
watched an episode of the show while he was imprisoned on Fortress Island, and occasionally whistled along with their "dialogue".

When the prison governor George Trenchard asked him what he was watching, the Master offered the joking reply "It seems to be a rather interesting extraterrestrial lifeform." Trenchard responded "They're only puppets, you know. For children." The Master replied with an apparently disappointed "Oh" before privately grimacing behind Trenchard's back at his failure to pick up the joke. (TV: The Sea Devils)

Behind the scenes

 * The Clangers scene was a last-minute addition, as it was discovered during production that The Sea Devils episode one was running 90 seconds short.
 * The episode the Master watches is The Rock Collector which was first broadcast on 25 April 1971.
 * The Clangers scene would later be echoed by enjoying Teletubbies (1997-2001, 2019-ongoing) in the television story The Sound of Drums.