Muffin the Mule

Muffin the Mule was one of the earliest BBC television shows. Presented by Annette Mills, it ran on weekday afternoons from 1946 until 1955, as part of BBC Television's For the Children and Watch With Mother strands. (PROSE: ) The series starred the titular character and had a theme song.

It was broadcast in 1953, near the time of Elizabeth II's coronation. It involved Mills speaking and singing to a puppet mule. (TV: )

A bored Ace turned on the television in Mrs Smith's boarding house in 1963 and found Muffin on. She didn't know what it was and was unimpressed ("a woman with a posh accent thick enough to insulate cavity walls who played a piano while a wooden donkey jerked up and down"). (PROSE: )

The Twelfth Doctor compared Muffin the Mule not actually being inside one's television to a monster he encountered not literally being trapped within a cassette tape. (AUDIO: )

Behind the scenes

 * The skit opens with Muffin trotting out of Mr Borusa's office, apparently upset the BBC has no more work for him.
 * The show ended in 1955 after Annette Mills' death and was then repeated briefly on ITV; it likely wouldn't have been on repeat in 1963 but served as a shorthand for old children's TV for the 1990 Remembrance readers.