Back to: Home page | The Making Of T-Bag
When first watching through T-Bag as a young child there is not the appreciation of how much work went into an episode or series. Everything from the characters costumes to the lavish (well almost) scenery and sets had to be designed and made. Looking back there was so much detail in all the episodes and here we look deeper into the work of the designers that created all the sets, from the opulent T-Room to a deep forest, from under the sea to Mount Olympus.
Most episodes had two sets and a third being the main T-Room set that was used throughout a series, so for each new episode there was two new sets to be designed. This was ultimately very costly but in order to use the budget as best as possible many set pieces were reused either in the same series or in the series to come, sometimes with no or little alteration. Did you know the same castle in episode 8 of Pearls of Wisom is the exact same castle walls from episode 6's Castle McCarr? The forest scenes with trees and bushes were notoriously (and cleverly) reused throughout the series. The following set designs show the particular set pieces being reused.
For the first seven series and three Christmas specials designer John Plant designed all the sets for all of these 73 episodes. John designed many of the sets and was only ever credited alongside Stuart McCarthy for T. Bag's Christmas Carol. After John left the series after Rings Of Olympus the designer Ian Russell took over for Sunstones of Montezuma and a few episodes of Take Off With T. Bag, Alex Clarke designed all the remaining episodes of Take Off With T. Bag.
I have been fortunate enough to come into contact with John Plant's family and they have sold The High-T Website some of the set designs John worked on. I would like to sincerely thank them for parting with these designs, they offer an insight into the depth of design and the attention to detail given to every single episode. All of these set designs can be seen below including two extra sketches. Some of these sketches are very big so may take a while to load when you click on the links.
John Plant's family have also sold The High-T Website some sketches John also worked on for the series, these can also be seen on the set sketches page and shows the set designs coming together.
These drawings are dated between 10th January to March 1985 (only a month before the series started to air). The Enchanted Garden design is titled 'Letters In Wonderland' but all the others are correctly titled 'Wonders In Letterland'. All these drawings have been done on A2 (or some on A3) tracing paper, all subsequent series the designs were done on Thames Television design paper. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 2: 'Square B Floorcloth set design'
| Episode 1: Arrival In Letterland
Three Shop Signs (For The Curiosity Shop) Episode 2: Debbie In The Land Of B Episode 3: Debbie In The Land Of S Episode 4: Debbie In The Land Of I
Square I 'Matte Glass' Episode 5: Debbie In The Land Of P Episode 6: Debbie In The Land Of R Episode 8: Debbie In The Land Of O Square O and the inside of the clock Episode 9: Debbie In The Land Of E
The Palace Gates
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These drawings are dated between August to November 1985. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 2: The Forest
| Episode 1: The Town Square
The Town Square Episode 2: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
The Forest Episode 3: Ben and Bunty Badshot
Palm Trees Episode 4: Scrap Harry Junk Quarter Deck and Quayside Episode 5: Ali Barber Ali Barber's Shop and The Sultan's Palace Episode 6: Dick Gherkin Episode 7: Long John Sylvia Episode 8: Professor Pockets Episode 9: Charlie Chuckles
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These drawings are dated between August to December 1986. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 3: The Throne Room and The Palace Gardens
| Episode 1: The Ousting Of Major Happy
The T-Room Episode 2: Nights In Arabia Episode 3: Ivan The Horrible The Throne Room and The Palace Gardens Episode 4: Black Hearted Belle Episode 5: Bobby Jobsworth And The Temple Of Doom
The Temple - Scenery Foreground Episode 6: Hi-Hatt Hi-Hatt's Shop & The Royal Pagoda Episode 7: Bell, Book And Candle Episode 8: Max The Miller
Landscape and The Mill Episode 9: Nikdit The Thief
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These drawings are dated between September to November 1987. Some of the designs are titled 'Tune in to T Bag' but all the others are correctly titled 'Turn On To T-Bag'. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 5: Outside The Pyramid
| Episode 1: Sparkes Episode 2: Gangsters Episode 3: Yeti
The Monastery Episode 4: Bubble Boy Episode 5: Pyramids
Outside The Pyramid Episode 6: Scrimp Episode 7: The Two Musketeers The Kitchen/Larder and The Palace Gardens Episode 8: Bertha Boat Episode 9: Doc Leaf
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This drawing is dated August 1988. To see the image in full-sized glory please click the link below.
![]() Edward's Bedroom and Santa's Workshop
| 1988 Christmas Special Edward's Bedroom and Santa's Workshop
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These drawings are dated between August to November 1988 and are all titled T-Bag 5th series. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 4: Sweet Stall and Chemist
| Episode 1: The Stone Circle The T-Room Extensions and The Stone Circle Episode 2: When In Rome Episode 3: Lost In Space Episode 4: Turkish Delight Episode 5: Hazell Knutt's Muesli Bar Episode 7: Anastasia
The Castle and The Forest Episode 8: La Boheme
The Street Cafe
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These drawings are titled 'T-Bag VI' (or T-Bag series six) before the series was named as 'T. Bag And The Pearls Of Wisdom' and are dated between August to November 1989, to see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 1: 'The Fishing Village'
| Episode 1: Any Old Port
The Fishing Village Episode 2: High Noon Episode 3: Elementary, My Dear What-Not Victorian Street and Drawing Room Episode 4: Grimble and Squiffy Episode 5: Mutiny! Quarter Deck and The Captain's Cabin Episode 6: The Ghost Of Castle McCarr Episode 7: Tut Tut
Tutankhamun's Palace Episode 8: Cedric Sackbutt's Search For A song Episode 9: Play It Again, Sal
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These drawings are dated August 1990. To see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() The Christmas Fairy
| 1990 Christmas Special
The Theatre
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These drawings are titled 'T-Bag VII' (or T-Bag series seven) before the series was named as 'T. Bag And The Rings Of Olympus' and are dated between August to November 1990, to see the images in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Episode 1: Mount Olympus
| Episode 1: The Rings Of Olympus
The Curiosity Shop Episode 2: Bandits Episode 3: The Yukon Episode 5: Vampires Episode 7: Rats Street/Alley and The Weasel's Lair Episode 8: Leonardo The Duke's Garden & Leonardo's Studio
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I've also got two extra sketches amongst the set designs, these may relate to a T-Bag episode but which one I'm not sure as there is no indication on the sketches. To see the image in their full-sized glory please click the links below.
![]() Pirates
| Extra Sketches |