Muffin the Mule

The original TV shows featuring the animal character himself were presented by Annette Mills, and broadcast live by the BBC from their studios at Alexandra Palace from autumn 1946 to winter 1954.

A modern animated version of Muffin the Mule aired on the British CBeebies channel between autumn 2005 and early summer 2011 in the United Kingdom.

[1][2] The act was soon put away, and the puppet was not taken out again until 1946, when Bussell and Hogarth were working with TV presenter Annette Mills.

Muffin was supported by a host of other puppet characters who appeared occasionally, including Kirri the Kiwi, Zebbie the Zebra, Hubert the Hippopotamus and Sally the Sea Lion to name just a few.

A die-cast movable puppet was produced by Lesney Products, "the first toy to be marketed under licence as a result of successful TV appearances.

"[4] In the early 1950s, a Fleetways weekly magazine, Woman's Illustrated, featured on its children's page (Gnomes Club) stories about Muffin the Mule and/or his friends.

Surviving original episodes of Muffin the Mule remain available on digital media in the United Kingdom.

Archive footage of the original BBC series was shown on a television set in the 2006 Doctor Who story "The Idiot's Lantern".

Monty the Monkey cannot cross the raging river unaided, Peregrine the Penguin has lost his only pair of blue "reading glasses", Morris and Doris Mouse cannot decide whether to have red or pink roses beside their straw house's front door, and Grace the Giraffe's hooves are purple instead of grey and black.

Muffin the Mule comes to the rescue before sharing his afternoon picnic with all his friends, including Monty the cheeky Monkey.

However, after visiting first Peregrine the Penguin, then Grace the giraffe, then Louise the Lamb, then Oswald the Ostrich and Willie the clever Worm and finally Monty the cheeky monkey, Peter the dog runs away and hides in the woods.

A noisy seagull is building a nest on top of Grace the Giraffe's lighthouse roof, Willie the clever Worm is fed up of always moving slowly around the village, Louise the Lamb's drainpipe is broken and the bung for Morris and Doris' water butt is "rotten".

Peregrine the Penguin is annoyed that everyone in Muffinham Village always goes to Muffin the Mule with all their problems, but is delighted when he is finally asked for some advice, despite him eventually making an aircraft for Willie the Worm, which unknowingly solves everyone's problems in an unusual way before finally crashing head-on into the circular hole in the front of Morris and Doris' water butt with a big bang, damaging it.

Moving House - Poor Oswald the Ostrich is desperate to fly and Peregrine the Penguin's new slinger machine gets him up in the air quicker than a gun's bullet.

Muffin's Photo Shoot - Muffin the Mule decides to take some publicity photographs of all of his friends, in spite of Grace the Giraffe taking a quick shower near the nearby beach to be able to look perfect for the special occasion, and Louise the Lamb wanting Grace's sparkly necklace which she unfortunately loses, but Peregrine the Penguin eventually finds it stuck inside his "old leaf-blowing machine", along with several fallen tree leaves, which he kindly lends to Morris and Doris Mouse earlier, despite eventually trying unsuccessfully to empty the machine itself when it finally becomes full of old, fallen tree leaves.

During their first-ever training session, however, Muffin and his friends discover that they don't have a goal-keeper, so they try to persuade the fitness-shy Grace the giraffe to go between the goal-posts - but she is just not that keen on doing anything too strenuous.

Monty the Monkey has no choice but to help Louise the Lamb to make carrot cake, which he reluctantly does, before finding Doris Mouse's pink jelly bag, which he steals earlier on.

It is a very breezy autumn day in Muffinham Village, and while Muffin the Mule is galloping to Louise the Lamb's rescue, a sudden gust of wind blows his only thinking cap away without him and Peter the Pup noticing.

While Muffin worries about what to do, Peregrine the Penguin, Monty the Monkey, Oswald the ostrich, Willie the clever Worm and most of all Louise the Lamb all set out to make him a new and suitable thinking cap.

Louise Loses Her Top - Louise the Lamb feels frightened when she wakes up one sunny autumn morning to find that Monty the monkey has deliberately stolen her pink woolly roof, along with a plate full of oatmeal biscuits that she had made for Muffin the mule the day before, following a brief chat with Peregrine the inventive penguin.

Jurassic Farce - When Morris Mouse digs up some old skeleton bones in his potato patch, he thinks that he has found the remains of a dinosaur, so he enlists the help of Peregrine the Penguin, Muffin the Mule and the rest of their animal friends to rebuild it.

During a game of hide and seek with Willie the Worm, however, Oswald the Ostrich stumbles across the model itself, and he thinks that he has seen a monster.

However, Muffin the Mule eventually comes to the rescue with a good solution and takes the other animals to Muffinham Beach, where, despite meeting Grace the giraffe there, they collect just enough sand (which they bring back to the village the following evening) to load into the sandpit, which, the following morning, makes Oswald the Ostrich feel better and sets Willie the Worm and the other Muffinham Village residents giggling like mad.

Will Oswald ever feel good and complete Willie's mission, or will an afternoon full of red, ripe strawberries and ice cream be doomed?

Muffin the Mule puppet on display at the Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh. Diecast metal, Lesney Products , 1951
Portrait of puppeteer Ann Hogarth with Muffin the Mule, ca. 1952