T. Bag and the Rings of Olympus S7E4 (1991) - FULL EPISODE

Rum Barbara. Polly finds herself confronted by a glamorous rob-from-the-rich, give-to-the-poor pirate, and loses all the rings she's collected so far. Can she come up with a plan to get them back, and can she find the next one to go with it, or will T-Bag stick her oar in as usual? This episode was first broadcast on Monday, 28th January, 1991, and highlights one of the tougher sides of the role of the the lead villain in the series: not only does Georgina Hale have to play T-Bag herself, but she also has to play T-Bag playing no fewer than three other characters in quick succession! In fact, now is also as good a time as any to give a shout out to Raymond Childe, a costume designer at Thames. On an absolute shoestring, he managed to create some phenomenal outfits for the show down the years. I gather he also worked for the likes of Rainbow and Mike and Angelo back then, so it would be a huge shame for him to go underappreciated. Anyway, one of the themes of the episode seems to be headaches, and there are plenty of those for poor Tabatha - not least an alcohol-induced one. There can't be many kids' shows that would happily show the eponymous character get absolutely wasted on cocktails, and this is one of those things that certainly wouldn't be allowed today, but that's the joy of T-Bag: if it was funny, they went for it. No patronising of the young audience here. The guest roles in this one are filled by Mary-Louise Clark and Trevor Michael Georges. Trevor has gone on to have a fair few small parts through the years in programmes such as Doctor Who, EastEnders, My Hero, and Doctors, but Mary-Louise seems to have left 'The Biz' all together back in the 90s. A quick Google threw up some sort of "Facilitation, Coaching and Training" website dedicated to courses improving communication skills in the business world, and I think it's her running it. (Are you out there, Mary-Louise?) Hardcore fans of the series will probably pick up on parallels between this episode and the much earlier Dick Gherkin one, but I won't spoil the plot any more than that. Oh, but do look out for some nice CITV continuity featuring Jeanne Downs and Scally at the beginning and end. Many thanks to Lee for providing this recording. (This is a transfer from an old videotape, so please don't expect full HD quality. To the best of my knowledge, this material is not available commercially anywhere in the world, and has been uploaded for its historic interest. That said, if you are a copyright holder and object, please don't hesitate to contact me.)