“Muffin the Mule” was the first genuine superstar of children’s television. Although created in the early 1930s, the wooden marionette puppet didn’t achieve fame until debuting on the BBC in 1946, when he became the sidekick of pianist and songwriter Annette Mills.

Along with a family of other animals worked by puppeteer Ann Hogarth, Muffin delighted a generation of child viewers to the post-war television service, at a time when only two or three hours of programmes were transmitted per day. But how did this partnership lead to children’s television eclipsing the long tradition of Children’s Hour on BBC radio.

Andrew Martin worked in BBC Television archiving for over 30 years and was involved in projects including the online programme catalogue BBC Genome (later BBC Programme Index). He co-authored Doctor Who: A Book of Lists with the late Justin Richards, and compiled and edited Sound and Vision, a catalogue of British TV from 1929-39, and Judging Pop Tunes, a guide to Juke Box Jury. He’s currently working on part 2 of Sound and Vision, looking at the BBC TV programmes of the 1940s.