Numbertime


Numbertime is a BBC educational numeracy television series for primary schools that was aired on BBC Two from 20 September 1993 to 3 December 2001. For its first four series, it was presented by Lolita Chakrabarti. El Nombre, an animated character used thoughout the series, eventually became the concept for his own educational BBC children's television program; his name means "The Name" in Spanish, and not "The Number", which would be "El Número". The third line of his opening song and his farewell catchphrase were also changed several times during the series' run, to reflect their focus - however, the original ones remain the most famous.
For the second series, El Nombre's tagline and farewell catchphrase were changed to "Drawing shapes in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, and keep shaping up" respectively, while for the third series, they were changed to "Righting wrongs in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, over and out" respectively; however, for the fourth series, his tagline was changed to "Counting numbers in the desert sand", and for the third episode of the fourth series, his farewell catchphrase was changed to "Adios amigos, and fetch some water". For the fifth series, both his tagline and farewell catchphrase were changed to "Telling time in the desert sand" and "Adios amigos, 'till the next time" respectively, while for the sixth series, his tagline was changed to "Using numbers in the desert sand"; finally, for the eighth series, his tagline was changed to "Counting money in the desert sand".

Series 1: Numbers 1 to 10 (Autumn 1993)

The first series, which is aimed at four- to five-year-olds, comprised ten episodes focusing on the numbers 1-10, in order; each episode opened with Lolita introducing herself to the viewer, and pulling the number for the episode off its string, then pushing it into its correct hole in a wall, and singing the main theme, One to Ten, as each of its holes lit up in turn, which was repeated throughout the programme. In between, there were comedy sketches, and animations, the most famous involving El Nombre, the Mexican gerbil who parodied Zorro, showing little Juan how to draw numbers as his four-piece mariachi band played The Mexican Hat Dance, and a sequence encouraging the viewer to spot things of the number for each episode - it was the same video, with a different number of things each time. Each episode ended with Lolita singing a song, after which she would set viewers the challenge of looking for things in the number of the week's episode before saying that she would "see them next Numbertime".
This series was originally aired on Mondays as part of the Daytime on Two strand at 9:45am, and repeated at 2:00pm on the same day; in Scotland, the 2:00pm repeats were replaced with broadcasts of BBC Scotland's own schools series Over the Moon with Mr. Boom.
The Narrator proudly presents Nursery Rhyme Theatre No. 1 - Little Miss Muffet with several interruptions, and Little Jack Horner has one minute to Find 1 Plum on Sammy Sallow's game show of the same name; if he succeeds, he can choose one prize - one mountain bike, or one computer, or one picture of Sallow. This episode also ends with One Finger, One Thumb, Keep Moving, which is sung by the group of children who sang Numbers All Around earlier on in it.
The Narrator introduces Nursery Rhyme Theatre No. 2 with Marvo the Magician, and Sammy Sport reports on Jack and Jill's attempt to break the world record for the fastest time to run up a hill, fill a pail with water, and take it back down the hill again ; this episode also ends with Lolita singing The Animals Went in Two by Two.
Sammy Sport is joined by Baa-Baa Black Sheep for the results of the "Win a Bag of Wool" competition, while Goldilocks invites viewers to Guess Whose House ; the Numbertime Top Ten also brings the viewers, at No. 3, the ever-popular "Three-Sided Triangles", who sing an original song named We're Triangles .
Farmer Giles introduces the finals of One Girl and Her Sheep at which Little Bo Peep and her dog Shep are competing, and the Knave of Hearts talks to the Queen of Hearts about her famous royal tarts; Lolita also tells the viewers to "grab their partners and take the floor" as she introduces a quartet of dancing squares, who sing an original song named Do the Square Dance.
Australian chef Wally Bee attempt to show the viewers how to cook five fat sausages on a barbecue for Barbecue Time, and Harry Headline pays a visit to the home of the Five Pigs Family for Five Minutes' Fame; Little Juan also has his 5th birthday in this episode's El Nombre sketch, and this episode ends with Lolita singing Fly, Little Dickey Birds, Round and Round.
A gardener named Fred enlists the help of his family in pulling up his enormous turnip for Garden Time, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones have to Take 6 Eggs on Sammy Sallow's game show of the same name and put them on either side of a seesaw to make it balance, for which they have three attempts to do so; this episode also ends with Lolita singing This Old Man in voiceover.
Sammy Sport travels to Scotland to see a remarkable fishing contest between the famous Seven Fat Fishermen, to see which one of them can catch the biggest fish on a bridge on the banks of the Clyde, and ordering seven lots of fish and chips turns out to be more trouble than it is worth for the Shopkeeper and his Customer ; this episode also ends with Lolita singing In My Little Garden, Now Promise You Won't Laugh.
Sammy Sport travels down to Shoeburyness to interview the Old Woman who Lives in a Shoe, and the Policeman enlists the viewers' help in finding Wee Willie Winkie for Crime Spot; it is also evening in Little Juan's town in this episode's El Nombre sketch, and this episode ends with Lolita imagining what the world would be like if everything was eight-shaped as she visits the Planet of the Eights to sing an original song about it.
Lucky the Cat looks back over her nine lives, as she guests on This Is My Life, and Harry Headline comes to the garden of Miss Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, to look at the wonderful display of flowers for Garden Time; unfortunately, he ruins her chances of winning their "Best Flowers Competition", and she ends up coming ninth. This was also the only episode for this series to not end with a song - instead, Lolita shows the viewers a homemade necklace which has nine beads, in reference to the episode's third animated sketch.
Farmer Giles show viewers a wonderful, new, and very quick way to mow a meadow for Farming News, and Sammy Sport travels to Ten Pin Alley to watch Ten Pin Pete attempt to become the new Ten Pin Champ; Lolita also shows the viewers ten Russian dolls, and this episode ends with Ten in the Bed. Also, because this episode was the last in the series, Lolita did not tell the viewers that she would "see them next Numbertime".
In 1994, BBC Enterprises released a video entitled "Number Time", containing sixty minutes of edited highlights from this series ; it was later rereleased as the second half of a "two-on-one" video in 1997 with the Words and Pictures "Alphabet Fun Time" video, which had originally been released at around the same time and contained fifty-eight minutes of highlights from that show's 1992 series. This series was later re-released in full as a "Video Plus Pack" in 1996 - only slightly altered to remove the episodes' opening titles.
From 22 September to 1 December 1998, the BBC broadcast a "revised" version of this series as a lead-in to the sixth series; in place of Lolita, Bill and Bernie introduced each episode with a number line of their own. All except seven of the original live-action sketches were replaced with the Dolls' House ones - and the El Nombre sketches were slightly lengthened. Sequences of children discussing the ten numbers were also introduced; although the Planet of the Eights sketch was also re-used, the vocal track was redubbed and Lolita was edited out of it.

Series 2: Shapes (Spring 1995)

The second series, which is again aimed at four- to five-year-olds, comprised five episodes, focusing on the four basic two-dimensional shapes; each episode would open with Lolita standing by a mobile with the four basic shapes hanging from it and singing the series' main theme, Squares and Triangles, Circles and Rectangles as the mobile began to turn. Once it had stopped turning, she would walk over to the shape that was nearest to her, then ask the viewers if they knew what it was, before it lit up and she told them - and from this series onwards, El Nombre was given two sketches per episode. This series also featured four cut-out animated characters made up from the shapes its episodes were focusing on ; in the last episode, they worked together to build a house. Each episode would end with Lolita singing an "extended" version of a song that had been heard earlier in the episode during a montage of the shape around the real world and setting viewers the challenge of seeing how many of that week's shape they could find before the next episode.
The first two episodes of this series were, again, originally aired as part of the Daytime on Two strand on Mondays at 9:45am, but 8 May 1995 was the year's May Day, so its third episode was aired the following day; the last two episodes were also aired on Mondays.
El Nombre shows Juan what a circle is, while a man named Terry introduces the world-famous "Ring a Ring o' Roses Formation Dance Team" on Come Prancing, and a prehistoric couple try to invent the round wheel for their car for Great Moments in History; also, in this episode's second cut-out animated sketch, circular pawprints transform into a circular ladybird, a circular bird, a circular caterpillar, a circular fish which blows circular bubbles, a circular car which emits circular smoke from its circular exhaust, a circular man's head, and a circular bear.
El Nombre shows Juan what a square is, while Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on Let's Shape Up to name the square by pointing out its distinguishing features, a square robot builds a square dog, and Jill Scoop reports on Old King Cole who is wanting his square bowl for Newsdesk; also, for this episode's CGI animated sketch, the yellow square in the bottom-right of a gameboard rises out of it to become a cube and has the numbers 1-6 written on each of its sides.
El Nombre shows Juan what a triangle is, while Aladdin finds the lamp with a triangle on it for his Uncle Abanazer, but he wastes its three wishes by turning Abanazer into a cat, and himself into a mouse, as well as making it disappear ; a triangular knight also sets out to slay a triangular dragon while Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on Let's Shape Up to identify the triangle. Also, for this episode's CGI animated sketch, a triangle has a dotted line drawn inside it, then folds up to become a triangular-based pyramid, and rotates to show the numbers 1-4 on its sides as they light up before unfolding back into a triangle again.
El Nombre shows Juan what a rectangle is, while Sammy Shape pays a visit to Old Mother Hubbard's cottage to find out "what makes a rectangle a rectangle" for Shapewatch and met by her dog, a rectangular man goes for a swim at a swimming pool, Humpty Dumpty is asked to identify the shape of one of the bricks in the wall he is sitting on, and a woman named Jane keeps in touch with her grandmother by writing a rectangular letter, posting it into a postbox which has a rectangular slot and door, then arriving at her house after she receives it.
El Nombre helps Juan remember which shape is which, while the rectangular man, the square robot, the triangular knight, and the circular man work together to build a house and show that "all different shapes work well together", Bobby Cube asks the Shape Spotters on Let's Shape Up to identify the "Shy Shapes" hiding in a cola can and Battenberg cake, and a rectangle folds up to become a hollow cylinder as two circles cover its ends and a second rectangle wraps itself around it as it becomes a can of baked beans; also, in this episode's second El Nombre sketch, Juan draws "El Nombre", before drawing "the rope that hits him on the head and knocks him over". El Nombre then says that it has never happened to him - so Juan swings a rope at him, and tells him "It has now!". The sombrero-less El Nombre then chases Juan through the streets of the town to an extended version of his theme song, but he never catches him; this is also the only old-style episode to only have one live-action sketch in it.
In 1996, both this series and the next series were released on VHS as "Video Plus Packs" by BBC Educational Publishing ; the following year, they were also rereleased together as a double "Video Plus Pack" named "Numbertime Shapes/Side by Side".
After the corporate change in 1997, BBC Education's then-current Internet address was superimposed onto the four shapes seen at the end of this series' episodes, as well as the thirteen episodes of the next two series; however, it was never added to the end of the first series' episodes.

Series 3: Side by Side (Autumn 1995, broadcast Spring 1996)http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8140e32c BFI - Numbertime: Side by Side (1995)

The third series comprised five episodes, focusing on the concept of prepositions; each episode would open with Lolita singing the series' main theme, Under, Over, Everywhere. In this series, Juan gained three new friends named Pedro Gonzales, Juanita Conchita, and Maria Consuela Tequila Chiquita, as well as a pet tarantula named Tanto - and each episode would end with Lolita reciting a rhyme or singing a song. A sketch in the second episode of this series also parodied EastEnders as "GreenGrocers"; this was also the first series to credit the El Nombre voice actors at the end of its last episode. Although this series was made in Autumn 1995, it was not broadcast until 28 February 1996.
This series and the next one were originally aired on Wednesdays in the Daytime on Two strand at 10:25am; this series also premiered after a rerun of the second one finished, and the next one premiered when Daytime on Two returned after a two-week Easter break.
Juan does not have anything to do for the school concert so El Nombre tells him that he can recite Incy Wincy Spider with Tanto, a bear flies a kite, a window cleaner is annoyed by the incompetence of her colleague, Juan recites Incy Wincy Spider at the school concert and three clowns named Boris, Doris and Ethel compete to see which one can raise the biggest laugh in Give Us a Giggle.
Juan wants to take a photograph of himself and Mama together, an engine driver pulls some wagons behind, Jack and Jill must take Farmer Giles's horse and cart to market in Happy Ever After, a fox hides in his secret lair to escape a hunt, Juan still does not have a photograph of himself and Mama together, and the proprietor of GreenGrocers tries to get his four customers of the day to stand behind his stall and form a proper queue.
Juan cannot score a goal past Pedro so El Nombre tells him to kick the ball over him, Princess Perfect wants a bed fit for a princess, a tortoise named Toby goes to a party but cannot get over the hedge to it, Pedro is standing on a stool so Juan again cannot score past him, and the Cow is scared of having to jump over the Moon.
Mama wants to go to Hurrell's store but there is a hole in the ground in front of it, a doll pushes three building blocks with the numbers 1-3 on them together, Darren and Sharon Jam cannot make a mutual decision on where to put their new table on Lucky Lottery Winners, Mama has come out of Hurrell's store, and Lord and Lady Posh give instructions to their gardener, Jarvis, on where he has to plant their roses and daisies.
Juan has lost Tanto so El Nombre helps him and Mama to find him, the bear from the first episode tries to boil a saucepan of water over a fire but its bottom is missing, a magician turns her volunteer's watch and keys into an alarm clock and one big key, and two burglars named Bob and Bert break into a sweet shop and eat all the sweets but grow too fat to escape through the window so they get caught by a policeman named PC Nabb; from this point onwards, El Nombre also returned to one sketch per episode.
The fourth series, which is aimed at five- to six-year-olds, comprised eight episodes focusing on the concepts of "more than" and "less than" ; each episode would open with Lolita singing the series' main theme, More or Less, in a studio filled with pillars. This series introduced the character of Bill, a green bird who could swallow and regurgitate almost any object whole - and from the fifth series onwards, he was joined by a purple cat named Bernie, later going on to appear at the beginning of each "revised" first-, sixth- and seventh-series episode. This series also featured a toad named Test, who would hop along the heads of fifteen multicoloured people lined up to form a numberline by the amounts its episodes were focusing on ; each episode would end with Lolita singing a song. Two sketches in the first and seventh episodes of this series also parodied Percy Thrower and Sir David Attenborough as "Percy Grower" and "David Attencoat", while a third one in the third episode parodied Surprise, Surprise as "What a Surprise" - and the Bill sketches of the second and sixth episodes also featured an enormous beetle who chased after Bill after putting his feet into the eight wellingtons he regurgitated and fell on top of him after pulling his last two wellingtoned legs up off a wall he was standing in front of, while the one of the fourth episode featured a "female" version of Bill who fell on top of him after he shook twenty mangoes off a tree. In the El Nombre sketches of the seventh and last episodes, Juan had his fifth birthday for the second time, and El Nombre's town gained a female mayor who also happened to be a balloon seller named Señora Fedora.
A little old woman, a little old man and their little old cat enlist the help of one more friend to help pull up their enormous turnip for Growing Bigger, Little Juan needs to play two cymbals, Test hops from 3 to 7, contestant Sharon plays Find One More in order to win two prizes the same, Bill adds four flowers together and Juan needs to hit the cymbals one more time ; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, a rather slow butterfly tries to keep up with his much faster friends, but when he joins them on a tree, he causes the branch they are standing on to break under their weight and they all fly away.
Freda Fantastic from Fantastic Fairytales presents The Elves and the Shoemaker, Little Juan and El Nombre juggle with seven of Mama's tomatoes which they shouldn't play with, Test hops from 7 to 13, Fred Fantastic of Fantastic Fairytales presents The Frog Prince, and Bill adds together eight wellingtons which belong to an enormous beetle ; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, Noah will not let a mammoth come onto the Ark because there is only one of him, so he disguises himself as a pair of bears with two puppets and a tarpaulin, but he quickly gets discovered by Noah again.
A ladybird's nine babies and three extra are saved from a fire that's really smoke from her husband Arnold's barbecue, Little Juan and his friends are about to have Mama's very hot chili with tacos but there are only three chairs, Test hops from 2 to 8, Fairy Godmother presents What a Surprise with some surprising results for Cinderella, and Bill puts twelve books up on a shelf which ends with the shelf falling down under the books' weight; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, a kiwi notices his footprints in the sand and tries to count them, but finds it too hard to count in threes and eventually gives up by running away from the camera.
Snow White goes to the Wild Wood Takeaway and gets seven Good Fairy Cakes for the dwarves' tea as it is Dopey's birthday, Little Juan accidentally blows Juanita's balloon up five more times which then bursts, Test hops from 1 to 11, Jack's mother will not let him climb up the beanstalk as it only has ten leaves on it, and Bill shakes twenty mangoes off a tree which ends with a "female" version of himself falling on top of him; also, in this episode's second stop-motion animated sketch, a Tyrannosaurus Rex plans to eat a small Triceratops, but gets scared away when five larger Triceratopses, followed up by another five more behind them, suddenly appear behind their friend to protect him.
A magician makes six red balls disappear one at a time, Little Juan and his friends play musical chairs but they all have a chair to sit on, Test hops from 12 to 8, Carlotta Bottle tries to sing Ten Green Bottles but the bottles "don't-a fall-a" because property master Reg is not on hand to knock them down, and Bill eats three apples off a tree which ends with the branch he is standing on breaking under his weight and the zero he was displaying hitting him on the head; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, three dogs wait to be picked by prospective new owners at a pet shop.
Rebecca Testament reports for Numbertime News and interviews Mr. Noah and one of his sons, Ham, who used to have only six animals on the ark, Little Juan and Tanto set out to get two melons for Mama's pie as a surprise but Señor Manuel the greengrocer has to save two of his melons for a special customer, Test hops from 10 to 4, a woman wins two coconuts and then another two coconuts from a total of eight on a shy, Bill subtracts six of the enormous beetle's wellingtons, and Little Juan finds out that Señor Manuel's special customer is Mama all along who already has two melons; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, two monkeys get into an argument over two bananas which ends with them falling off their tree.
The Early Bird loses all nine of his worms, Little Juan has his fifth birthday for the second time, Test hops from 11 to 5, Humpty Dumpty is scared of heights, and Bill watches nine leaves blow off a tree before winter comes, which ends with him being covered in snow; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, three pegs blow off a washing line, three petals fall off three eight-petalled flowers, a tricycle hits a stone and all three of its wheels fall off, three sides of a picture frame fall down, and three mice steal three biscuits from a plate of eight, one of whom only comes back to leave a note in front of the plate saying "Oh yes!".
The magician from the fifth episode now makes fifteen beads disappear under three beakers five at a time, Little Juan almost floats away with six of Señora Fedora's balloons, Test hops from 13 to 3, Simple Simon has to find a penny for five of the Pieman's fifteen pies but they have all been sold to Old Mother Hubbard, Little Jack Horner and the Queen of Hearts by the time he does, and Bill recycles fifteen glass bottles ; also, in this episode's second animated sketch, an enormous snail eats a total of twenty trees from four gardens, and scares away a much smaller snail, a goat, a cow and a flock of birds as he descends on each of them.
In 1997, this series was released on VHS as a "Video Plus Pack" by BBC Educational Publishing, and on 16 May 2013 it was rereleased on DVD as a "DVD Plus Pack" by BBC Active with an accompanying teachers' book, but it is now out of print.

Series 5: Time (Winter 1997, broadcast Spring 1998)http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8140e5dd BFI - Numbertime: Time (1997)

The fifth series, which is aimed at four- to six-year-olds, comprised ten episodes focusing on time-related concepts; given that Lolita had been relieved of her presenting duties by this point, each episode was introduced by an animated man with a pocket watch for a head. In this series, El Nombre's town was given the name of Santo Flamingo, and Juan gained a new teacher named Constanza Bonanza - and all except two of the episodes had sketches featuring a rarely speaking man named Tim who was coming to an understanding with time-related concepts. This series also introduced the recurring sketch of the Dolls' House, which featured a cowgirl named Annie, a scarecrow named Scrap, a robot named Glimmer, a clock named Ticker, and from the sixth series onwards, a butler named Branston ; they were frequently visited by a pirate named Captain Kevin, and on three occasions by a mechanic named Megamax, Glimmer's girlfriend Princess Penelope and a Russian ballet dancer named Nadia Nokoblokov. For the seventh series, they were also frequently visited by a detective named Shelley Holmes - however, this recurring sketch would only go on until the end of that series. Although this series was made after the corporate change in Winter 1997, it was not broadcast until 13 January 1998.
This series and the next one were originally aired on Tuesdays as part of the then-newly renamed Schools Programmes strand at 9:45am.
In this first new-style episode, Tim wakes up in the middle of the night, brushes his teeth and pours himself a bowl of corn flakes, Little Juan wakes up all the other villagers because he does not know that a fiesta is held in the evening, the residents of the Dolls' House take turns in getting their meals ready and Bill takes a Polaroid of both himself and his new co-star Bernie, but Bill got himself covered in mud while trying to get her in the bath, so she takes another Polaroid of him to show him.
Tim sets off to referee a football match, Little Juan has football practice but cannot remember which day it is on, Bill decides to go on holiday to get away from the rain and Scrap and Glimmer get into an argument over a teddy bear so Captain Kevin has to sort it out; also, not only is the newspaper in this episode's Tim sketch dated from before the BBC's corporate change, but it is factually incorrect, as it says that day was a Monday, when it was in fact a Thursday.
Tim tries to put on his new suit with a jacket, a pair of trousers, a hat, a pair of shoes, a pair of socks and a tie but keeps doing it in the wrong order, El Nombre helps Mama to make Delietta Smith 's wonderful omelette with red and green peppers, Bill wakes Bernie up for dinnertime but forgets all about the food, and Scrap and Glimmer try to make a chocolate splodge cake for Annie; this is also the first episode to refer to the Dolls' House by name, despite being the third one in this series.
Tim grows two flowers and photographs them but cannot wait for the third, Pedro bets Juan he can find a spider who is faster than Tanto, Bernie wants to get an apple off a tree but cannot reach it and Megamax is coming for tea at the Dolls' House so Annie, Scrap and Glimmer have to paint it, but the latter runs down, so when Megamax arrives, he deduces that he needs a new battery and gives him the "Max Pack Turbo Booster" to fix him.
El Nombre helps Little Juan to find out some things about the clock face for his homework, Scrap and Glimmer are bored so they decide to give Ticker's spring a big clean, and Bill trips over the sleeping Bernie and flies into his clock, causing all its numbers and both its hands to fall off; when he has put them all back on, the clock's cuckoo calls at 3:00 and causes him to faint.
Little Juan and his friends prepare to go on a school outing to see Santo Flamingo United playing in the cup final at 3:00, Bernie takes a nap at 2:00 but Bill plays a prank on her by moving the clock an hour ahead and waking her up by replacing the cuckoo, and Scrap waits for the postwoman to deliver his new "Scrap Jacket".
Tim cooks a big pie he has bought, but gets bored while waiting so eats all his other groceries, Scrap is ill so Annie asks Glimmer to take his temperature every hour and give him his medicine every half-hour, Bernie is enjoying a "cattuccino" at the foot of a Big Ben-like clock tower until Bill bungee-jumps from its minute hand, steals it when he springs back up to its face, drinks it and returns the empty cup to her, and Pedro, Juanita, and Maria all agree to meet Juan for a game of football at 2:30.
Tim has hiccups and tries to get rid of them by drinking a glass of water then holding his breath for ten seconds, San Flamingo School is holding a three-legged race as a part of their sports day, Bill and Bernie prepare to launch each other into outer space using only a seesaw, and Nadia Nokoblokov comes to visit the Dolls' House because she needs someone to help her out with her new dance.
Tim receives a mysterious three-layered parcel on his doorstep in the middle of the night along with a musical birthday card, while El Nombre helps Juan and Juanita to put the four seasons in the right order for their homework, Bernie puts a smile on the face of a snowman in winter, then the snow melts and some blossom grows on a tree in spring, Bill waters some flowers to help them grow and Bernie mows the lawn in summer, the leaves blow off the tree in autumn and Bernie throws a snowball at Bill and skates on the ice in winter before putting another smile on the face of another snowman ; the residents of the Dolls' House also have to organise their clothes for each season.
In his last appearance, Tim is woken up by a train, then eats a bowl of corn flakes, drinks a cup of coffee and builds a house of cards as three more trains pass, Ticker is broken because Annie, Scrap and Glimmer did not oil him when he asked so Captain Kevin gives him one of his spare ship's bells as a replacement, Bill and Bernie test each other's knowledge of time with their clock, and Miss Constanza Bonanza, Pedro, Juanita and Mama all remind Juan that it is choir practice at 4:30, it is football practice at 5:00, to come to her house for tea at 5:30, and to return home at 6:00 respectively.
The four shapes seen at the end of this series' episodes had been redesigned from those of the three previous ones, and were differently coloured to their originals as well ; also, in 1999, this series was released on VHS as a "Video Plus Pack" by BBC Educational Publishing.

Series 6: Numbers 11 to 20 (Winter 1998, broadcast Spring 1999)http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8140c86f BFI - Numbertime: Numbers 11-20 (1998)

The sixth series comprised five episodes focusing on the numbers 11, 12, 15, 17 and 20, in order; they did not cover the numbers 13, 14, 16, 18 and 19. Each episode would open with Bill and Bernie finding the position of the episode's number on their number line - and in this series, Santo Flamingo gained an ice-cream seller named Señor Gelato, a carpenter named Señor Chipito and a bandit named Don Fandango. This series also saw former Blue Peter host Janet Ellis joining the El Nombre cast; although this series was made in Winter 1998, it was not broadcast until 12 January 1999.
Eleven soldiers march around and ten of them make up the number eleven, Little Juan and his friends are preparing to go on a second school outing, this time to play a football match, and Scrap receives a "Soccerbox" football game from his great-aunt Laura Litterbin.
Now in song, a pair of green slugs eat a gardener's twelve plants and make the number twelve, Juan bets Juanita that he can do more skips than her and Pedro bets both of them he can do more than either of them, and Captain Kevin does not want Branston to mention the number twelve as it reminds him of the final voyage of the good ship Rusty Bucket.
Fifteen cars go nowhere and nobody seems to care, Señor Gelato accidentally drives his ice-cream tricycle into a three-legged table that Mama had told Juan and Pedro to take in to Señor Chipito for repairing, and Scrap and Glimmer are playing marbles in the lounge of the Dolls' House.
Seventeen windows open up on a flat to let in some air, Pedro accidentally kicks his ball into the path of Señor Gelato's ice-cream tricycle while playing football with Juan, and all the residents of the Dolls' House prepare a surprise party for Captain Kevin but Scrap eats three lots of cake mix that is supposed to be enough for twenty cakes leaving seventeen.
A spaceship beams up twenty stars then beams them down again in the constellation of the number twenty, Don Fandango steals twenty gold coins from the bank of Santo Flamingo, and Nadia Nokoblokov pays another visit to the Dolls' House to perform another dance in its conservatory; however, Ticker realises that if he stays in the bedroom, he does not have to watch, and Scrap eats a cake he had been told to put twenty candles on so Annie and Nadia punish him by putting him on the revolving podium that Nadia had brought with her for the dance and telling Glimmer to force him to do twenty "fast" turns on it. Clips from the first series and the fourth series were also re-used in a musical sketch at the end of this episode.
In 2000, both this series and the following one were released on VHS as "Video Plus Packs" by BBC Educational Publishing; on 4 May 2012, this one was rereleased on DVD as a "DVD Plus Pack" by BBC Active, with an accompanying teachers' book. The pack also contained an audio CD, featuring songs from the series - and this one is still in print.

Series 7: Numbers up to 100 (Autumn/Winter 1999)

The seventh series, which is once again aimed at five- to six-year-olds, comprised five episodes focusing on how to add and identify two-figure numbers up to 100; each episode would open with Bill and Bernie, whose number line had been replaced by a number square, and joined by a caterpillar named Limo, who would crawl around the square to count out the numbers they required. In Santo Flamingo, Maria's sister Pepita Consuela Tequila Chiquita also started at San Flamingo School.
This series, which is the Dolls' House's last, was originally aired on Thursdays as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 10:50am.
Bernie stacks up twenty-nine plates, but does not know what comes after 29 so asks Limo to help; every time she stacks up ten more, she has to ask him again, but when she gets to 100, they fall over as a result of their weight. Scrap has also lost all except one of his fifty buttons so Shelley Holmes helps him to find them again, while Señor Gelato has only one cornet left so Juan volunteers to go down to Hurrell's store and get twenty-four more - but as he is about to set off, he is asked to get three extra ones.
While dusting the number square, Bernie sneezes four of the numbers out of it; after Limo has put them all back in, Bernie dusts Bill's beak, causing him to sneeze the entire number square over. Maria's sister Pepita also starts at San Flamingo School, while Glimmer cooks apple pie and custard but Scrap has got the pages of his cookbook mixed up and Limo has to put four more numbers back into the number square.
Bernie is tired so she decides to have forty winks, and Limo counts them by crawling along each row of the number square; Scrap is also tired of licking envelopes, while Juan takes all the money that he has saved up in his donkey bank to Santo Flamingo Bank and Bill and Bernie ask Limo if he can find the numbers 30 and 90 and add on ten.
Bill makes twelve sandwiches and ten iced buns for a party, while Scrap and Glimmer are making party bags for a party of their own, Señora Fedora opens the 15th Annual Santo Flamingo Egg Festival and chooses Mama to make its giant omelette and Bill and Bernie eat thirty of the "goodies" that they have made for their party, but Bill drops the ten remaining buns and Bernie slides on their remains into him causing him to drop ten of the sandwiches, and when they decide to have a dance he throws the ten of the remaining twelve into the air.
Bill has been shopping and bought twenty packs of five fish fingers, while Glimmer is painting a five-dot pattern, and San Flamingo School is holding a jumble sale; this was also the final episode to feature the Dolls' House.
The eighth series, which is aimed at five- to seven-year-olds, comprised ten episodes focusing on coin recognition, money problems, coin equivalents and change ; each episode would open with eight "money-spiders" coming down into view from the top of a tree. In this series, the currency of pounds and pence was introduced to Santo Flamingo, which gained a railway station named El Loco and a pizza delivery boy named Leonardo de Sombrero - and the recurring song from the first series, Numbers All Around, was also reworked. This series also introduced the recurring sketch of Screensaver, which featured a screen named Screen, a variety of customers, and a robot named T1L.
This series was originally aired on each day of the working week for a fortnight as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 11:05am.
Juan, Mama and Pedro go to the fair, while Bill is running a cake stall but Bernie cannot decide whether she wants one or not so flips four coins into the air but they do not come down again, and a cricket player wants to buy some glue from Screensaver to stick his old broken bat back together.
San Flamingo School is holding another jumble sale, while Bill is now running a drink stall, and a policeman wants to buy a timepiece from Screensaver.
Little Juan and his friends are going to Santo Flamingo National Park to see the Giant Cactus, while Bill is now running an "everything" stall, and a sailor wants to buy a cake for his mother from Screensaver.
Little Juan and his friends have now arrived at Santo Flamingo National Park and seen the Giant Cactus, while Bill and Bernie are hungry so they buy a snack for 5p, a carton of juice for 2p and a bar of chocolate for 3p, and an old man wants to buy a new wheel for his wheel-basket from Screensaver because the old one is broken.
Juan and Juanita notice that Señor Manuel has put up a giant jellybean machine outside Hurrell's store, while Bernie plays "Coin Sports" and loses Bill's 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins after they have rolled into a river, and a Russian secret agent wishes to change his appearance at Screensaver.
Mama takes Juan back-to-school shopping at Hurrell's store, while Bernie pays 20p to go on an elephant ride and gets 5p change, and a chef wants to buy some butter and eggs from Screensaver.
Señor Gelato promises Juan and Juanita an ice-cream if they go to the Santo Flamingo Bank and get him some coins in exchange for the 50p he gave them, while Bill and Bernie try to get out of a car park, and a businessman wishes to buy a pet from Screensaver.
Miss Bonanza is getting married, while Bill pays 50p to have his photograph taken and gets 20p change, and a rock star wants to buy some new shoes from Screensaver because his old ones just "aren't his scene".
Pedro, Juanita and Maria are sleeping over at Juan's house, while Bill and Bernie are doing their laundry and a cowboy named Tom wishes to buy a shirt with a big T on it from Screensaver.
Little Juan is to perform a concert to raise more money for the school bell, while Bill and Bernie want to go on a boat trip for £2, and a non-speaking clown tries to get Screen and T1L to guess that he wants to buy a top hat and a rabbit to pull out of it at Screensaver.
In 2001, by which point VHS was becoming obsolete, this series was released on VHS as a "Video Plus Pack" by BBC Educational Publishing.

Series 9: Addition and Subtraction (Autumn/Winter 2001)

The ninth series, which is aimed at six- to seven-year-olds, comprised ten episodes focusing on the concepts of adding and subtracting similar to the fourth series ; in this series, Numbertime News, which had appeared in five episodes of the first series with Sammy Sport, along with one episode of the fourth series with Rebecca Testament, became a recurring sketch, with anchorwoman Tara Boomdeay and roving reporter Brad Quiff. This series also saw Michael Fenton-Stevens returning to join the El Nombre cast and introduced the character of Addem, a green snake who discovered the series' concept in the company of a yellow ant named Ann and a whole civilisation of other multi-coloured ants.
This series was originally screened on Mondays as part of the Schools Programmes strand at 11:05am, but 1 October 2001 was the first day of that year's four-day Labour Party Conference, so its fourth episode was not shown until the following week.
Brad Quiff investigates addition, Bernie challenges Bill by giving him some numbers for him to add onto and make twenty, Addem discovers a civilisation of ants, and Little Juan enters a competition on Radio Flamingo.
Juan and Pedro go shopping when Señor Calculo throws a barbecue, Bernie plants some seeds in window boxes and Bill helps her to add them up, Brad Quiff investigates how many chocolate bars the Malarkey Gang have stolen and Ann has to get twenty-nine ants into three houses.
Addem helps Ann sort out beds for the "adolescants", Little Juan faces off against Don Fandango in the final of the Santo Flamingo Darts Championships, Brad Quiff reports on the popularity of the "Princess Patsy" doll and Bill and Bernie wash their socks at the launderette of the eighth series.
Brad Quiff visits a country fair to meet the makers of buns, El Nombre reads Little Juan a bedtime story, Ann needs to prepare twenty-five meals for the "Accounts Department" and Bill and Bernie try to make carrot juice.
Ann learns about adding acorns in hundreds, Brad Quiff reports on the opening of the brand-new "Whizzo Lolly Factory", Bill helps Bernie count her pennies as she is planning to "shop 'till she drops", and Juan and Pedro earn pocket money by picking lemons for Señor Manuel.
Brad Quiff reports on an American football team passing the ball back down a numberline, Bernie challenges Bill again by giving him some more numbers, a pair of cowboy ants have to take twenty-seven aphids to the milking shed and Juan is going on holiday to Costa Fortuna with Mama, Pedro, Juanita and Maria after winning the competition from the first episode.
The Queen Ant decides to hold a regatta, Juan and his party get on the plane to Costa Fortuna, Bill washes some more of his socks at the launderette but Bernie tells him that he needs to separate the whites from the coloureds, and Brad Quiff reports on how crowds have been gathering for Punch and Judy performances all day; for this episode's adaptation of the story, Mr. Punch steals Judy's marbles from her box while she is asleep.
Brad Quiff reports on an annual tug-of-war contest between the Diddletown Dodgers and the Softville Saints, Ann needs eighty-two candles for the Queen Ant's birthday cake, Juan and his party arrive at the Sea View Hotel in Costa Fortuna and Bill and Bernie insert two 20p coins into two of the three talking vending machines of the eighth series, to buy a snack for 16p and a carton of juice for 14p ; they then combine their changes to buy a bar of chocolate for 10p from the third talking vending machine. This is also one of only two episodes to have an El Nombre sketch that is not set in Santo Flamingo at all.
Juan and Pedro go to the fair in Costa Fortuna, Ann has to fill forty-five places in the "Accountants"' new building, Bill is running an apple stall and Brad Quiff reports on "Doreen's Sweet Shop" getting robbed of a large pile of chocolate eggs.
In the show's last episode, a squad of 100 marching ants keeps breaking up and coming back together, Juan and his party are on the plane back to Santo Flamingo, Brad Quiff reports on the "Numbertime News Live Formation Climbing Team" and Bill and Bernie have a cup of tea ; even though this was the last episode, El Nombre got a second series of his spin-off show in 2003.
In 2002, by which time VHS was even more obsolete, this series was released on VHS as a "Video Plus Pack" by BBC Educational Publishing.

Radio series

The first series was accompanied by a ten-part radio series on BBC School Radio entitled Radio Numbertime, which again focused on the numbers 1-10, in order; it ran from 21 September to 30 November 1993. Another radio series, which was entitled simply Numbertime like the television series, was broadcast on BBC School Radio from 29 September 2000 to 26 March 2003 - and a third radio series, which was again entitled Numbertime like the defunct television series, was broadcast on BBC School Radio from 1 May to 26 June 2014.