Advent Calendar 2022 Day 20: Playdays, 1989

But where does it go? To the Christmas Tree Stop, of course, a double stopover for us, and it does so under a new guise as, as Andi Peters mentions in his introduction and following a complaint from the National Playbus Association - a belated one, surely, given it had been running for fourteen months by then - it was now travelling under a new name but, note, not a new theme. The change is also being sneaked out at 7.30am on the 25th, so no wonder kids were confused. The Christmas Tree Stop is a kind of supergroup featuring Lizzie, The Why Bird - underneath which was Ellie Darvill, Arthur's mum - the violin wielding second Dot (and now sadly late) Eithne Hannigan and Peggy Patch visiting a donkey sanctuary with assistant Vanessa Amberleigh, who went on to write for and produce a lot of CBBC shows including Big Cook Little Cook, Basil Brush and parts of the Justin Fletcherverse. The reading for the day is Papa Panov's Special Day, rewritten from an original story by Andi's absolute fave Leo Tolstoy. Otherwise it's manger, presents, cards, dancing tree, you know the drill. The other not-Broom Cupboard presenter, by the way, is one Lisa Jones, who was a Children's BBC presenter for precisely two weeks around this But First This! festive period. You can kind of tell why. Then we're onto Boxing Day where Dave Benson Phillips welcomes us, then welcomes us in sign language, then abandons that. Why Bird has stuck around and they visit a children's ward in Tooting together before ver Bird introduces a photo story with the astonishing even in context title Wobble And Humphrey Visit Leamington Spa.