Sara and Hoppity (1960 Puppet Series)

Sara & Hoppity was a children's puppet television series created by Roberta Leigh, who had previously created The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy, both of which were directed by Gerry Anderson. Produced by Roberta Leigh and directed by Arthur Provis, Sara and Hoppity was the first production by Leigh and Arthur Provis after Anderson had gone on to create other puppet series such as Supercar under AP Films. The show was based on a series of childrens books by Leigh written in 1960-1961 and was commissioned by Associated-Rediffusion. Certain puppets from the series would later be revamped for use in Provis and Leigh's next series, Space Patrol.

The series revolves around Sara Brown, who lives with her parents, above their Toy Repair shop, "The Toy Hospital". One day an old man brings in a broken windup toy, called Hoppity, to sell. He found the toy in a goblin ring and is a magic toy. The toy, called "Hoppity", can sing and dance, but it is a "falling over dance" as the toy only has one leg. Her parents want nothing to do with the toy, but Miss Julie who lives up in the attic and makes clothes for all the toys gives Sara the money to buy Hoppity.

The old man accepts six pence, and Sara washes the dirty toy while her father finds a leg for the toy, but it is a bit shorter than his other leg. When wound up, the toy dances and sings his annoying: "Tiddlee-tum, tiddlee-tee" song which Sara somehow understands and, being very naughty, Hoppity's ideas often lead Sara into trouble. Though she tells them that Hoppity told her to do it, naturally no one believes her.

The show ran for 52 13 minute episodes on ITV, runnning from February 27, 1962 to February 26, 1963, though the series copyright date dates back to 1961. The series was syndicated at least until the early 1970's. Since then, the series' original tapes have disappeared from the archives of Associated-Rediffusion archive. They were most likely destroyed or wiped and used for other programming.

A 16mm print of the pilot episode of the series discovered in the 1990's under the possession of Leigh herself was found along with the 16mm reels of the complete series of Space Patrol. This version would appear to be the pilot produced to sell the series, and not the actual first episode seen on television. The copyright given is 1960, not 1961, which is when it was among the first three completed and delivered to Associated-Rediffusion. Comments made by Head of Programme Clearances, Joan Elman regarding the first episode of Sara & Hoppity (among other unflattering comments on the series) also suggest there were other elements in the televised version that are not in the pilot.

In 2002, a 35mm print of another episode was discovered in the possession of the British Film Institute/National Film Archive. This episode was "Gorgey Georgie Goes Visiting", the 46th Episode of the series. Apart from this, a small audio-less bit of footage from the episode "Aunt Mathilda's Hat" along with private sound recordings of the show. None of these however are available online.