Numbertime

(BBC children's education programme, 1993-2001)

Season 1 looks at the numbers 1 to 10, and each of ten episodes features a number of examples of the number in question.
Featured in all ten episodes, therefore, is Reading Buses 802, a then-new MAN 11.190 with Optare Vecta bodywork. In episode 1 802 is on route 1 to Twyford, and one person boards. In episode 2 802 is on route 2 to Friar Street, and two people get on……and so on up to route 10 to Broad Street. It's the kind of exercise that would be covered by CGI nowadays, but credit to Reading Buses and the driver for taking it seriously:
number01.jpg number02.jpg
number03.jpg number04.jpg number05.jpg
number06.jpg number07.jpg number08.jpg
number09.jpg number10.jpg
Confusingly a compilation VHS tape was released titled 'Number Time' (see what they did there), which includes all the numbers but doesn't repeat all the routes, only 4 to Christchurch Green. Even more confusingly the show includes an animated Mexican gerbil named 'El Nombre', which is obviously meant as a pun on 'El Hombre' (i.e. 'The Man'), but in Spanish means 'The Name' and not as you might think 'The Number'.

Last modified: 2026/02/25 19:38