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The original dullness defeater, packed with ideas for journeys, rainy days and more. Quick Fixes For Bored Kids received quite possibly the best review I’ve ever had: “This book is SO pink!” from BBC Radio Manchester!

The cunningly titled sequel to Quick Fixes For Bored Kids, this book contained even more great ideas for keeping kids entertained. I really liked the cover on this one.

I’m really proud of this particular book; it featured some great ideas for party themes, ranging from the popular - Winnie The Pooh and Harry Potter - to the not so obvious - Party Political and Bunfight At The OK Corral.

The only one of my non-fiction books still in print (and, even then, you’ll have to hunt round a bit to find a copy), Boredom Busters featured longer projects for kids that would take an afternoon to an entire weekend to complete. Activities included building a website, hosting a radio show and redesigning your bedroom.

The first of my books as one quarter of B. Strange for Egmont. The series features James, Alexander and Lenny - pupils at St. Sebastian’s School - as they try to stop ghosts who live in the plague pit beneath the building from closing the place down. In this first book, the Edith Codd leads the ghosts in their first attack.

The plague pit ghosts are at it again and, this time, they’ve transformed the school science teacher into a zombie. With Mr Watts under their control, they plan to concoct a deadly gas with which to poison the pupils and staff.

The ghosts attack the school sports day as javelins become weapons and the long jump a deadly pit of quicksand. James, Alexander and Lenny must save the day and avoid the local TV crew from getting wise.

Edith Codd is at it again, this time creating a nit lotion that turns the school bully’s headlice into rampant zombie killers! Can our heroes stamp out the little blighters, while saving their own scalps?

Mr Tick, the headmaster, gets the pupils to organise a school fete to raise funds - but he doesn’t count on the ghosts wanting to get in on the act. William wants a jester, the Headless Horseman gives pony rides, and Edith falls in love with a very ugly barrel…

Meet Luke Watson: reluctant werewolf and Scream Street’s latest arrival… With his new friends, Resus Negative (wannabe vampire) and Cleo Farr (tomboy mummy), Scream Street might just be somewhere Luke can call home. However, there’s one small problem - his parents are terrified by their new neighbours. Can Luke find a doorway back to the real world before they’re scared to death?

Scream Street has been invaded - by vampire rodents… Luke, Resus and Cleo are already on the trail of the second relic, a vial of witch’s blood. But, obstacles abound - first the evil Sir Otto Sneer turns off the blood supply, then a swarm of vampire rats emerge from the sewers and now all the residents have been infected with vampire Energy. Will Luke and his friends have to choose between finding the relic and saving their neighbours?

Scream Street just got darker… Scream Street has been shrouded in constant night for as long as anyone can remember, but things look really black when millions of spiders escape from No. 5, covering everything with their suffocating webs. Luke, Resus and Cleo have their work cut out to control the creepy-crawlies while searching for the third relic, the heart of an ancient mummy - and Sir Otto is determined to fight them every step of the way.

The zombies have arrived in Scream Street… Deadstock, the world’s greatest zombie rock festival, has come to Scream Street! Sir Otto Sneer, however, has other plans. When he pulls the plug on the concert by banishing the flesh-metal band, Brain Drain, to the evil Underlands, the result is a zombie riot. If Luke and his friends want to restore peace to the street and find the fourth relic, they’ll have to follow the band - into the darkest depths of the earth…

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Robbie is shipwrecked on a tropical isle with the ship’s cook and his cat. Meeting new faces such as the beautiful Princess Moonflower and Man Friday, he must stop the infamous Captain Hogwash from stealing the island’s treasure. If you look closely at the picture - that’s me as the dame, Sarah The Cook!

Jack and Jill head off to explore while their parents are shown around a new house by an estate agent. Stumbling upon a hidden attic nursery, they meet enchanted toys and must help them restore the magic to their world before time runs out. I played Ted - a six foot, Brummie teddy bear in this show!

When the kindly Baron who owns the Enchanted Forest heads off for a year-long holiday, his wicked sister, Baroness Sneer, takes control. She brings her neice, Goldilocks, with her, who quickly becomes friends with the Baron’s butler and the three bears. Trouble starts to brew when the Baroness decides she wants a new coat - made from Baby Bear fur! Back to bearskin for me as I played Daddy Bear on this tour.

My favourite show! It’s the annual Jumping Over The Moon competition, which The Cow has won for the past nine years. This year, however, Little Miss Muffet is entering as Old King Cole (me!) has offered the winner the job of looking after bedtime stories. The competition is cancelled when Wee Willie Winkie scares away the judges - The Dish and The Spoon - in the greatest mystery Rhyme Town has ever seen.

The sequel to TFN, Jack and Jill move into their new home, bringing their own toys along. As soon as these new toys arrive in the nursery, the magic within brings them to life. This is fine for Poppy the pirate doll, but not so good when Ted releases a wicked robot called Zektron from a computer game, and the monster sets about destroying everything around him. In a break with tradition, I didn’t appear in this show!

A new twist on an old favourite as Pru Blossom and her daughter, Daisy, prepare a feast for the King. All is well until the cake is lost and the Blossom’s have to improvise. The unhappy King banishes Pru and Daisy from the kingdom, only changing his mind when Pru blurts out that her daughter can spin straw into gold. Daisy is distraught until a strange little man appears to help. This show featured my favourite character name - a pantomime horse called Bostik!

Possibly the longest title in children’s theatre history! Humpty wants to be someone and, while making a wish on a shooting star, falls off his wall, bumps his head and becomes a genius. He builds a space rocket, blasting off with his friend, Bo Peep. During the journey, however, he bumps his head again and forgets how to fly the ship! The pair cash land on a strange planet where they must rescue a beautiful princess from a space witch in order to get their rocket repaired and head home.

I’ve also written a number of pantomime scripts over the years, including Aladdin, Dick Whittington, and Sleeping Beauty.

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I wrote a story about Duck and Diesel for a future edition of this magazine. It’s a lot harder going than it looks as the series has a rich and detailed history, with almost 50 engines as characters!

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My episodes for this fun CBBC cooking show were:

Something Fishy
The Soud Of Silence
Walking Tall
What’s The Catch?
Space Oddity