Otis the Aardvark was a

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

of an

aardvark The aardvark ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlike ...

that was a presenter on

Children's BBC BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC (short for Chil ...

on British television.Rich Pelley (14 June 2020)
Pulling the strings: meet the people who brought puppets to life
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' Otis mainly presented the afternoon links on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

alongside the main CBBC presenters. Otis was thought to be inspired by the 1992 Children's BBC

idents Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in the ...

which ended with a voice proclaiming "Tell that aardvark it's a wrap". These idents led to much speculation as to what the phrase meant. However, these idents were dropped just before the character of Otis appeared in late 1994. Otis is said to have obtained his name from the

OTIS Otis may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media ** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl'' * Otis (The Walking Dead), Otis (''The Walking Dead' ...

lift in the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

building at

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...

. Dave Chapman was the puppeteer from 1994–99. He also performed in a number of other Children's BBC programmes, notably The Cat from ''

Dick & Dom in da Bungalow ''Dick & Dom in da Bungalow'' is a British children's television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom (Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood). The series was broadcast on weekend mornings on various BBC television channels for five series, runnin ...

''. When ''

Fully Booked ''Fully Booked'', later retitled ''FBi'', is a British children's television series produced by BBC Scotland and broadcast from 22 April 1995 to 23 September 2000. Format Series 1–3 The first series is presented by Zoe Ball and Grant Stott, ...

'' moved to Sundays on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, the extended Saturday CBBC was renamed ''Saturday Aardvark'', with Otis being a key feature. In 1996, he presented ''CBBC on Nickelodeon'' during school hours on ''

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

'' alongside Nick Jr. and his co-presenter was mascot ''Arthur the Ant'' in front of an ice cream parlour. He left in 1997 and was replaced by his cousin Marvin who presented from a shed until the strand finished on 16 July 1999. After leaving CBBC in late 1999 Otis appeared on the puppet-based quiz show ''Clever Creatures'' until 2001. On that date the puppet was retired; it was announced that the character had gone to work at the BBC canteen. Otis was followed by another puppet called Emlyn the Gremlyn, who supported the live human presenters on the early afternoon links for a further two and a half years. Otis subsequently made appearances on other CBBC shows including '' Insides Out'' and ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' is a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for ''Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, c ...

''. On 28 December 2007, Otis reappeared on a special 'puppet' edition of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'' for the BBC. On 1 April 2010, Otis appeared on the ITV2 show ''

Celebrity Juice ''Celebrity Juice'' is a British television comedy panel game on ITV2, broadcast since 24 September 2008. The show is written and presented by Leigh Francis in the role of his alter ego Keith Lemon, and its current team captains Laura Whitmore ...

''. Otis made another appearance along with other former presenters and puppets on 9 September 2015 to mark the 30th anniversary of CBBC. On 19 November 2021 Otis made an appearance amongst other famous puppets on ''BBC Children in Need'' on BBC1.

References

BBC Television Fictional aardvarks British comedy puppets {{Puppet-stub