The Magic Roundabout (or La Manege Enchante to give it its original French title) was created by Serge Danot.
One of the producers of Play School put Eric's name forward as a suitable narrator for the series when the BBC bought it. Eric Thompson had been a presenter on Play School.
Of the Smallfilms programmes created by Oliver Postgate, only Ivor the Engine was shown in the five-minute slot before the news during weekdays. Noggin the Nog, Clangers and Bagpuss were all around ten-minutes long.
One of the animators who worked with Danot in Paris on the first series of La Manege Enchante was Ivor Wood. He came to London to work for Film Fair and designed the puppets and was animation director on The Herbs, Hattytown Tales, The Wombles, Paddington and others before setting up his own studio to make Charlie Chalk, Bertha and Postman Pat.