The Magic House was a children's animation puppet show created by Joe Austen and made for Scottish Television. The series was adapted from a series of children's books written and illustrated by Austen in the early 1980s. The show's 55 10-minute episodes were aired across the ITV Network between 1994 and 1998. As well as the television episodes, a spin-off series of books was also produced, written and illustrated by Joe Austen. The show, which featured Uncle Teapot, Kitty Kettle, Barney Bin and other characters based on household items, proved a success with the characters appearing in adverts for the Trustee Savings Bank for children's savings accounts. The Magic House is rumored to return on Mini CITV by June 2012.