Lazytown is a truly superb children's program from Iceland. The general idea is to promote exercise, activity, and sensible eating, and - rumor has it - kids love it and many are inspired by it.

Speaking as an adult (I think!) the show has a real charm; many of the episodes have a fairly clear plot, though some don't, but all are characterized by a really warm feeling.

The kids - all with their own attributes - come across as genuine friends, quite an achievement when just one is real, the others being puppets.

Sportacus, the painfully athletic SuperHero, is like an uncle to them all, swooping down in (or from) his airship and pontificating in a strong Icelandic accent, while saving them all from sloth, gluttony, themselves or Robbie Rotten! Sportacus is played by Magnús Scheving, who created the show and is Executive Producer.

Robbie Rotten (Stefán Karl Stefánsson) is a wonderful pantomime style baddie - you know he's the baddie, but you also know that he secretly has a heart of gold (if he did but know it), and best of all, you know from the start that he will fail magnificently.

And he does! Robbie simply wants to do nothing except watch TV, munch, and simply be left alone, so he has to constantly seek ways of banishing Sportacus, usually by adopting outrageous disguises and fiendish plots.

Stephanie (Julianna Rose Mauriello), the third and last human being, is an eight year newcomer (played by 12 year old ), who is naturally curious, very loyal to her friends and terrifyingly optimistic. Her motto (and a song) is “There’s always a way!”.

Indeed, Stephanie loves to dance and sing, and is cheerleader for the child audience (and conscience for the couch-potato older audience!).

The other 'children are all puppets, perhaps because they embody the deadly sins of childhood, and so could not be projected onto real kids.

Stingy won’t share anything, it's Me Me Me all the way, while Ziggy likes his sugar waaay too much. Pixel is only really happy when glued to a screen while Trixie cannot follow any rules.

But when the chips are down, they all (with difficulty) pull together when they must - though Stephanie has her hands full persuading them.

Mayor Meanswell loves the lazy in LazyTown and pretty much everything else. He often gets into trouble, needing rescuing by Sportacus and the kids. He's a busy man, doing all the jobs that need doing (let's face it, there's no-one else!). He's also Stephanie's uncle.

Bessie Busybody is a real stickybeak, but never manages to do any harm. She's very lazy, too.