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When the Waverlys move to a new home, young Samantha and Jim wander into an abandoned toy shop in the back yard, which they discover is home to The Ink Thief. The titular imaginary creature is supposed to provide inspiration for the arts, but the current Ink Thief has come to the realization that he can consume imagination from books, arts, and toys to boost his own powers, and he develops aspirations of becoming human. In his shop, Jim becomes transfixed on a book that unlocks all of the mysteries of the universe, so The Ink Thief takes the boy under his wing. Meanwhile, The Ink Thief's sister, librarian Mizz Tiggle, bonds with Samantha, introduces her to the rest of the Bumps (other imaginary creatures), and takes her on a journey to reunite the four elements (Earth, Water, Cheese, and Air) in an effort to defeat her self-centered brother.

Written by Paul Springer, who plays Toddy, The Ink Thief's dimwitted cat-man minion (he also penned a novelization), the show is definitely creative and unique. All of the cast devour the scenery and numerous actors appear in dual roles. Richard "Rocky Horror" O'Brien gives a tour-de-force performance as the title character and Joyce Springer is appropriately hammy as his sister. Springer is sympathetic, Richard Ridings deserves mention as the Thief's right-hand Rat-man, and Toyah Willcox gives it her all as the dog.

There are a few things that prevent the show from being truly great. First of all, it was more ambitious than the budget allowed. Featuring a mixture of primitive CGI, cel-animation, and blue-screen, it doubtlessly looked cheap in 1994, but some of it is almost painful 30 years later. Next up is the music. The Ink Thief and the Rock (the earth element) each have a showstopping musical number, but other songs feel completely random, and they wasted singer Willcox with a forgettable tune. The final problem is the ending. Without spoiling anything, it feels like efforts made in the previous episodes were relatively pointless and the takedown of the villain is sort of anticlimactic. As much as I hate to suggest it, the show might benefit from a reboot, or even a big-screen adaptation. There's definitely some brilliance here, but it doesn't quite reach the heights that it could have.

For fans of O'Brien and lovers of the weird, the show's worth tracking down. VHS rips have been circulating online for quite some time, but it's more recently been made officially available in the UK on amazon and BritBox. Hopefully, it'll get an American release someday.

I too used to rush home from school to watch it. I did actually have 2 tapes full of the episodes which i do wish i'd kept but kids TV was so good back then that I soon taped over them with other things. The song only human sounds great that episode was my favourite for ages. I still have the ink thief book but sadly I'll never see the TV series again. It's full of fun characters representing the things that go bump in the night. The story is basically about two kids that move to a new town and while exploring the area come across an abandoned toy shop that's where the magic begins. I can't remember a lot of the characters names but i liked the cat i think he was called toddy and the orange guy that got turned into a doll towards the end he was so cute.

It is brilliant! Everyone should watch it! It's completely different to anything else I've ever seen! With great celebrities in it too, like Richard O'Brien that I love off Rocky Horror Picture Show and Toyah Wilcox! So rent it out on video or lend someone who's got it because it's really good! It also has singing in it, which makes it even more fun-tastic! And the songs are ever-so catchy, you'll be singing them all day and all night! You will want to watch it again and again! But this site does mention half of the characters which may put you off but believe me the rest of the cast are great and the characters are extra-ordinary, very different, have great costumes, OK the beginning's a little slow, but as soon as you see the first bump, you won't want to turn your screen off till the end of episode 7.

I gotta be honest, i haven't seen this for about... well for about 10 years or so when it was on. But MAN i enjoyed it. rushed home every week to see it. Some great stuff, lots of fun, and lots of bright colours. Alas, the kinda thing they'll never air again!!!!! What i remember, are crazy creatures, (or crazy people in even crazier outfits), doing not much, but whatever it was was pretty entertaining!!! In my opinion, this is one of the best children's TV shows, considering how small and short lived it was (I still find myself singing those songs from there "only human".......) Up there with the good old demon headmaster....