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“Two minutes to go!” says the voice of Derek Jacobi, with genuine urgency as we scrabble to our seats.

But we’re not at Shakespeare’s Globe or The Old Vic, we’re at Middleton Arena at 10am on a Saturday morning surrounded by hyped-up toddlers.

Jacobi - as any parent with toddlers knows - is the voice of god on the phenomenally popular CBBC show In the Night Garden .

It’s he who introduces us to this magical Alice In Wonderland-like world each episode and delivers lines such as: “Oh no, it’s the Ninky Nonk!” with all the conviction he mustered for I, Claudius .

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The veteran actor’s narration is one of many charming elements of this cult show that are transf

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