Tween-age favourite

SHE'S probably got more fans than Oasis and Kylie Minogue put together. And guess what - you've probably never even heard of her.

She's the voice of Bella from the Tweenies, Peggy Patch from Playdays and Bits from Bits and Bobs.

Who is she? Hampshire mum-of-two Sally Preisig.

Life behind the glare of publicity suits Sally down to the ground. She loves performing, but hates being seen.

But even Sally, 36, admits that once in a while she's occasionally been tempted to break into Bella mode, put on a high pitched voice, reel off the character's trademark phrase "I know" - and see the surprised faces around her.

"It's strange. People who see me in the supermarket laden down with bags of shopping have no idea who I am.

"I'm just an ordinary mum. But when I walk into a room and hear myself on television it can be a very surreal experience."

Tomboyish Bella is one of Sally's favourite characters who she affectionately describes as "passionate with a heart of gold".

"She's always making a mess and doing things in a hurry. Originally Bella was in a dress. But then the programme makers decided to put her in yellow dungarees to make her more tomboyish."

Sally made the character her own by spending a month - along with the other Tweenies cast - perfecting Bella's voice, mannerisms and character.

"If you look closely at the first few programmes you might notice that some of the voices fluctuate a bit," admits Sally.

Millions of children have Sally to thank for bringing the Tweenies to life in their eye-catching colourful costumes.

She arranged for the material to be imported from America and carefully dyed.

Sally then spent nine days at her home sewing the full size costumes for Bella, Milo, Jake, Fizz, Max, Judy and Sid - the loveable Tweenie who never got to join his friends on screen.

But his memory still lives on in a framed picture on the mantelpiece of Sally's Hill Head home.

Sally was also responsible for making the miniature prototype characters of the Tweenies that were rescaled to form the popular TV gang.

Accounting for the show's phenomenal success Sally says it's down to the loveable characters who appealed to a generation of children brought up on the Teletubbies.

"Every Tweenie is instantly recognisable in each programme. The scripts are excellent and very true to life too."

In June 2000 the Tweenies won the Royal Television Society's award for best pre-school educational programme and in November of the same year the Bafta for best live action pre-school programme.

Putting on funny voices is something that comes naturally to Sally who perfectly combines the role with her second passion - puppeteering.

She was a puppeteer on The Muppet Christmas Carol and perfected the voices of many of the Fun Song Factory characters.

One of her favourites was Sally the Cat, for whom she made the costume.

Versatility is the key as Sally is able to fine-tune her voice to every new puppetry creation that comes her way.

Inspiration from everyday life and a magnificent imagination ensure she never runs out of ideas.

And Sally can always try out her new voices on a readily attentive audience - her husband and two children Sam, four, and six-month-old Eddie.

For Peggy Patch she masterminded a Dorset lilt to bring the Playdays star to life.

Now three of her latest creations, Dogsby, Mukka, and Tigs can be seen on the new BBC Saturday morning children's show - The Shiny Show.

From the happy-go-lucky Bella to Dogsby - the hopelessly loveable colourblind dog - Sally has masterminded a new husky voice to suitably match his demeanour.

Sally, who recently set up her own production company, Mimics Productions, made the three original puppet characters from her very own workshop at the back of her house.

She sculpted the three animal heads in clay before casting them in latex. Their bodies were filled in foam and covered with fur.

Now Sally is looking forward to producing more children's television programmes.

Since the Tweenies she has been working on MacDonalds Farm for GMTV.

And her talents are not confined to the television screen.

She has voiced two sets of singing and story cassettes for Marks and Spencer and the voice of Mike the Cat on the new Sooty touring stage show.

It's all a far cry from the type of children's entertainment available to the farmer's daughter who grew up in Kent.

"Living on a farm meant that friends often lived quite far away. I started sewing and absolutely loved making things. I had to learn to amuse myself," recalls Sally.

She went on to Middlesex University where she studied performing arts before going on to the Royal School of Needlework where she attended as many needlework and sewing classes as she could fit in.

"While I was doing my performing arts degree I loved performing but I hated being seen.

"When I got my first job afterwards I opted to stay behind the scenes.

"I love all things backstage so I joined Trestle Theatre Company as their company stage manager.

"For three and a half years I toured Hampshire and the country designing sets and making props."

It was during her next job as a prop maker for the television programme The Wild Bunch that she fell into puppeteering after she jumped at the chance to help out three puppeteers.

"One of the puppeteers just came over and asked me to be their dead arm," recalls Sally.

Once she was bitten by the puppeteering bug there was no looking back. She learnt everything that she could about puppets working on The Spooks of Botley Bay and commercials for Robinsons Fruit Drink.

Sally also diversified into making larger full size character costumes.

"I love it. It's great but a very unusual job."

Kay Benbow, a producer for the Tweenies, said that Sally's success at matching voices to characters is not as easy as it appears.

"The right voice is essential because children look at puppets like characters.

"The best puppeteers really engage with their audience. Sally knows her audience very well. She knows what makes them tick and she is a mum too.

"The skill of a really good puppeteer is to create a character the audience really believes in.

"If the puppeteer can really get into the character it can open up a whole new magical world for children."

Now Sally is looking forward to setting up a sister company to Mimics Productions called Mimics Designs which she hopes will give her the chance to produce children's fancy dress outfits made to order.

In the meantime, next time you are out and about in Hampshire, you could be closer to Dogsby, Bella and Peggy Patch than you might think.