"The Muppet Show" ran for five years from 1976 and in that time it was surprisingly hard to doubt that the Muppets were real. How could you? There were the human co-stars - everyone from John Cleese to Elton John - right alongside them. There was no winking at the audience; not the slightest hint of any unreality, and everyone in the entertainment world played along. The first Muppet movie, released in the middle of the show's run (1979) kept the conceit: it was the story of how Kermit gathered together a group of hopeful Muppets (the term is a portmanteau: marionette and puppet) and went to Hollywood to make the show (and the movie).

There were five subsequent films and this basic foundation was lost along the way but has been resurrected at last. The story now is that the old theatre, where the Muppets once performed, has fallen into disrepair, and a villainous oil tycoon wants to have it pulled down (to drill for oil underneath, of course). The Muppets must be reunited to pull out all the stops in a special performance to save their old home.

The other fundamental of the show's success was its central message of hope: however much we may quarrel, our differences can be resolved and the show will always go on. Despite the length of time since "The Muppet Show" was on the air, the characters still feel like old friends and those unfamiliar with the show will soon be drawn into their world.

It's time to play the music...