Jim Howick has lots of roles in Yonderland, including The Crone, Lord Elder Pressley and King Bernard.

Hi Jim. How did Yonderland start?

Deep down, we all wanted to do something within the fantasy genre. There were loads of fantasy shows around when we were kids and it really appealed to us, and we also wanted to make a family show again.

Horrible Histories grew with each series, starting off as mainly a children's show and evolving into a family one, and we wanted to keep that ball rolling with Yonderland. It appeals to your inner child, but there are also jokes in there that only ever qualify if you're of a certain age.

Accessibility doesn't mean you can't be smart or surreal...

Exactly, great children's films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Bedknobs and Broomsticks are packed with surrealism. That's where the seed grew from, plus we had a shared enthusiasm for puppets, to recreate the days of Labyrinth and The Storyteller with John Hurt.

So the puppets were always a key part of the vision?

Absolutely, 100%. The puppets were first on our list and we were so lucky to have John Schoonraad, who designed a lot of the puppets for Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, on board, not to mention a few of the puppeteers who worked on Labyrinth. It really was a privilege for us to have our idea brought to life by the people who inspired it in the first place.

What was it like acting alongside puppets?

They're wonderful to work with, but it's time-consuming for the director and producer. You can only shoot puppets from certain angles and you have to make sure the puppeteers aren't breaking their backs, literally - they had to get into the most uncomfortable positions. It was like the Karma Sutra with hand puppets.

Was Yonderland a hard sell?

Our central idea was pretty well rounded by the time we got it to Sky, and they responded straight away. We wanted to keep the tone of Horrible Histories without recreating Horrible Histories and work on our strengths, which I think lie in that particular tone of comedy, mad characters who look strange and live in the woods.

How much fun was it to play The Crone?

I always wanted to play one in Horrible Histories but they wouldn't let me. It wouldn't have been fair to Martha Howe-Douglas, with five boys and one female in the group and history not lending itself to many historical female characters. There would probably be a cross-dressing issue as well.

In Yonderland we all wanted to play an old hag, however I won out because I'm the only bloke in the group with breasts. I knew they'd come in handy one day.

What was the toughest part of the shoot?

When you have created something, when you have come up with an idea that's really close to your heart, in many respects it's hard to let it go. You have to keep reminding yourself that the people you are giving it to are professionals with 15 years' more experience than you've got, so you have to trust them. Aside from that, it was enjoyable from A to Z.

Have you ever been a fish-out-of-water like Debbie?

Blimey, the problem with me is that I don't often stray out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty boring. I went white water rafting in the summer? Oh, and I once went to Finland and ate reindeer. It was delicious, particularly the nose. That was a Rudolph joke, by the way.