The Muppet Show: Things you didn’t know about The Muppets

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights.

It’s time – after a 45 year break – to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.

A brand new special episode of The Muppet Show lands on Disney+ on Wednesday 4 February.

Sabrina Carpenter is the special guest star joining all your favourite Muppets – Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie and the whole crew.

While the Muppets have regularly appeared on screen over the past 70 years, it’s the first new episode of The Muppet Show since 1981.

BBC Bitesize explores the history of the Muppets and discovers things you may not know about them. It’s time to get things started…

Where it all began

If you have a coat you don’t wear anymore, you’ll likely donate it to charity or try to sell it online.

But Jim Henson – creator of The Muppets – had a better plan when his mother no longer needed hers.

In 1955, Henson paired the coat material with a table tennis ball, halved for eyes and created a frog that still delights audiences to this day – Kermit.

Kermit’s early appearances were on local programming and advertising in Washington DC. He was one of the main cast members on Sam and Friends, a sketch comedy show.

While it’s clear today that Kermit is a frog – it took 14 years for that to be officially confirmed. He was originally conceived to be a non-specific lizard – his traditional collar was added around 1969 to cement his frog status.

Live from New York… it’s the Muppets?

While familiar Muppets such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Fozzie Bear have appeared on episodes of the famous Saturday Night Live comedy show throughout the years, Muppets were in fact a part of the very first episodes of the US comedy show.

SNL celebrated its 50th anniversary back in October 2025 – with the first episode airing on 11 October 1975.

As part of the first season of SNL, a recurring sketch featuring more fantastical Muppet creatures aired. Called The Land of Gorch, the characters were members of a royal family in a faraway land.

Henson developed the characters wanting to move away from his, up until then, predominantly children’s television shows – with Muppets appearing on programmes such as Sesame Street throughout the 1970s.

These Muppets did not portray the typical values of the more familiar characters and the sketches were not very well received – by both audiences and the SNL writers.

Henson felt the writers didn’t want to stick to his created story for the characters – and he wasn’t wrong. They actively tried to avoid writing sketches for Land of Gorch at all.

The partnership ended – but clearly there weren’t too many hard feelings. Kermit and others have appeared as guests on SNL throughout its history, including to promote the 2011 film The Muppets with co-star Jason Segal.

The Muppet Show – a classic British programme

The modern iteration of The Muppets definitely has an all-American vibe to it. Just look at the uber-patriotic Sam Eagle, for instance.

But The Muppet Show was very much a British affair.

Around the time of the Land of Gorch sketches, Henson was also working up potential ideas for a new Muppet themed show.

He’d produced two one-off episodes as on-air pilots for the US-based ABC network featuring his characters, but the channel passed on the idea for a full series, as did several others.

But a British television producer saw the potential in the Muppets. Lew Grade approached Henson with a deal to co-produce a new show for ATV, part of the ITV network in the UK.

The new show was called The Muppet Show – a variety sketch comedy show for the whole family, mixing skits, songs, backstage antics and an impressive array of celebrity guest stars.

The show ran for five series, from 1976 to 1981 and attracted the likes of Elton John, Diana Ross, Julie Andrews, John Cleese and Mark Hamill to join in the mayhem. All the episodes were filmed at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire – which is home today to EastEnders.

A golden history

Not surprisingly given their 70 year history which includes eight feature films, 13 television series, countless guest appearances, songs and computer games – and even an upcoming thrill-seeking rollercoaster – The Muppets have picked up plenty of awards along the way.

But it wasn’t until 2012 that the Muppets finally won their first Academy Award.

Before then, the only Oscar associated with the Muppets was Oscar the Grouch. But musician and comedian Bret McKenzie won Best Original Song for Man or Muppet from 2011’s The Muppets to end a run of unsuccessful musical nominations.

The Muppets have won multiple awards at the BAFTA and Emmy Awards, but perhaps three honours that Kermit has received are among the most prestigious.

Kermit is one of the rare recipients of multiple stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He’s recognised not only individually, but as part of the Muppet collective as well.

In 1996, Kermit was given an honorary doctorate by Southampton College, New York. Kermit gave the commencement speech and was awarded a Doctorate of Amphibious Letters while doing so.

And in 1986, Kermit made one of many appearances on Blue Peter, accompanied by Jim Henson, where he was given his very own Blue Peter badge. Although now that Blue Peter has a green badge, maybe it’s time to get Kermit back on the show?

This article was published in February 2026