El Nombre was an anthropomorphic Mexican gerbil, originally from a series of educational sketches on Numbertime, the BBC schools programme about mathematics; he was also the only individual to appear in all sixty-eight episodes, as its original host, Lolita Chakrabarti, was relieved of her position after the end of the fourth series in 1996. His voice was provided by Steve Steen, while the other characters' voices were provided by Sophie Aldred, Kate Robbins, and former Blue Peter host Janet Ellis - and his name actually means "The Name" in Spanish, not "The Number", which would be "El Número".