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Combining live action and "animatronics," the Australian TV children's sitcom Horace and Tina starred Jasmine Ellis as Lauren Parker, a 13-year-old Canadian girl who was uprooted and relocated Down Under when her mother remarried. Saddled with a distant stepfather and an obnoxious stepbrother, Lauren's existence was enlivened somewhat by the arrival on Christmas Eve of two "Nelfs," or Santa's Helpers: three-foot-tall, 200-year-old Horace (voiced by Frank Gallacher) and his 271-year-old sister Tina (voiced by Jackie Kelleher). Stranded in Australia until Santa's next stopover, Horace kept busy by making mischief, while Tina dispensed advice and homilies -- and of course, only Lauren could see or hear the Nelfs. Debuting May 4, 2001, Horace and Tina had yielded 26 episodes by the following year.