El Nombre is a children's educational programme about an anthropomorphic Mexican gerbil character, originally from a series of educational sketches on "Numbertime", the BBC schools programme about mathematics. He was also the only character to appear in all "Numbertime" episodes. His voice was provided by Steve Steen, while the other characters' voices were provided by Sophie Aldred, Kate Robbins, and (from 1999) former "Blue Peter" host Janet Ellis. For the ninth (and final) series of "Numbertime" in 2001, Michael Fenton-Stevens also provided voices of certain other characters in the "El Nombre" sketches.