spatz is a children's comedy series that ran on children's itv during the 1990s, produced by thames television and created by andrew bethell. the show originally ran from 21 february 1990 to 10 april 1992. the show centred on a fast food restaurant situated in a fictional shopping mall in cricklewood, london. it was operated by two canadians, karen hansson (jennifer calvert), spatz international's european co-ordinator, and thomas "tj" strickland ( paul michael ), the restaurant's manager. vas blackwood, stephanie charles, jonathan copestake, sue devaney, joe greco, katy murphy, ling tai and samantha womack appeared as spatz restaurant employees. guest stars included david harewood, rhys ifans, gary lineker, danny john-jules and nicholas parsons.