No, you're not seeing things. This really is Blue Peter dog Mabel and her master, presenter Matt Baker.
Matt and Mabel were among the VIPs permitted an early glimpse inside the new-look Jorvik Viking Centre following its £5m refit.
Both are immortalised in the new Viking museum, having been chosen as models for two of the Viking figures.
Most of the figures are reconstructions of what real Vikings would have looked like, based on the latest scientific evidence: but a few lucky volunteers, like Matt and Mabel, have had their features incorporated. Matt's lookalike is a fishmonger, while Mabel's is ... well, Mabel's is a dog.
The pair were in Jorvik to do a spot of filming. The new-look Viking city is to be featured on tomorrow's episode of the BBC 1 children's show, repeated on BBC2 on Thursday morning.
Matt is convinced the new Jorvik Centre will be a smash hit.
"I did visit it quite a few times before," Matt admitted. "It was very successful then, but it's really impressive now."
Mabel didn't say anything. But she wagged her tail and gave that famous lop-sided grin - a definite thumbs-up.
Updated: 11:34 Tuesday, April 03, 2001
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