They're back!

More than a decade since they last caused a mass stampede to the toy shops the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were today tipped to become one of the top 10 selling toys this Christmas.

The small, green "heroes in a half shell" have already returned to television and experts predict that their small, plastic figurines will soon dominate toy store shelves.

The British Association of Toy Retailers has predicted that the £7 dolls named Leonardo, Donatella, Michelangelo and Raphael - the names of the crime-fighting terrapins - will prove popular with parents, who remember the toy from their teenage years, as well as their children.

Val Stedham, chairman of the BATR, said that many old toys were making a comeback.

"It is almost 20 years since they appeared in 1987. There is also credibility that dad probably played with them too and the product has been given a new 2003 look."

The toys rose to fame in the Eighties and their popularity led to an outcry from animal welfare groups after children began to buy real terrapins to imitate their cartoon heroes.

Many of the animals were abandoned after outgrowing their tanks turning into large, aggressive adults capable of biting off a child's finger.

Other old favourites which are expected to sell well this year include Barbie, the slim, blonde doll who has been dressed in Swan Lake attire and will cost £20. Last year's top toy - the spinning tops known as Beyblades - will also prove a top seller alongside Lego's Bionicles set.

Not all toys for this year are part of an Eighties throwback however.

One of the best selling girls' toys for this year is set to be Flavas, a batch of dolls with "street cred". The hip-hop figures come complete with accessories including miniature mobile phones, string vests and fat trainers.

BATR compiles its top 10 Christmas list based on the responses of parents and shop keepers to the toys which are on sale.

The predictions are generally thought as one of the most accurate indicators of which toys will dominate school playgrounds over the next 12 months.

The most expensive in the top 10 are the Leapad Learning System which is priced at £30 as well as the Beyblades Radio Control Top - a more sophisticated version of the spinning tops which came out last year.