Bagpuss
Bagpuss is a popular
1974 UK
children's television series, made by
Smallfilms. It is fondly and widely remembered, despite the fact that only 13 episodes were ever made.
Each programme would begin the same way: Through a series of
sepia photographs, we are told of a little girl named Emily (played by
Emily Firmin, the daughter of the illustrator
Peter Firmin), who owned a shop. The shop didn't sell anything, however - instead, Emily would find lost and broken things and display them in the window of the shop, so that their owners could one day come and collect them. She would leave the object in front of her favourite stuffed toy - a large, saggy, pink and white striped cat named Bagpuss. She would then recite a verse:
''Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss:''Old Fat Furry Catpuss:''Wake up and look at this thing that I bring:''Wake up, be bright, be golden and light
Bagpuss, oh hear what I singWhen Emily had left, Bagpuss would wake up. The programme shifted from sepia to colour
stop motion film, and various toys in the shop would also come to life: Gabriel the
toad and a
rag doll called Madeleine. The wooden woodpecker bookend became the drily academic Professor Yaffle (distantly based, it is said, on the philosopher
Bertrand Russell), while the mice carved on the side of the "mouse organ" (a small mechanical
pipe organ which played rolls of music) woke up and scurried around, singing in high-pitched voices.
Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner provided the voices of Madeleine and Gabriel respectively, and put together and performed all the proper songs. All the other voices (including the narrator and one out-of-tune mouse) were provided by
Oliver Postgate.
The toys would discuss what the new object was; someone (usually Madeleine) would tell a story related to the object (shown in an animated thought-bubble over Bagpuss's head), often with a song, which would be accompanied by Gabriel on the
banjo (which often sounded a lot more like a
guitar), and then the mice, singing in high pitched squeaky harmony as they worked, would mend the broken object. The newly mended thing would then be put in the Shop window, so that whoever had lost it would see it as they went past, and could come in and claim it. Then Bagpuss would start yawning again, and as he fell asleep the colour faded to sepia and they all became toys again.
Most of the stories and songs used in the series are based on folk songs and
fairy tales from around the world.
In
1999 it came first place in a BBC poll selecting the nations' favourite childrens show. It also came fourth in the
2001 Channel 4 poll The
100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.
Bagpuss has now retired to the Rupert Bear Museum in
Canterbury,
UK, part of the
Museum of Canterbury.
The titles of the thirteen episodes each refer in some way to the object Emily found.
* The Ship in a Bottle - "Where would it sail to?" (first shown
12 February 1974),
* The Owls of Athens - A dirty rag that reveals a picture once cleaned (first shown
19 February 1974),
* The Frog Princess - assorted jewels, which initially are thought to represent a cat and mouse but which Gabriel decides were the crown jewels of a frog princess (first shown
26 February 1974),
* The Ballet Shoe - put to inventive use by the mice, and the subject of a very silly song about its possible use as a rowing boat (first shown
5 March 1974),
* The Hamish - a tartan pin cushion (first shown
12 March 1974),
* The Wise Man - a broken figurine of a Chinaman, claimed by Yaffle to be the very wise Ling-Po (first shown
19 March 1974),
* The Elephant - missing its ears (first shown
26 March 1974),
* The Mouse Mill - demonstrated by the mice to make chocolate biscuits out of butterbeans and breadcrumbs. This turns out to be a mischievous fraud (first shown
2 April 1974),
* The Giant - a statuette (first shown
9 April 1974),
* Old Man's Beard - a tangly plant (first shown
16 April 1974),
* The Fiddle - which plays itself (first shown
23 April 1974),
* Flying - a basket which the mice attempt to turn into a flying machine (first shown
30 April 1974),
* Uncle Feedle - a piece of cloth, decided to be a house for a rag doll (first shown
7 May 1974).
The round sung by the mice (starting with the words "We will fix it...") is to the tune of
Sumer is icumin in ("Summer is a-coming in"). This song dates from the Middle Ages and is probably the oldest known song in recognisable English.
*
BBC "Cult TV" site for Bagpuss, with video clips*
Video clip of Oliver Postgate talking about Bagpuss' degree*
The Smallfilms Treasury's Bagpuss site*
Anorak Zone's Bagpuss site*
British Film Institute Screen Online*
BBC News reports on the Rupert Bear Museum
