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Bagpuss

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Bagpuss is a UK children's television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate from 12 February 1974 to 7 May 1974 through their company Smallfilms. The title character was, "An old, saggy, cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams." Although only 13 episodes of the show were made, it remains fondly remembered, and was regularly repeated in the UK for thirteen years. In 1999 Bagpuss topped a BBC poll for the UK's favourite children's TV programme.

Feb 12, 19741 seasons13 episodesEndedEN

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Oliver Postgate

Narrator / Bagpuss / Professor Yaffle / Mice

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Sandra Kerr

Madeleine the Rag Doll / Mice

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John Faulkner

Gabriel the Toad / Mice

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Seasons

Series 1

13 episodes

Premiered Feb 12, 1974

Episodes

1–6 of 13

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Ep 1

Ship in a Bottle

Feb 12, 1974

15m

Emily Brings home a bottle with some bits of wood in it. Professor Yaffle tells them it is a ship-in-a-bottle. Bagpuss finds this puzzling, wondering where it would sail to. With the help of a nursery rhyme and a poem about Mermaids, the ship is magically reassembled.

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Ep 2

The Owls of Athens

Feb 19, 1974

15m

Emily brings in a very old, dirty bit of rag, which as ever, Yaffle can see no value in. The mice start to vigorously clean the cloth, before being stopped by Madeleine. She implores the mice to be more gentle with it, and they clean it lovingly, to reveal an old cushion cover depicting an owl. The mice run away, scared by the owl, but come back when they realise it isn't real...

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Ep 3

The Frog Princess

Feb 26, 1974

15m

Emily brings a collection of ornamental enamel pieces. For a while these are a cat and a bird, but later they decide that it is a necklace of jewels for a frog princess who doesn't fancy any of the young princes, so she kisses a frog...

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Ep 4

The Ballet Shoe

Mar 5, 1974

15m

One dirty old shoe is left for Bagpuss and his friends to repair, and the mice suggest that it might be suitable for living in, which leads Madeleine to sing along with the mouse organ. Yaffle doesn't believe anyone could live in a shoe, so the mice trick him by going around and around, and appearing out of the shoe!

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Ep 5

The Hamish

Mar 12, 1974

15m

Nobody really knows what the floppy tartan cloth object that Emily has brought is, except Bagpuss. He says it is a small soft Hamish, a Highland beast that keeps its distance because it makes a terrible noise, like bagpipes played backwards. He tells a heart-rending story of Tavish McTavish, who also made a terrible noise, playing his bagpipes forwards, and his friendship with the Hamish.

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Ep 6