Bagpuss

[KEV67]

I played the first episode of Bagpuss to little Adrian on my smartphone in order to calm him down a bit. I think he enjoyed it, but not as much as I did. For a start, it is such a good premise. A little girl has a shop that displays things she has found so that their owners can reclaim them. I liked the verse Emily says to Bagpuss to wake him up and his friends. The episode had a good folk song about a ship with a crew of mice, captained by a duck. Good singing too. The thing brought back by Emily was a broken ship in a bottle. Bagpuss has to think of a magic story to put the ship back together again. He imagined a good story with good verse. It involved mermaids. I was a bit surprised the mermaids were drawn topless. Nothing unseemly, I was just slightly surprised the BBC authorised it, considering it was a children's programme. I looked Bagpuss up on Wikipedia. It said the song the mice chant to had the tune of Sumer is icumen in, which is one of the oldest songs in English. Bagpuss was one of Oliver Postgate's creations. When I was a child in the 70s I liked The Clangers. I thought Ivor the Engine was alright. I do not remember Noggin the Nog. I liked Bagpuss a lot, but I did not appreciate how good it was. I will have to rewatch the other twelve episodes to see if they all measure up.

[lunababymoonchild]

I’ve always loved Bagpuss! I loved the others you mentioned too but, like you, don’t remember Noggin the Nog.

 

Didn’t know that about Bagpuss 

[Madeleine]

I never watched Bagpuss but your post makes it sound really interesting, and more than just a children's programme.  I loved the Clangers but don't remember Noggin either.

[~Andrea~]

Bagpuss was one of my childhood favourites, along with Me Benn.