Bagpuss
Strange as it may seem, Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin made only 13 episodes of Bagpuss, but they've captured the imaginations of children for over a quarter of a century. Bagpuss is a cat who spends his time slumbering in a shop owned by Emily. The shop itself doesn't sell anything, and Emily seems a little young to be a shopkeeper - it is a most unusual shop, after all. Each week Emily brings Bagpuss objects to mend and repair. Bagpuss will wake up and examine them, in the company of his friends - including Madeleine the rag doll, and the mice from the Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Organ. All this happens under the watchful eye of Professor Yaffle, the carved woodpecker book end, who comments scathingly on the toys and the stories they tell. Then at some point, Bagpuss becomes very very tired, and they all go back to sleep. That's basically it, so why did this all happen? Simple - because Emily loved him.
Emily brings in a bottle containing pieces of wood. Professor Yaffle says that it is a ship in a bottle, Bagpuss wonders where such a ship would sail. Bagpuss then tells a story about mermaids which magically repairs the ship.
Emily brings a very dirty old rag into the shop which Professor Yaffle can see no value to. The mice clean it and reveal a picture of an owl with the word Athens beneath it. Madeline tells the story of The Owls of Athens.
Emily brings into the shop a collection of ornamental enamel pieces. The toys think these are a cat, a mouse and a bird at first. Gabriel decides they are the necklace of a frog princess who didn't like any prince so kissed a frog.
Emily brings Bagpuss and friends a single ballet shoe. After Yaffle wonders what use it could be, the mice demonstrate it makes a nice boat.
Emily's thing is said by Bagpuss to be a Hamish, a small soft Scottish animal with a voice like Bagpipes. Yaffle and the Mice believe it to be a porcupine without quills and sing to it to encourage it to grow quills. Finally, Madeleine reveals that it is actually a pin cushion.
Bagpuss and his friends learn of a Chinese wise man, his friends the turtles and his love of solitude.
Bagpuss and friends are brought a small elephant, with no ears, stuffed with straw. Bagpuss explains how its ears fell off and it got stranded on a desert island and was rescued by mice who used its ears to escape the island. They decide it may never have had ears, and give it a hat to wear instead.
The mice convince Bagpuss that Emily's latest find - a model of a watermill - takes in breadcrumbs and butter beans and produces chocolate biscuits. Yaffle isn't fooled and reveals it to be a joke.
Emily brings in a model of a giant, and Bagpuss tells the story of how a kindly witch makes an unhappy giant happy.
Emily brings in a plant called Old Man's Beard. The friends try to figure out why it is so called. Bagpuss tells the story of a King who used his silvery beard to make carpets. Madeline then sings a song about a master weaver.
Emily brings in an old bucket with a hole in it. It turns out that a leprechaun - an old friend of Bagpuss - lives in this bucket, and his magic fiddle plays them some tunes.
Emily brings a basket into the shop. The mice find a twig broom in it so Gabriel and Madeleine sing a song about the old woman who cleans cobwebs out of the sky. The mice then try to make a flying machine out of the basket.
Emily brings a piece of cloth in which the mice claim is a house for a rag doll. They fold the cloth so Bagpuss can wear it as a thinking cap and think up the story of Uncle Feedle. Gabriel sings a song about living on a bus.
|
Oliver Postgate | Narrator |
|
Sandra Kerr | Madeleine the Rag Doll |
|
John Faulkner | Gabriel the Toad |
|
Emily Firmin | Emily (in photo) |
| Writer | Oliver Postgate | |
| Packaging | Keep Case |
|---|---|
| Nr Discs | 1 |
| Screen Ratios | Fullscreen (4:3) |
| Audio Tracks | Dolby Digital Mono [English] |
| Edition Release Date | Apr 04, 2005 |
| Regions | Region 2 |