This week Oliver Postgate died at the ripe old age of 83. For any British child of the 50s-80s, Postgate was a titan of their childhood. Together with Peter Firmin, he created some of the best loved, and most well remembered children’s TV animation. These included Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and Bagpuss. They were fortunate to be making children’s television at a time when there was very little intervention in the creation of their stories. They quite literally went off for 18 months at a time to make a series of films, then brought them into the BBC who received them with thanks. Wow! Will that level of trust in a filmmaker ever happen again? Doubtful!
Here is the timeless introduction to his best-loved series Bagpuss. The series only had 13 episodes because “BBC management declined to commission any more… in the mistaken belief that children found puppets too old fashioned.” In 1998, the programme was voted the best children’s series ever in a UK television poll.
