Peter Firmin

Today, December 11th 2025 would have been the 97th birthday of artist and puppet maker, Peter Firmin.

Firmin, along with his friend, Oliver Postgate, composers and musicians like Vernon Elliott, Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner and various family members created some of the most enduring and endearing childrens televison programmes from a cowshed at Firmin's home.  Firmin and Postgate through their production company Smallfilms created shows like Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, Pogles' Wood, Clangers & Bagpuss, shows that remained embedded in the popular imagination - entire generations can still imitate the Clanger's swanee whistle speech, Bagpuss' yawn or the sound of Ivor's engine.

Peter Firmin sadly passed in 2018 - Oliver Postage, a decade before in 2008 - but their creations live on.  The video below documents Firmin's receipt of the BAFTA Children's Special Award 2014 and includes a lovely little behind the scenes film of both creators as well as Firmin's speech - where we get to find out how much his daughter Emily was paid for her appearence in Bagpuss.

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Clangers

'Clangers' was a stop-motion puppet animation created in 1969 by (modelmaker and illustrator) Peter Firmin and (writer, animator and narrator) Oliver Postgate's who, through their company, Smallfilms, had previously produced animated shows such as Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog (in which a Clanger-like 'Moonmouse' had featured 2 years previously) and Pogle's Wood and who would go on to produce Bagpuss. The Clangers are a small family of pink mouse-like creatures - named Granny, Major, Mother, Tiny and Small Clanger - who live on a small, moon-like planet along with The Soup Dragon (and her baby), The Froglets, The Iron Chicken, The Cloud and The Music Trees.

The Clangers spoke in a musical whistle created by using a slide (or swanee) whistle. Their dialogue however was all scripted and then reproduced through the instruments. This allowed Postgate to be rather more adventurous with the dialogue than the BBC would have maybe liked (if they'd known) with Episode Three, 'Chicken', containing - at 00:55 - the most famous piece of salty Clanger speak, "Oh sod it, the bloody thing's stuck again."

Only 27 episodes (two series and one special) of The Clangers were made but to this day they hold - as does much of Postgate and Firmin's work - a special place in hearts of swathes of Brits who grew up in the 70s and 80s, but their simple charm has rendered them timeless with the revived series (2015-2020) producing a further 106 episodes narrated by Michael Palin (in the UK) and William Shatner (in the US).

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

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Bagpuss

Once upon a time
Not so long ago
There was a little girl and her name was Emily
And she had a shop

On the 12th February 1974 national treasures (illustrator / animator) Peter Firmin and (writer / narrator) Oliver Postgate via their Smallfilms company presented to the world the newest in a long line of meticulously crafted and beloved animations.  It's central character was a rotund, lazy, fairly dim, pink and white striped cat named Bagpuss who lived in a shop.

It was rather an unusual shop because it didn't sell anything.  You see, everything in that shop window was a thing that somebody had once lost and Emily had found and brought home to Bagpuss.

Sharing the shop with Bagpuss is Madeleine the rag doll, an imperious wooden owl named Professor Yaffle (Postgate's note perfect impersonation of the philosopher Bertrand Russell), Gabriel the banjo playing toad and the carved mice on the Mouse Organ. 

Over the 13 episodes the cast would investigate various unusual objects brought to the shop by a young girl named Emily (Firmin, daughter of Peter) which included a ballet shoe, a broken figurine, a fiddle and an old rag.  These objects were investigated and made the subject of both a story (animated in Bagpuss' thoughts) based on folk tales from around the world and a song (in an English folk song style) sung by one or more of the characters.

As was always the case with Smallfilms, Bagpuss was both beautifully realised and filled with imagination and wonder and as such, even with such a limited run of episodes, that it is still so beloved is testament to the skills of it's creators.

Buy it here - Bagpuss: The Complete Bagpuss [DVD]

Emily photographed by Jonny Trunk

So, we say happy birthday Bagpuss, old, fat, furry, catpuss.

The most important, the most beautiful, the most magical, saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world.

And to celebrate we'd like to raise a chocolate biscuit in salute and share with you our most well remembered of the episodes, 'The Mouse Mill'.

13 episodes and all these years later it's not just Emily who loves him (although she obviously still does).

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 sing

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.

The Return of The Clangers

It's been pretty much common knowledge for a while now that The Clangers were making a return to our TV screens in the near future with Peter Firmin along with Oliver Postgate's son Daniel working towards that end.

Well, in a masterstroke of casting the BBC has reported today that Michael Palin has been hired on to provide the narration.  Bereft of the magnificent voice of the sadly departed elder Postgate the narration was always going to be a sticky point but personally I think they couldn't have chosen better.

more details after the click - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29107225

For those of you unfamiliar with The Clangers...

Originally created in 1969 by (modelmaker and illustrator) Firmin and (writer, animator and narrator) Postgate's Smallfilms who had previously produced animated shows such as Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog and Pogle's Wood and who would go on to produce Bagpuss.  The Clangers are a small family of pink mouse like creatures - named Granny, Major, Mother, Tiny and Small Clanger - who live on and in a small planet along with The Soup Dragon (and her baby), The Froglets, The Iron Chicken, The Cloud and The Music Trees.

At this point in response to anyone thinking - rather tediously - 'What were they on?' - the answer is pure, unfettered, glorious imagination.

The Clangers spoke in a musical whistle created by using a slide (or swanee) whistle.  Their dialogue however was all scripted and then reproduced through the instruments.  This allowed Postgate to be rather more adventurous with the dialogue than the BBC would have liked with the episode 'Chicken' containing what became the most famous piece of Clanger speak (at 55 seconds in).

 
Here's Stephen Fry discussing it on QI if you can't make it out...

Only 27 episodes (two series and one - lost - special) of The Clangers were made but to this day they hold (as does much of Postgate and Firmin's work) a special place in hearts of entire generations of Brits who grew up in the 70s and 80s and it's good to know that they will be soon be entertaining entirely new generations.