The Lesser Known Adventures of Bagpuss

From the pages of Pippin in Playland

Bagpuss is 50 years old this year, and it’s left me thinking about the saggy, old cloth cat rather a lot. As a result, I’ve wanted to spend 2024 looking at some of the more intriguing elements related to the series. The 12 classic, iconic episodes have been discussed and dissected extensively in the past, so I’m not going to focus on them. Instead, I’ll be turning the Curious British Telly eye towards some of the lesser known adventures of Bagpuss.

Today, I’ll be delving into the pages of Pippin in Playland to look at a couple of Bagpuss comic strips which, to most people, are completely new. An amalgamation of the comics Pippin and Playland - running, in total, between 1966 to 1986 - Pippin in Playland was a weekly comic aimed at the younger end of the children’s market and featured numerous strips based on preschooler television such as Camberwick Green, Andy Pandy, Noggin the Nog and programmes for slightly older children including Rubovia and Sooty.

Bagpuss also featured, running between 1974 - 78. These were official Bagpuss comic strips which, according to the smallfilms.co.uk website, were written and illustrated by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. As you can see from the example on the Smallfilms page, it’s definitely Peter Firmin’s work. The two comic strips I’ve managed to exhume look slightly different, but there is mention that Charlotte Firmin occasionally helped out with the later Ivor the Engine comic strips, so this may also be the case with some of the Bagpuss strips.

Anyway, let’s a take a look at some of these Bagpuss comic strips.