![The original Bagpuss at The Beaner [ph: Canterbury Museums and Galleries]](https://dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Bagpuss-at-The-Beaney-Credit_-Canterbury-Museums-and-Galleries.jpg "Bagpuss at The Beaney (Credit_ Canterbury Museums and Galleries)")
An old cloth cat beloved by generations of Brits will get new life on the big screen, with the news that Bagpuss will be revived for a live-action and animation hybrid feature in 2027. The project is being produced by Threewise Entertainment (Rock Island Mysteries) in Birmingham, and is being developed with the estate of original creators Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin.
Voted the U.K.’s favorite children’s show of all time in a 1999 BBC poll, and nine years later as the nation’s favorite children’s TV animal, Bagpuss was introduced to audiences in 1974 across 13 episodes. The Smallfilms-produced show combined live action, stop motion and other animation techniques to tell its charming tales.
Each episode opened with Bagpuss — “the most important, the most beautiful, the most magical saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world” — coming to life and awakening in the window of a shop, alongside his toybox friends like Professor Yaffle, Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine the rag doll. This marvelous pink and white cat would be visited by a little girl (played by co-creator Firmin’s daughter, Emily) who brought him lost items to identify.
“Bagpuss was an integral part of my childhood. To me he wasn’t just a character on the screen, he was a friend who taught me about kindness, care and imagination,” Emily Firmin shared in the announcement. “To see our most magical cat return now is incredibly moving and I’m thrilled that new fans will have the chance to discover him, and that his magic will live on and be shared with the next generation.”
While the original series was set in the Victorian era, the new movie will see Bagpuss and co. “stir from their slumber to find themselves in contemporary Britain” to take on a quest in the current age, according to the producers. The project promises to remain true to the spirit of the classic series in its storytelling and use of animation techniques.
The Bagpuss film has received investment support from Creative UK via the West Midlands IP Fund, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority.
[Source: BBC]
