Creator of classic BBC children's shows dies aged 83

Published on Tuesday 9 December 2008 19:11

OLIVER Postgate, the creator of Bagpuss, The Clangers and a series of other classic children's television programmes, has died at the age of 83, his partner said yesterday.

His other creations, including Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine and Pingwings, were screened on the BBC and ITV from the 1950s.

Postgate's creations were made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with the artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin, and he also narrated all its productions.

Postgate's partner, Naomi Linnell, confirmed that he died at a nursing home near his home in Broadstairs, Kent, on Monday.

Born in Hendon, Middlesex, Postgate set up Smallfilms in a disused cowshed near Canterbury after spending his early years in a number of different jobs.

In an interview with the BBC in 2005, Postgate explained the process by which Bagpuss – of which 13 episodes were made – and how some of his other characters came into being.

He said: "We would go to the BBC once a year, show them the films we'd made, and they would say 'Yes, lovely, now what are you going to do next?'

"We would tell them and they would say: 'That sounds fine, we'll mark it in for 18 months from now', and we would be given praise and encouragement and some money in advance."