Beeb should never have bagged our Bagpuss

Creator's son on TV cloth cat's lasting appeal

- CHARLOTTE MCLAUGHLIN

THE family of the creators of the hit kids' show Bagpuss have said the BBC "was mistaken" about its enduring appeal as it celebrates 50 years.

Artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin and animator Oliver Postgate, who also made Clangers at their Kent production firm Smallfilms, put out only 13 episodes of the series about the "saggy old cloth cat" on the BBC, which began on February 12 1974.

However, the show - which is set in a shop that does not sell anything - has continued to be popular.

It has been re-broadcast multiple times and in 1999, a BBC poll voted it as the all-time favourite children's show.