This long-running 30-minute early morning Australian TV show for pre-school children featured a giant (mute and genderless) blue-faced ginger anthropomorphic cat in red dungarees and braces, a paisley bow tie and a green hat.
Fat Cat and Friends was originally produced in the studios of Network 10 in Adelaide and ran on the 0-10 Network from 1972 until 1987, then on the Seven Network until it was cancelled in 1991 after the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal claimed the show was not educational enough and “might confuse the young”.
For many years, Fat Cat bid young viewers “good night” in a short segment at 7.30 pm every evening on several TV stations in regional and metropolitan areas of Australia. The goodnight segments were produced by Channel Ten and featured Fat Cat climbing into his outsize brass bed to the strains of Brahms’ Lullaby.
During the 1990s, Fat Cat often appeared on celebrity versions of the Australian version of Wheel of Fortune, usually paired with Channel 7’s resident puppet Agro.
Fat Cat
Reg Whiteman (1)
Ralf Hadzic (2)
Melanie George (3)
Robert Fordham (4)
Presenters
Jane Reily
John Oster
Patsy Biscoe
Lynn Weston
