Perishers, The

1 9 7 8 – 1 9 7 9 (UK)
20 x 5 minute episodes

This television adaptation of Maurice Dodd’s popular 21-year-old British newspaper cartoon strip followed the adventures of a group of four children – Wellington, Marlon, Maisie and Baby Grumpling – and Wellington’s intellectual Old English Sheepdog, Boot.

For the first time, the characters had voices instead of speech bubbles over their heads, with Judy Bennett and Sheila Steafel providing the voices of the children and Old Boot being voiced by Leonard Rossiter, fresh from his triumphs in Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

Peter Hawkins narrated and provided the voice of BH (Calcutta) Failed, the kindly Indian bloodhound with no sense of smell.

The Perishers was produced by FilmFair, who had also been responsible for The Adventures of Parsley, The Wombles and Paddington.

Wellington
Judy Bennett
Boot
Leonard Rossiter
Maisie
Sheila Steafel
Marlon
Sheila Steafel
Baby Grumpling
Judy Bennett
BH (Calcutta) Failed
Peter Hawkins
Narrator
Peter Hawkins

Episodes

Magic Mirror | In the Cart | A Life from the Ocean Wave | A-Camping We Will Go | A Fool and his Money Aren’t as Easily Parted as You Think | Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bath? | How to Train the Family Dog | The Ugly Duckling | Look Before it Leaps | Spring Fever | The Skateboard Champion | The Wheeling and Dealing | She May or She May Not | Noblesse Oblige | The War Games | Well Blow Me Down | Bone Champions | The Rehabilitation of BH (Calcutta) Failed | The Eye Balls in the Sky | The Inch-thick Ketchup Sandwich

Video