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Fergus the Fish

FIVE MINUTE cartoon fillers featuring recidivist wooden fish swimming in a river with swishy cellophane plants. Plotline rarely changed: Fergus’s mother (equipped with long lacy trailing bits) would leave, and give him a list of things not to do while she was out, to which he would reply “Yes mummy, No, mummy” in a burbly, must-be-a-fish voice. Then when she was gone, he’d do them all and get in trouble again.

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  1. getting older - obviously

    June 6, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    ok – who else remembers this? It left a lasting effect on me – as I was fascinated by just how naughty you could be – before inevitably being found out. For some reason – young Fergus was an immensely appealing character – does anyone else think that?

  2. Stu

    September 20, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Dont know if you will read this.. but i was just reminiscing about Fergus to my partner and it made me curious to see IF any footage was kept/ could be found ont web….. i even made a Felt “stuffed version” of him at Junior school … Ahhhh.. the Good old Days Eh 🙂

    Being born in 59 i have imited memories of rowing up but reading the “plot” of what he did he was obviously a “kindred sprit”.. i ALWAYS did something i shouldnt if Mom was out 🙂

  3. Captain Pencilcase

    December 26, 2012 at 10:49 pm

    I remember Fergus. There doesn’t seem to be any footage of him online. This series is what’s missing from the world today.

  4. Trancepixie

    September 21, 2013 at 8:46 am

    My overriding memory of this show was that the puppets were suspended on a stiff rod which was used to move the fish around and let bubbles come out of their mouths when they spoke. I,can remember that one character called ‘The strange and funny
    Looking, fish’ spoke like Donald Duck, but so badly that the narrator had to translate it so the viewers could understand it. In the words of Fergus’s mum “don’t you go biting your fins” . A classic programme,

  5. gillian waters

    December 31, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    I remember him so does my brother… nobody else does except you guys! strange and funny looking fish doesn’t have a mummy or a daddy

  6. TV addict

    March 17, 2015 at 3:40 pm

    Didn’t he have a friend called Simon Seahorse or am I mixing it up with another programme?

  7. Fergus Woodthorpe Browne

    March 24, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    It made a big impression on me, but I do seem to recall he had pyschological issues, basically he was a whiney little git, or does my memory eluded me?

  8. Dave Hayes

    September 25, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Thank heavens for that, i was begining to think i was the only guy on earth who could remember fergus the fish. I remember coming out of school at 3.10pm and running home in time for my evening meal and then sat down in time to watch fergus at about 4pm on Midlands TV as it was back then. As you’ve all mentioned, fergus was a crudely made wierd looking fish puppet that always ignored his mothers advice and continually got into bother by doing exactly the opposite of what his mum had asked him not to do. Since colour tv had only just begun to be available from Radio Rentals, fergus always remains in my memory as an overly strong painted wooden creature. For some strange reason i seem to recall watching him in the very early seventies, around the same time programmes like Inigo Pipkin, General Hospital, Harriots back in town, and the first episodes of Emmerdale farm when it was a good farmyard storyline. Oh for the early seventies, and the begining of afternoon tv without having to wait until 5 oclock like wsy back in the sixties.

  9. Don

    October 15, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    No-one I ask recalls Fergus. I certainly can. I watched him on Southern TV in the nineteen sixties. He made the whole family laugh with his response to his mothers instructions such as, “Yes Muvver”, or, “No Muvver.”

  10. Ian

    March 16, 2016 at 4:45 pm

    I remember old Fergus fondly. Him and Simon Seahorse were always getting into scrapes. The puppets were rubbish wooden things on sticks (it was all played out actually under water!) and Fergus blew bubbles as he spoke (in a really irritating high-pitched voice). His mother was a glamorous thing with long, diaphanous fins, but he was a snub-nosed runt. I remember one episode with a “girl” fish in it, who seemed to have no friends. Fergus sang a song about her being a “Poor Strange Fish” who “won’t get any worms” nor “won’t get any flies”. At some point she said “Hello” to him, and he got very excited (young love?) and started singing “She said ‘Hello’ to me!”. I was 11 or 12 when Fergus was on (very early afternoon) and far too old for it really, but I thought it so bad that it was brilliant! Fergus’ voice used to drive my mother spare. 🙂

  11. G J Austin

    April 14, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    Proof that you can indeed discover anything from your past on the Internet. No one I know remembered Fergus and I’m talking about some serious TV nerds here. In fact I was beginning to doubt my own memory, but here is the proof he did indeed exist.

    I remember Fergus fondly because he’s the reason I eat spaghetti. My old mum would dump a bowl of the Heinz variety with tommy sauce as I watched and told me to eat all my worms! Still love the stuff even though I’ve moved on from tins of Heinz to the proper stuff with Bolognese on top!

  12. Gareth Austin

    April 16, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    No one I talked to, and some were serious telly nerds who could name all the Wacky Racers, the whole population of Camberwick Green and could recite the Pugh, Pugh, Barney Mcgrew..spiel from Trumpton had ever heard of Fergus The Fish. In fact it got to the point where I was seriously thinking he was some bizarre false memory, until it belatedly occurred to me to Google him! And here I am. And here he is…sort of.

    He did exist, thank God. And why am I so fond of the little darling? Well when I watched it my dear old mum would bring me my scoff. Same thing when Fergus was on…Heinz spaghetti in tomato sauce. And why that? Because like Fergus I wanted worms for tea!

    Still love it to this day, though now a tin of spaghetti is a snack, not a whole meal.

  13. kay cope

    September 11, 2016 at 8:16 pm

    Oh wow at last, my sister and i grew uo in the 60s 70s and like everyone else here thought perhaps we were having a joint false memory episode i remember watching him the only thing i distinctly remember is the opening where the words” deep deep down in the bottom of the sea linves little fergus fish” what a shame no episodes can be found i have just seen another old programme from that time on youtube The ringing singing tree thjs jsed to be on at the same time ha memories

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