Captain Pugwash

CAPTAIN PUGWASH
Made by: John Ryan
Shown on: BBC, ITV
Years shown: 1957-1998

Created by John Ryan for Eagle magazine in 1950, Captain Pugwash made it to our screens via an eight year comic-strip stint in the Radio Times. With vocal duties by Bernard Cribbins, and up-tempo sea shanty, ‘The Hornblower’, for its theme music, Captain Pugwash was the adventures of the titular second-rate pirate and his crew of The Black Pig.

Portly Horatio Pugwash was possibly the worst pirate let loose on the seven seas - he was not vicious, conniving or bloodthirsty. Instead, he was bungling, cowardly and usually succeeded only by happy accident. He was joined on board by Barnabas, Willy, and Master Mate, but the brains of the organisation was Tom the Cabin Boy, a blond, tousle-haired goody-goody in cut-off trousers, who always managed to get his Cap’n out of trouble. Pugwash’s nemesis was Cut-throat Jake, the dirty, dastardly captain of The Flying Dustman, who always got his comeuppance in the end.

And now to clear something up: there were no rude names in Captain Pugwash. Not one. It was just a vicious rumour that there was a Seaman Staines and a Master Bate - a Master Mate, but not a Master Bate. Glad that’s clear now….And there was no Roger the Cabin Boy either, sicko.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 7/10

(Thanks to the Random House website for the borrowed pic)