Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (known commonly as Skippy) is an Australian television series created by Australian actor John McCallum, Lionel (Bob) Austin, and Lee Robinson, produced from 1967 to 1969 (airing from 5 February 1968 to 4 May 1970
Three series comprising 91 30-minute episodes were produced. Additionally, a full-length film titled Skippy and the Intruders was released to theatres in 1969.
The series was often characterised as an Australian or kangaroo version of Flipper or Lassie.
Cast
- Ed Devereaux as Matt Hammond, head ranger of Waratah National Park
- Garry Pankhurst as Sonny Hammond, Matt's younger son
- Ken James as Mark Hammond, Matt's elder son
- Tony Bonner as Jerry King (episodes 1-78), flight ranger (helicopter pilot)
- Liza Goddard as Clarissa "Clancy" Merrick (episodes 6,9-75) was the teenaged daughter of a ranger stationed at another section of the park. When her father is transferred to a park in northern New South Wales, Matt invites Clancy to stay with the Hammond family so that her music studies are not disrupted by the move north. She leaves the series when her character is awarded a musical scholarship to study in London.
- John Warwick as Sir Adrian Gillespie, head of NSW National Parks Board
- Elke Neidhardt as Anna Steiner, a German doctor and playing a support role only in season one
- Morgan Brain as Sgt. Bernard Gillies
Guest artists
The series featured numerous well known stars, (primarily of the era), who featured in guest cameos, this is documented and referenced by the National Film and Sound Archive.
- Frank Thring, actor and executive
- Chips Rafferty, actor
- John Laws, radio broadcaster
- Jack Thompson, actor
- Barry Crocker, actor, singer and variety entertainer
- Maggie Dence, actress and comedienne
- Michael Caton, actor
- Ross Higgins, actor and comedian
- Max Cullen, actor
- Harold Hopkins, actor
- Tom Oliver, actor
- Wendy Blacklock, actress, and comedienne
Episodes
Three series were made with a total of 91 episodes, and production was wound up in September 1969. Producers never intended to make more, partly because 91 episodes were considered enough, and partly because the child actor who played Sonny, Garry Pankhurst, was growing up.
The business made its reputation with Skippy, produced in association with Frank Packer's TCN Channel 9 Sydney. Fauna Productions went on to produce the TV series Barrier Reef and Boney, as well as the feature film Nickel Queen. Fauna Productions is still in business, now being run by two sons of the founders, Philip Austin and Nick McCallum. It holds copyright over the original Skippy TV series, while the Nine Network holds the trademark. Also necessary was the cooperation of the newly created NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, under government minister Tom Lewis, and the Ku-ring-gai Chase Trust to allow access to a further within the adjacent Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
Broadcast history
Domestic
The show was produced for global distribution and filmed in colour. It premiered outside of Australia. The domestic premiere in Sydney (on TCN-9) and Melbourne (GTV-9) In 2013, 9Gem started showing Skippy at 6:30 am.
International
The Australian series was one of the most popular exported television programs. Skippy was broadcast in all Commonwealth countries, including in Canada, where it was adapted in Quebec for the Standard French market as .
Making its debut in the UK on 8 October 1967 on ATV (four months before it was released in its native Australia), Skippy rivalled Doctor Who and The Avengers in terms of popularity in Britain’s TV Comic.
Skippy was broadcast in Mexico, where it was dubbed into Spanish and known as , and has been seen in most Spanish-speaking countries, including Cuba and Spain, where it became very popular. In Latín America, the show was broadcast on free TV in the 1970s, and on pay TV (cable, satellite and IPTV) vía Sundance Channel (Channel 520 of DIRECTV).
In the Netherlands, Skippy was first broadcast between 1969 and 1972. In Germany, it was known as , while in Italy, it was known as and broadcast by RAI Television. The show was popular in Scandinavia, and in Norway, a chain of shopping centres were named in honour of the programme. The series crossed the Iron Curtain and was broadcast in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. The series was also widely distributed in Ghana, where it aired weekly on the GBC. The series was also broadcast in Iran.
In the U.S., this version also aired on Animal Planet in 1997, and also on TBN's Smile of a Child children's network until 2019.
A series of 39 episodes has been released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment.
Later history
In 1998, an animated spin-off series was produced, known as Skippy: Adventures in Bushtown. It featured a version of Skippy, portrayed as a male, anthropomorphic kangaroo, working as a park ranger.
In 1999, Skippy starred in advertisements for the chocolate confectionery Rolo Cookies.
In September 2008, actor Tony Bonner sued the production company seeking residuals from merchandising and DVD sales from the series.
On 17 September 2009, a documentary Skippy: Australia's First Superstar was broadcast on the ABC in Australia and the BBC in the UK. The documentary was produced by Western Australian-based documentary production company Electric Pictures.
In popular culture
The original series was parodied in a recurring sketch as part of the British comedy series Goodness Gracious Me under the title "Skipinder, the Punjabi Kangaroo": the parody redubbed scenes from the original Skippy. The show was also parodied in the 1989–1992 Australian sketch comedy TV show, Fast Forward.
Home media
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Title
! Format
! Ep #
! Discs
! Date/Region
! Special features
! Distributors
|-
| The Adventures of Skippy
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 39
| 3
| 30 December 2003 1 (United States)
| None
| Platinum Disc Corporation
|-
| Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 8
| 1
| 2004 2 (Netherlands & Belgium)
| None
| Indies Home Entertainment
|-
| The Adventures of Skippy: The Vandals
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 4
| 1
| 2005 0 (United States)
| None
| Digiview Entertainment
|-
| Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo: The Complete First Season
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 39
| 5
| 10 July 2006 2 (United Kingdom)
| None
| Fabulous Films
|-
| The Complete Skippy: The Bush Kangaroo
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 91
| 14
| 1 June 2011 4 (Australia)
| None
| Umbrella Entertainment
|-
| Skippy and The Intruders
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | Film
| 01
| 1 April 2015 4 (Australia)
| None
| Umbrella Entertainment
|-
| Skippy: Australia's First Superstar
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | Film
| 01
| 1 February 2017 4 (Australia)
| Bonus Scenes with Directors Commentary
The Academics' View
The Crews' View
Photo Gallery
| Umbrella Entertainment
|-
| The Adventures Of Skippy (Complete Series)
| DVD
| style="text-align:center;" | 39
| 5
| 4 April 2018
| None
| Umbrella Entertainment
|-
|}
References
External links
- Skippy Was Conservation Gold. Or Was She?
- Skippy on Classic Australian Television
- Skippy (Norfolk 1968-1970 with Garry Pankhurst and Ed Devereaux) on Memorable TV
- Skippy on Australian Screen Online
- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo at the National Film and Sound Archive
- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo at Waratah Park Earth Sanctuary