Bagpuss set to make a TV comeback

The Bagpuss project is at an early stage (PA)

Bagpuss - the most important, the most beautiful, the most magical saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world - could be returning to TV screens.

Production company Coolabi struck a deal with the show's creators to make a new series of the much-loved animation.

Broadcast magazine reported that the company agreed terms with Peter Firmin and Dan Postgate - son of the late Oliver Postgate, Firmin's creative partner - in the summer.

Coolabi has held the distribution and merchandising rights to Bagpuss, Ivor The Engine and The Clangers for several years, but the new deal allows them to make new shows.

Chief executive Jeremy Banks told Broadcast: "We are going to work closely with the (Firmin and Postgate) families because they are the brand custodians and know so much more about what went into Bagpuss than we ever could.

"They have embraced the concept of developing new content."

The project is still at an early stage, he added, and no decision has been made about the style of animation that might be used, nor have any broadcasters been approached.