Skippy the Bush Kangaroo

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 1968 to 1970) about the adventures of a young boy and his highly intelligent pet kangaroo, and the various visitors to the fictional Waratah National Park, filmed in today's Waratah Park and adjoining portions of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park near Sydney.
Ninety-one 30-minute episodes were produced. Additionally, a full-length film titled "Skippy and The Intruders" was released to theatres in 1969.
Plot and setting.
"Skippy", the show's namesake star, is a female eastern grey kangaroo, who is befriended by 9-year-old Sonny Hammond, who with 16-year-old brother Mark are the children of widower Matt Hammond, the Head Ranger of Waratah National Park. The stories revolved around events in the park, including its animals, the dangers arising from natural hazards, and the actions of visitors (featuring numerous stars, predominately of the period in guesting roles). The boy's mother is said (in Episode 48 "The Mine") to have died shortly after Sonny was born.
The small and unusually intelligent Skippy was not a pet and it was often reiterated in the series that Skippy lived in the park and was free to come and go as she pleased. Skippy was found in the bush as a baby by Sonny - an orphan, her mother having been killed by shooters. It was always understood that once Skippy was old enough to look after herself she would go back to the bush, but a strong bond had been built up between Skippy and Sonny and the rest of the Hammond family. Skippy was a remarkable kangaroo. Capable of near-human thought and reasoning, she could understand everyone, open doors, carry things in her pouch, cross streams on narrow logs, foil villains, rescue hapless bushwalkers, untie ropes, collect the mail and even operate the radio. In one episode she plays drums in a band, in another she places a bet - and wins - on a horse at Randwick Racecourse.
Sharing the Ranger Headquarters residence was the helicopter pilot, Flight Ranger Jerry King, aged in his mid-20s. Later several female characters were introduced to the series, including Dr. Anna Steiner, a research scientist working in the park, and school girl Clancy Merrick, the teenage daughter of another park ranger who boards with the Hammonds. Members of the Aboriginal Theatre from Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory made guest appearances in three episodes.
The series was often characterised as a kangaroo version of Flipper or Lassie.
Cast.
The main characters were:
Episodes.
Three series were made with a total of 91 episodes and production was wound up in September 1969. It was never intended to make more, partly because 91 episodes was considered enough, and partly because the child actor who played Sonny, Garry Pankhurst, was growing up.
Production.
The Skippy TV series was produced by Fauna Productions. During 1963, British film director Michael Powell had visited Australia to pre-produce his film, 'They're A Weird Mob'. There he met actor and theatre businessman John McCallum and legal expert Bob Austin who used their local knowledge to find finance from Australian backers. The film did well, and McCallum and Austin together with veteran Australian producer Lee Robinson went on to set up Fauna Productions. The business made it reputation with Skippy, produced in association with Frank Packer's Channel Nine. Fauna Productions went on to produce the TV series Barrier Reef and Bony 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.
Most episodes were directed by Max Varnel or Eric Fullilove with scripts written by Australian writers. Producer Lee Robinson said "Each story has the underlying thought, which is the preservation of wild life".
Accomplished musician, band-leader and composer Eric Jupp was responsible for the theme and incidental music for Skippy. "It took me a few days to write the Skippy theme," said Jupp. 'I'd already written three or four versions and then rejected them. But the effort has proved worthwhile because about 30,000 records of the theme have been sold in Australia alone.'.
Location filming.
The series was shot in northern Sydney, on then undeveloped Crown land west of Namba Road now known as Waratah Park. Permission to film and build structures on the site was given by Warringah Council. 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. Following preparatory work, filming commenced in May 1967.
The Ranger Headquarters and residence was purpose-built for the series and used for both exterior and interior scenes. Power and water supply had to be connected and roads constructed, together with a helipad and helicopter servicing area. Other national parks were also utilised for filming, as well as the streets and beaches of Sydney and surrounding districts. "The Australian bush provided an excellent scenic backdrop, which was much appreciated by local and overseas viewers alike."
Animal actors.
Between nine and fifteen kangaroos were used for each show. The apparent manual dexterity was often achieved by using separate arms in the hands of human operators. Skippy's trademark "tchk tchk tchk" noise was entirely fictional. Kangaroos make no such sounds. But some sort of sound was needed for the series, and someone came up with the idea of clicking their tongue to make the sound. To this day, many people believe that kangaroos make "tchk tchk" noises. To make Skippy mover her mouth, supposedly creating the vocalisations, production staff gave the kangaroos chocolate, chewing gum or grass and, in some cases, an elastic band around the lower jaw.
A menagerie of other animals and birds were utilised for the show, including dingoes, possums, emus, galahs and koalas, all trained and managed by Scotty Denholm, a former NSW police dog trainer. In theory there was only one Skippy, but in reality there were many stand-ins. "Like people, some kangaroos are brighter than others," said producer Dennis Hill. Nonetheless there are limits to what you can get a kangaroo to do. Often the actors could be noticed patting the kangaroo to get her to move, or holding her to prevent her moving. Kangaroo paw bottle-openers, of a type that could be purchased at any souvenir shop, were utilised for close-up scenes of Skippy opening doors or picking up objects. There was also a stuffed kangaroo from a taxidermist used for scenes from behind, or when Skippy was required to jump into a confined space such as the helicopter.'.
Feature film.
Filming of the Skippy movie commenced in October 1968. Entitled "The Intruders" or "Skippy And The Intruders". the movie was largely filmed on the Waratah Park set as well as near the south coast town of Mallacoota. "Basically a feature-length episode, the movie was seen as a good rollicking adventure yarn and was well-received by Skippy fans.".
Popularity and awards.
Skippy was the first Australian series to be heavily merchandised. The "Skippy Club" boasted over 67,000 members. In Japan, short 8MM colour films were on sale. In Australia and many overseas countries you could buy Skippy pyjamas, ice-creams, toys, jewellery, soap, comics, jelly-beans, rulers, pencils, puzzles, toothpaste, shampoo, T-shirts, towels and soft drinks. The Commercial Banking Company had Skippy moneyboxes, the contents of which could be banked with the details entered into a Skippy passbook. There were LP and EP records, an adventure story narrated by John McCallum, several books and in 2009 you could still buy Skippy Corn Flakes. The popularity of Skippy was summed up by Fauna's Marketing-Merchandising Manager, Kevin Gleeson: 'Skippy is clean, non-violent fun with no sex. It's wholesome, family-type entertainment. . . most importantly, any necessary violence is innocuous and insignificant, with the old Skippy coming to the rescue at the end of each episode.'.
Skippy won a number of awards: a 1968 Logie Special Award for Best Export Production, a 1968 Logie for Michael Wright, writer of episode 4, "The Poachers", a 1968 Penguin for Best Live Show and a 1969 Charlie Award for Best Promotion and Contribution to the Australian entertainment industry. All three series of Skippy plus the movie "The Intruders" have been released on DVD.
The series sold around the world, reportedly shown in 128 countries. It is still being shown in some countries, some 40 years after it was made.
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) was Monday evening, 5 February 1968.
The Nine Network readily repeated the series several times after Australian television switched to colour transmission in 1975. In 2009, the Nine Network began to rerun the series in a graveyard slot in the early hours of the morning.
In 2013, 9Gem started showing "Skippy" at 6:30am.
International.
The Australian series was one of the most heavily exported programs. It was broadcast in all Commonwealth countries, including in Canada where it was adapted in Quebec for the Standard French market as "Skippy le kangourou".
It was dubbed into Spanish in Mexico, where it is known as "Skippy el canguro", and has been seen in most Spanish-speaking countries, including Cuba and Spain, where it became very popular. In Latín América, the show was broadcast on free TV in 1970s, and on pay TV (Cable, Satellite and IPTV) vía Sundance Channel (Channel 520 of DIRECTV).
It was shown in the Netherlands, where it was first screened between 1969 and 1972. In Germany, it was known as "Skippy, das Buschkänguruh", while in Italy was known as "Skyppy il canguro" 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 aired in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union in 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.
When it was transmitted in the United States, "Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo" was largely shown as weekend-morning children's television.
"The Adventures of Skippy".
The series was revived in 1992 as the short-lived "The Adventures of Skippy". This revival series focused on the now adult Sonny Hammond (played by Andrew Clarke) – having followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a ranger at a wildlife park – who now had his own family and a pet kangaroo named Skippy.
This version also aired on Animal Planet in 1997, and is currently airing in the U.S. on TBN's Smile of a Child TV children's network.
The complete 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 "". 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".