Captain Horatio Pugwash was created by John Ryan, and first appeared as a comic strip in the very first issue of Eagle comic in 1950. The first Pugwash book (the original hand-made dummy pictured) was published by Bodley Head in 1957. It caught the eye of the BBC which resulted in them commissioning a short cartoon film which would go on to become the Captain Pugwash animated TV series. Also in 1957, Pugwash became a regular comic strip feature in the Radio Times – running for eight years, it was the only content for children in the magazine.


Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate, and the title character of the fondly remembered children’s TV series featuring a distinctive cardboard cutout style of animation. First shown on the BBC in 1957, it was re-visited again in 1974 and 1997.


Sailing aboard the ‘Black Pig’, Pugwash and his crew, including Tom, Master Mate, Willy and Barnabas, regularly encounter their fearsome arch-enemy: rival Pirate Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the ‘Flying Dustman'.turing a distinctive cardboard cutout style of animation. First shown on the BBC in 1957, it was re-visited again in 1974 and 1997.

Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate, and the title character of the fondly remembered children’s TV series featuring a distinctive cardboard cutout style of animation. First shown on the BBC in 1957, it was re-visited again in 1974 and 1997.
Captain Horatio Pugwash was created by John Ryan, and first appeared as a comic strip in the very first issue of Eagle comic in 1950. The first Pugwash book (the original hand-made dummy pictured) was published by Bodley Head in 1957. It caught the eye of the BBC which resulted in them commissioning a short cartoon film which would go on to become the Captain Pugwash animated TV series. Also in 1957, Pugwash became a regular comic strip feature in the Radio Times – running for eight years, it was the only content for children in the magazine.


Sailing aboard the ‘Black Pig’, Pugwash and his crew, including Tom, Master Mate, Willy and Barnabas, regularly encounter their fearsome arch-enemy: rival Pirate Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the ‘Flying Dustman'.turing a distinctive cardboard cutout style of animation. First shown on the BBC in 1957, it was re-visited again in 1974 and 1997.

Captain Pugwash episodes from 1957 and 1974
Episodes of Captain Pugwash shown with the kind permission of Isabel Ryan.
Captain Pugwash episodes from 1957 and 1974
Episodes of Captain Pugwash shown with the kind permission of Isabel Ryan.
John Ryan produced a total of 87 five-minute episodes for the BBC. Originally shot in black and white and shown until 1966, Pugwash returned in colour with 30 more adventures made in 1974-75 for a new generation of children. Ryan himself drew all of the Pugwash elements helped by his wife Priscilla and two assistants, using a real-time animation technique of his own invention.
Cardboard cutouts of the characters and scenery were laid on painted backgrounds and moved by unseen levers as the cameras rolled. This pioneering technique allowed the very first episodes (now lost) to be performed and broadcast live! Each episode of up to 50 scenes each, took about three weeks to create.




Above: The studio where all of the Captain Pugwash episodes were produced, examples of the illustrated scenes showing the simple cardboard ‘levers' used to move parts of the figures, and John Ryan filming with his wife and assistants.
John Ryan produced a total of 87 five-minute episodes for the BBC. Originally shot in black and white and shown until 1966, Pugwash returned in colour with 30 more adventures made in 1974-75 for a new generation of children. Ryan himself drew all of the Pugwash elements helped by his wife Priscilla and two assistants, using a real-time animation technique of his own invention.
Cardboard cutouts of the characters and scenery were laid on painted backgrounds and moved by unseen levers as the cameras rolled. This pioneering technique allowed the very first episodes (now lost) to be performed and broadcast live! Each episode of up to 50 scenes each, took about three weeks to create.




Above: The studio where all of the Captain Pugwash episodes were produced, examples of the illustrated scenes showing the simple cardboard ‘levers' used to move parts of the figures, and John Ryan filming with his wife and assistants.
John Ryan’s daughter, Isabel, demonstrates the Pugwash animation technique.
John Ryan’s daughter, Isabel, demonstrates the Pugwash animation technique.
After the last series of Captain Pugwash shorts by Ryan was made in 1975, he went on to write seven new Pugwash storybooks in the 1980’s and 90’s (he wrote 24 in total). In 1997, John Ryan licensed the character to John Cary Studios who produced 13 new Captain Pugwash episodes using computer animation for the digital-era audience.

After the last series of Captain Pugwash shorts by Ryan was made in 1975, he went on to write seven new Pugwash storybooks in the 1980’s and 90’s (he wrote 24 in total). In 1997, John Ryan licensed the character to John Cary Studios who produced 13 new Captain Pugwash episodes using computer animation for the digital-era audience.

John Ryan entertains children with one of his books
John Ryan entertains children with one of his books


John Ryan's wonderful Pugwash art and the films he produced were simple, beautiful pieces of work, crafted with great skill and care, ensuring they will forever be a part of television folklore.
All images © Estate of John Ryan. Reproduced by kind permission of Isabel Ryan.


John Ryan's wonderful Pugwash art and the films he produced were simple, beautiful pieces of work, crafted with great skill and care, ensuring they will forever be a part of television folklore.
All images © Estate of John Ryan. Reproduced by kind permission of Isabel Ryan.
Isabel Ryan talks about Captain Pugwash and her father’s legacy during a visit to The Word.
Isabel Ryan talks about Captain Pugwash and her father’s legacy during a visit to The Word.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists was the first in The Pirates! series of books by Gideon Defoe dealing with an eccentric crew of pirates. It was published in 2004 by Orion Books, then later adapted into a stop-motion film by Aardman Animations and Sony Animations, released in 2012.

The book was not originally aimed at children as much of the humour relies on an adult appreciation of context, cliché and irony. The fantasy stories verge on surrealistic, however the scenarios are often silly and frequently result in slapstick. When it came to writing the film script however, it was created with a younger audience in mind.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists was the first in The Pirates! series of books by Gideon Defoe dealing with an eccentric crew of pirates. It was published in 2004 by Orion Books, then later adapted into a stop-motion film by Aardman Animations and Sony Animations, released in 2012.

The book was not originally aimed at children as much of the humour relies on an adult appreciation of context, cliché and irony. The fantasy stories verge on surrealistic, however the scenarios are often silly and frequently result in slapstick. When it came to writing the film script however, it was created with a younger audience in mind.
The plot
Set in 1837, the film loosely follows the book’s plot, in which The Pirate Captain and his crew of pirate misfits attempt to win the ‘Pirate of the Year’ competition after years of humiliation and failed attempts to win the award.
The Pirate Captain and his crew must take on their pirating rivals – Black Bellamy, Peg Leg Hastings and Cutlass Liz, to see who can plunder the most treasure and claim the coveted prize.
They soon cross paths with a young scientist, Charles Darwin, who persuades the Captain that the crew’s prized parrot, Polly, is the answer to the untold riches for which they seek, and that they should enter her into the ‘Scientist of the Year’ contest.
Their adventure takes them to Victorian London where they meet the pirate-hating Queen Victoria. It soon unfolds that Darwin’s motives for helping the crew are not what they seem, and the Queen also has an evil hidden agenda of her own.

The plot
Set in 1837, the film loosely follows the book’s plot, in which The Pirate Captain and his crew of pirate misfits attempt to win the ‘Pirate of the Year’ competition after years of humiliation and failed attempts to win the award.
The Pirate Captain and his crew must take on their pirating rivals – Black Bellamy, Peg Leg Hastings and Cutlass Liz, to see who can plunder the most treasure and claim the coveted prize.
They soon cross paths with a young scientist, Charles Darwin, who persuades the Captain that the crew’s prized parrot, Polly, is the answer to the untold riches for which they seek, and that they should enter her into the ‘Scientist of the Year’ contest.
Their adventure takes them to Victorian London where they meet the pirate-hating Queen Victoria. It soon unfolds that Darwin’s motives for helping the crew are not what they seem, and the Queen also has an evil hidden agenda of her own.

Making the film
The film was the fifth feature film by Aardman Animations, and their first stop-motion animated film since Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005. It features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Salma Hayek, Lenny Henry and Brian Blessed amongst others.
The stop-motion film-making process is painfully slow, resulting in only between three and 20 seconds of footage a week being produced, depending on the complexity of the scene. This explains why it took five long years to make from when it was given the go-ahead to its release!


With as many as 350 people working on the film at any one time, the sheer scale of the project stretched the expertise of the model makers to the limit.
There were more than 30 sets, varying from the size of a tabletop to an expansive shanty town set – each covered with thousands tiny details. The pirate ship alone measured 4.2 metres long and was completely hand-crafted using over 44,000 parts and took 5,000 hours of work to produce.
The studio also developed a streamlined, and therefore quicker method of character animation. The upper half of each face was still modeled manually, but the lower half consisted of dozens of pre-made jaws, each with a subtly different expression. There was more than 240 jaws for Pirate Captain alone – all complete with tiny beards!
Unlike their previous films, Aardman this time used CGI to complement and enrich the primarily stop-motion film for backgrounds, such as sea, sky and scenery.

Making the film
The film was the fifth feature film by Aardman Animations, and their first stop-motion animated film since Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in 2005. It features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Salma Hayek, Lenny Henry and Brian Blessed amongst others.
The stop-motion film-making process is painfully slow, resulting in only between three and 20 seconds of footage a week being produced, depending on the complexity of the scene. This explains why it took five long years to make from when it was given the go-ahead to its release!

With as many as 350 people working on the film at any one time, the sheer scale of the project stretched the expertise of the model makers to the limit.
There were more than 30 sets, varying from the size of a tabletop to an expansive shanty town set – each covered with thousands tiny details. The pirate ship alone measured 4.2 metres long and was completely hand-crafted using over 44,000 parts and took 5,000 hours of work to produce.

The studio also developed a streamlined, and therefore quicker method of character animation. The upper half of each face was still modeled manually, but the lower half consisted of dozens of pre-made jaws, each with a subtly different expression. There was more than 240 jaws for Pirate Captain alone – all complete with tiny beards!
Unlike their previous films, Aardman this time used CGI to complement and enrich the primarily stop-motion film for backgrounds, such as sea, sky and scenery.


Receiving positive reviews, the film earned $123 million against its budget of $55 million. It was also nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost out to Disney Pixar’s Brave.

Receiving positive reviews, the film earned $123 million against its budget of $55 million. It was also nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost out to Disney Pixar’s Brave.