The Ferals Explained

Image Alt:The show's blended light and dark green logo on top of a dark purple background, a hole made through it showing a smiling The Ferals cast.
Alt Name:Ferals
Genre:Children's television
Creator:
  • Wendy Gray
  • Claire Henderson
Starring:
Voices:
  • Danielle Baker as Kylie (Series 2)
  • David Collins as Rattus P. Rattus
  • Mal Heap as Modigliana Wydebottom/Keith
  • Emma deVries as Mixy M. Toasus
  • Terry Ryan as Derryn
  • Kelly Wallwork as Kylie (Series 1)
Composer:Peter Dasent
Country:Australia
Language:English
Num Series:2
Num Episodes:30
Runtime:25 minutes
Network:
  • ABC TV (Australia)
  • Nick (UK)

The Ferals was an Australian children's comedy television series which screened on the ABC from 1994 to 1995. It was created by Wendy Gray and Claire Henderson and featured a mixture of people and animal puppets known as the "Ferals". It was lauded for its irreverent humour and distinctive characters, some of which featured on other ABC programming. Garth Frost was responsible for the puppet design.[1] The opening theme was written by Peter Dasent and Arthur Baysting and performed by Dave Dobbyn.[2] In the UK, the show aired on satellite television via Nickelodeon UK.

Plot

The Ferals are an eclectic group of animals that live together in a backyard shed. There is a rat called Rattus, a feral cat called Modigliana, a rabbit called Mixy, and a feral dog called Derryn. The humans are two university students, and their landlord, who clash with each other and the Ferals.

They include the uptight, neurotic landlord Joe King who is determined to remove the ferals from his garden; the affable science student Leonard, and medical student Robbie, who attempt to shield the ferals from eviction, but are sometimes exasperated with their antics.

There were also the 'Bozos From The Bush' as Modigliana liked to call them, Keith, a koala and Kylie, a kangaroo. These two characters often clashed with the Ferals, thinking they were above them due to their status as native Australian animals.[3]

They were also quite nasal and whiney in their characteristics. Other characters included White Ants (Tina Bursill, Robert Hughes), Rock Wrangler (Tina Matthews) and Fat Cat (Taylor Owynns)

Characters

Puppets

Humans

Episodes

See main article: List of The Ferals episodes.

Feral TV

Later in 1995 a five-minute show called Feral TV was launched. The Ferals had been exploring the sewers, due to Joe demolishing the shed in the final episode, and had discovered the cable to a TV station. They started their own TV channel, calling it Feral TV, running under the TV boss Kerry, a loud gruff toad with an explosive temper,[8] and his obsequious assistant the cockroach Rodney.[9] Kerry's character is modelled on the Australian media magnate Kerry Packer, who at the time, was the owner of Channel Nine (despite the show airing on ABC). Keith from the original show also returned for this show as well as a character from The Ferals' pilot episode called Berry the Bat.[10] Kylie was the only one of the original six main puppet characters not to return since having two puppeteers (Kelly Wallwork and Danielle Baker) didn't make her a strong character to work with. The show ran for 55 episodes.[11] From July to August 2023, Modigliana and Keith's actor, Mal Heap uploaded a long lost second series of the show on his YouTube account, That Puppet Bloke.[12] The series was also shown on the same UK network as the previous series (Nickelodeon UK).

After the Ferals

Although few of the human actors went on to achieve successful television careers, some of the puppet characters continue to feature regularly in ABC programming. Mixy, in particular, was used as a host introducing the shows on the ABC Kids programming block (Mixy), as well as having her own show and website.[13] Rattus and Modigliana were featured in the ABC School's education maths program, Numbers Count (Mixy and Derryn were mentioned in one scene). Also Modigliana went on to feature as co-host of the show Creature Features.[14] Derryn is the only one of the quartet not to appear in ABC's other programmes. Rattus, Modigliana and Mixy appeared in the 2022 edition of ABC New Year's Eve Early Night Show.

Mixy
Premiered:16 February 1998
Closed:26 July 2002
Channel:ABC
Country:Australia
Language:English

Mixy was an Australian program block on the ABC that hosts Mixy Rabbit from The Ferals. After the Ferals' series ended, Mixy has been used as a host for her new program block and introducing the shows in the morning.

In 2000, the puppeteer Mal Heap, who played Modigliana the cat and Keith the koala from The Ferals, introduced the role of Joe the Kangaroo alongside Mixy.

After the programming block finished in July 2002, Mixy kept appearing in ABC idents and her own website episodes until around the mid-2000s.

Hosts
Toys
ProgrammingPrograms in alphabetical order
Video release
WebsiteIn the early 2000s, Mixy's website was shown at the ABC Playground Website in-between shows behind painted blobs. Mousing over the green blob would display Mixy. Clicking on the character's image would present options of games, videos, fan messages and Joe the Kangaroo's corner.

Arturo has now taken over as a main character as he shows very similar characteristics to the original ferals.

Ferals Funtastic Fanbook

1996 saw the publication of The Ferals Funtastic Fanbook by Garth Frost, Wendy Gray, David Witt and Tina Matthews.[15]

The Ferals Podcast

On 17 May 2015 the first episode of an unofficial podcast simply titled *The Ferals Podcast* was released.
On 10 January 2016 they posted their last episode.

In the podcast, hosts Monkey Boy, Swinny & Mike took an in-depth look at the cult-classic children's television show.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Ferals. IMDb. 28 January 2010.
  2. Web site: The Ferals Intro.
  3. News: 1994: January 15-21 . 26 April 2013 . televisionau.com . 24 January 2020.
  4. News: Meet Rattus P. Rattus . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/default.htm . 2 June 2001. 29 December 2019.
  5. News: Meet Modigliana Wydebottom . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/1.htm . 2 June 2001. 29 December 2019.
  6. News: Meet Derryn . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/3.htm . 2 June 2001. 29 December 2019.
  7. News: Meet Mixy M. Toasus . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/2.htm . 2 June 2001. 29 December 2019.
  8. News: Meet Kerry . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/5.htm. 2 June 2001 . 29 December 2019.
  9. News: Meet Rodney . https://web.archive.org/web/20010602200647/http://www.abc.net.au/children/feral/fancards/4.htm. 2 June 2001 . 29 December 2019.
  10. Web site: The Ferals: Pilot Episode (1993).
  11. Web site: Feral TV (1995 - 1997) - the Screen Guide - Screen Australia.
  12. Web site: Feral TV Season 2 (1997) . YouTube.
  13. Web site: Mixy . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/19990225154854/http://www.abc.net.au/children/mixy/ . 25 February 1999 .
  14. Web site: Creature Features . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20021212160248/http://www.abc.net.au/creaturefeatures/ . 12 December 2002 .
  15. Book: Frost, Garth. The Ferals Fantastic Fanbook. Gray, Wendy . Witt, David . Matthews, Tina . 1996. ABC Books. Sydney, Australia. 978-0-7333-0471-2.