Fat Cat and Friends


Fat Cat and Friends is an Australian children's television show starring Fat Cat, a costumed character, who is an orange/ginger anthropomorphic cat who wears red braces, a blue bow tie and a green bowler hat and striped socks. The show is similar in concept to Here's Humphrey featuring Humphrey B. Bear. The program would feature resident music artist Patsy Biscoe, who would go on to record numerous kids album, as well as main hostess Lynn Weston, who would later host children's show The Book Place. The show was cancelled in 1991, however the Fat Cat character continues to feature on television in Perth as the mascot of the Telethon fundraising organization.

Production

Following the cancellation of The Magic Circle Club, actor/writer Max Bartlett continued to work in television production, moving to Western Australia, where he helped to develop the character of "Fat Cat" and the children's series, The Underground Video Show. The character still says goodnight to Perth children on television at 7.30 each night.
"Fat Cat and Friends" was originally produced in the studios of SAS 10 in Adelaide and it survived the 1987 frequency switch of channels 10 & 7 in Adelaide. It was written, directed and produced by Murray George for 13 years. After 1988 it continued to be produced at the station which then became SAS-7. The show ran on the 0-10 Network from 1972 until 1987, then on the Seven Network from 1988 until it was cancelled in 1991 after the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal claimed that the program was not educational enough and was "not clearly defined and encouraging of bestial adoration". There was also a question of gender—namely, that Fat Cat did not appear to have one. The character being mute was also a clear issue despite the precedent of Humphrey B. Bear.
During the 1990s, Fat Cat often appeared on celebrity versions of the then Adelaide produced Wheel of Fortune. As Fat Cat did not speak he was usually paired up with Channel 7's resident puppet Agro who was the mouthpiece for the duo.
Despite cancellation, Fat Cat still appears on Perth television screens as the mascot of Seven Perth's highly successful Telethon fundraising organisation.
Fat Cat was originally played by Reg Whiteman for more than a decade. Fat Cat was then played by Ralf Hadzic for five years. Fat Cat was then played by Melanie George who is now a freelance choreographer. Robert Fordham played Fat Cat from 1994 and performed on 3 of the Fat Cat Storytime videos. The character was later played off screen by a male friend Damien of the show's musician, singer Patsy Biscoe.
Initially slated for release as a sidekick to Fat Cat, the character of 'Stringbean' was originally played in the first month of screening by veteran comedic actor 'Nudge McGee'.