Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat. Early in the morning, just as day is dawning, he picks up all the postbags in his van……
Who among the thirtysomethings of today doesn’t look back with a warm glow of nostalgia when hearing that tune? A tune so catchy I’ve probably had it in my head for the past thirty years, more or less. Throughout my childhood, Pat was there, reliably clumsy, driving his van, losing his glasses, being outwitted by his cat.
So it was with a frisson of excitement that I learned that Postman Pat was, indeed, STILL ON THE TELEVISION, and that one could simply flick through CBeebies on catch-up and find him, Jess, Mrs Goggins and the Reverend Timms, still letter-writing it up in the Greendale That Time Forgot.*
So what did I find? Well, my memories from the 1980s are a bit hazy, but Pat seems to have aged remarkably well and is presenting as someone even younger than he was in 1986, the Benjamin Button of the Dales. Jess is still the most sardonic cat I have had the pleasure of seeing on screen, although I do find myself wondering how in God’s name he is still alive. I’m no expert in cat-years, but I do find myself wondering if there has been a Jess 2 and 3 that we don’t know about, not to mention the stunt-cat that surely performs most of his scenes. The van is still pootling up hill and down dale and has pleasingly not fallen foul of any concession to modernity. I was also intrigued to see that Pat seems to have been rewarded for his longevity by starting his own successful parcel delivery business. So successful, in fact, that he now has a helicopter to help with those trickier deliveries. Clearly PP either has money to burn, or he is running a very expensive courier service. My dear old dad, who was for many years a postman himself, always said privatisation would be the ruin of the Post Office, but on the contrary Pat appears to have flourished. I even sat through two episodes where he didn’t lose his glasses or end up stuck in a tree.
In one of these new-fangled PP escapades, Pat took to the skies not only in his helicopter, but in Ted Glen’s home made rocket, which he was somehow able to safely fly despite apparently being a humble postman with no rocket-specific training. These millennial children clearly expect a bit more from their parcel delivery service than we did back in those innocent days of nationalisation. This new Pat also appears to have had a love life more fortunate than his 1980s counterpart, as he seems to be married, with a child. Perhaps my memory fails me on this one, but I don’t recall the Pat of 1988 sitting in a cosy kitchen eating breakfast with anyone other than Jess the black and white cat. The only ladies I recall from those golden days are Mrs Goggins the postmistress and Miss Hubbard the spinsterly cyclist, neither of whom seemed to enjoy any Pat-love-interest subplots.
And lo and behold, here he is, man of many talents, showing up to do some magic tricks. Just because. Because he’s Postman Pat, and not content with being a pillar of the community, known all over the Yorkshire Dales for his parcel delivery skills, he needs to be a magician too. Do this man’s skills know no end? I do hope he’s not planning on sawing Jess in half. I don’t think I could bear it.
So here we are, Postman Pat, 34 years on the Greendale rounds, and star of your own film and television series, CEO of overblown parcel delivery service, and, most importantly of all, owner of the world’s best cat. What’s next, world domination? Or maybe the future belongs to Fireman Sam.
*My 32 year old brother and I obviously didn’t actually do this. We’ve moved on, times have changed. It’s over Pat.
The mini-G’s are not huge fans of Postman Pat in our house. Well, that’s not quite true – they like the song, and the fact that Jess is actually the on screen version of our Mog, ‘M’ (check out the photo on ‘The blog about the Mog and the baby’. Once we have cooed over the similarity, we are channel hopping to NickJr quicker than you can say Peppa Pig.
I heard today they are bringing back Super Ted too…oh yes, we could sit here all day talking 80’s kids TV show revivals!
Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub, always better late than never!
PS. Have you seen PP ‘Special Delivery Service’, it’s got a high tech theme and a totally different theme tune. Amazing. Or, I clearly need to get out more.
No I haven’t-I’m not sure I want to see any more of Pat whizzing around in a helicopter, jump jet, international space station or whatever new-fangled instrument he now uses to travel around Greendale. Bring back all the 80s kids’ TV! It’ll be Cities of Gold next, I reckon.
LOL! I remember thinking the exact same thing when I discovered this! Bring it back to the 80s retro I say! Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub lovely cx
Absolutely, although at least it is still on. I find myself wondering where Mr Ben is these days? He’s clearly not had the longevity that Pat has.
I can’t picture Pat naming his son Julian though. It just seems so unlikely.
Absolutely-makes me think of theatrical, classical music types. I can’t see Pat in that bracket, but you never know.
I love Postman Pat, mainly because he was was my postman of choice when I was a kid. However, when I put it on in the morning to help ease us into the school run they will demand that I turn it off and ask for Umizoomi instead. There is no accounting for taste. Postman Pat all the way! #justanotherlinky
Yes, Pat’s a ledge! Piglet’s favourites at the moment seem to be Chuggington and the Clangers. I find it fascinating which ones he likes-Chuggington I understand because he loves trains, but I’ve yet to work out why he loves the Clangers (although I quite like them).
It’s amazing how TV shows can run as long as this… I actually just known the show only when I got here in UK and when I got a kid, no wonder my husband have memorized the song so well. He must have seen the show since he was still young, lol. Lovely post! #FabFridayPost
As remakes go, Postman Pat isn’t too bad. And that song is such an ear worm!
It is! I find most of the CBeebies songs extremely catchy, and seem to spend a lot of time randomly singing them!
This made me chuckle because me and my NCT mums discuss the fact that Pat is obviously incompetent at his job and bossed about by a younger guy who just sits in his office! #KCACOLS
Haha! I’ve only seen a few episodes of the new Pat, and I thought he seemed less incompetent that he was 30 years ago, but maybe I need to see a few more episodes to get the full picture. Personally, I’d like to see more of a focus on Jess. He’s clearly the star of the show.
The Benjamin Button of the Dales – love it!! Thanks for linking lovely. #FabFridayPost
It’s insane that he is still going! My eldest, 11, loved postman pat and yet my youngest three haven’t discovered it yet – thank god!! #bigpinklink
I know! Well, what can I say, greatness endures!
I haven’t seen the new one but the old used to bore me to tears so rockets and helicopters sounds like an improvement to me.
#fartglitter
Well they’ve certainly jazzed it up a bit!
I remember feeling exactly like you when I discovered Postman Pat was still a thing! #bigpinklink
Yep, and Fireman Sam apparently too. I saw a Fireman Sam book recently, and he too appears to have all manner of exciting fun gadgets. Looks like trusty old Jupiter has had his nose put out of joint.
Oh don’t get me started! As if they would give the world’s most useless postman a special delivery service and a HELICOPTER! Drives me potty, he is totally incompetent! (Not that I have over thought this much at all!! 🙂 ) There are so many kids programs that wind me up. Thanks so much for linking up with our #bigpinklink
Me too-although I have to say there is something quite charming, albeit ludicrous, about Pat and his peeps in Greendale. I find children’s TV programmes fascinating.
He struggles with delivering a letter so I have no idea why they’ve given him the responsibility of piloting a helicopter/driving quad bikes etc. He should be back in the sorting office #bigpinklink
Haha, he should-and yet he seems to have his own personal sorting office, complete with all manner of gadgets. I say give Jess the helicopter.
I think it is nice that old programmes are still on TV! My daughter loves postman pat and fireman sam! Thank you for linking up to #justanotherlinky
I have to say, it’s all good fun for me, reminiscing about my own childhood, back in the Good Old Days when things were obviously better! Thanks for hosting and commenting.
This post made ma laugh, I love how much attention you have given the revamping of this show, was your little one even in the room while you watched it?Haha. As kids shows go, Post,an Pat isn’t too bad, I used to love it when I was younger, my 2 year old is not so keen. Our cat is black and white so obviously we named her Jessy (even though she’s a girl but never mind). This is a great post!
Thank you so much for linking this up to #KCACOLS. Hope to see you again next Sunday xx
I have to admit, he was in the room, but he wasn’t remotely interested. He was quite happily playing with his toys while my brother and I were obsessively looking through i-player trying to find episodes. I guess we just haven’t grown up!
My two love postman pat. But he really doesn’t do his job very well does he! Lol! Thanks for linking up to #justanotherlinky xx
Haha, I think it’s time they promoted Jess. A cat who’s survived that long has surely earned his reward.
haha this is funny. I know the new version but not the one from the 1980s as I was back in Peru and they didn’t use to pass this tv series over there. Bella used to watch it a lot but not as much now. Sienna is not into it at all at the moment but I think she could be a little bit young however she absolutely love Peppa Pig. In fact my 2 girls love that programme but Sienna is obsessed with it!! lol Thanks so much for sharing this at #KCACOLS. I would love to see you again on Sunday! 🙂 x
Thanks Franca. I will try and link up again on Sunday. x