Skippy

Skippy the bush Kangaroo was basically an Australian version of Lassie - just as Flipper was a dolphin version of Lassie. An animal that helps out humans, rescues and informs it's human masters of dangers or accidents.

It was produced from 1966 - 1968 but it played and played and became an international hit. Growing up in the 1980's I still remember it. It had a very catchy theme tune as well, which helped endear it to your memory. And of course Kangaroo's are very exciting to a child - an animal that HOPS (!!!) everywhere? Brilliant.

There were only ever 90 episodes made. But it was a huge success. It was dubbed into Spanish and was a big hit in Spanish-speaking countries, including Cuba and Spain.

Skippy also was a cultural ambassador of sorts, as the series also passed through the Iron Curtain being aired in Czechoslovakia 1980s. And to this day it is still regularly shown in Iran.

Brilliantly Swedish, the Swedes banned (!) Skippy the Bush Kangaroo because they believed that the show would mislead children into believing animals could do things that they could not. Which you could understand with Gentle Ben (A friendly bear!!) but with "Skippy" you wonder what threat they were guarding against... a marauding invasion of killer marsupials?