The Ferals is 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.
The Ferals
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 15 | 11 April 1994 (1994-04-11) | 18 July 1994 (1994-07-18) | |
| 2 | 15 | 20 March 1995 (1995-03-20) | 26 June 1995 (1995-06-26) | |
Series 1 (1994)
| # | Title | Original Air Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Explosion of Talent" | 11 April 1994 (1994-04-11) | |
| New odious Landlord Joe King moves in and now owns the Ferals's shed so they have to try to get in his good books so he will not throw them out. | |||
| 2 | "The Ghost of Ironbark Lill" | 18 April 1994 (1994-04-18) | |
| An urban legend of a local ghost named "Ironbark Lill" may not be just a legend after all. Well not if Joe or the Ferals have anything to do with it. | |||
| 3 | "Couch Potatoes" | 25 April 1994 (1994-04-25) | |
| The Ferals want a new television, but Joe will not give it to them, so they decide to have their own game show of "Pay The Price" where the stakes are that Joe gets the television if he loses but if he wins, the Ferals move out of the shed. | |||
| 4 | "Buried Treasure" | 2 May 1994 (1994-05-02) | |
| As Joe tries to sell his house, the Ferals find what they believe to be treasure, but when Mixy is sent out to bury them for safety, she learns that they are chocolate just before a knock on her head gives her amnesia. | |||
| 5 | "Wags to Riches" | 9 May 1994 (1994-05-09) | |
| The characters all compete against each other to raise money for charity to win a week-long cruise, while also dealing with Derryn's flea outbreak. | |||
| 6 | "Happy Birthday!" | 16 May 1994 (1994-05-16) | |
| Joe makes the Ferals do chores to earn their keep for staying in the shed. Leonard's birthday is coming and Robbie decides to use Joe's house for a party while he is out. | |||
| 7 | "Fifteen Seconds of Fame" | 23 May 1994 (1994-05-23) | |
| The gang are trying to be noticed with their talents on television, Leonard and Robbie with their magic act and The Ferals with Modigliana's Country Western singing. | |||
| 8 | "Rock Horror" | 30 May 1994 (1994-05-30) | |
| A living pet rock causes trouble for the Ferals. | |||
| 9 | "Modigliana" | 6 June 1994 (1994-06-06) | |
| An X-ray shows Modigliana to have brain damage, but the gang later find out what has really been going on. | |||
| 10 | "Exam Fever" | 13 June 1994 (1994-06-13) | |
| Dopey Derryn becomes intelligent after being hypnotized by Leonard, much to everyone's amazement. | |||
| 11 | "Double Trouble" | 20 June 1994 (1994-06-20) | |
| Rattus and Joe's 'get-rich-quick' scheme, a Digital Duplicator goes awfully wrong when it creates a clone of Rattus. Luckily, the device has a reverse mode. | |||
| 12 | "The Rat in the Moon" | 27 June 1994 (1994-06-27) | |
| Things go haywire when the Ferals think aliens have invaded, while Joe becomes fixated on trying to win a permanent position as publicity manager for a pizza delivery place. | |||
| 13 | "True Romance" | 4 July 1994 (1994-07-04) | |
| It is Valentine's Day which is supposed to be a day of love, but turns into a day of frenzy with the Ferals involved, ranging from Robbie having a mystery date to Rattus becoming convinced that he is in love with Modigliana. | |||
| 14 | "April Fools" | 11 July 1994 (1994-07-11) | |
| It is April Fools' Day and everyone is suspicious of each other's practical jokes. But Rattus has an even bigger joke planned for them. | |||
| 15 | "Seasons Greedings" | 18 July 1994 (1994-07-18) | |
| It is Christmas and the Ferals are anxious to get their presents. Meanwhile, Joe has made up a very special Christmas dinner that does not turn out to be as happy as he thought. | |||
Series 2 (1995)
| # | Title | Original Air Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Dentist" | 20 March 1995 (1995-03-20) | |
| Rattus is entering a cheese-eating competition, but when he suffers from toothache, the Ferals must resort to various measures - culminating in having Mixy posing as Rattus - to keep the competition going due to Rattus's fear of the dentist. | |||
| 2 | "Man's Best Friend" | 27 March 1995 (1995-03-27) | |
| The health inspector pays a surprise visit. Which can only means one thing - he has come to discover if any Feral animals are currently living on the property, which means trouble for Derryn. | |||
| 3 | "A Change is a Good as a Holiday" | 3 April 1995 (1995-04-03) | |
| Part 1: Robbie goes away on a holiday. Wanting to have her flat to themselves for the Winter, the Ferals decide to trick Leonard into going away as well. The problem is - once they are gone - they totally trash the place. | |||
| 4 | "Home Truths" | 10 April 1995 (1995-04-10) | |
| Part 2: Robbie and Leonard lock up the Ferals's shed until they can pay to rebuild the damage caused to their flat. | |||
| 5 | "Rent A Pet" | 17 April 1995 (1995-04-17) | |
| When Rattus borrows money from Joe in all the Ferals's names, they are all deep in debt and have to do several jobs to get the money back. Meanwhile, Leonard creates a special robot and Joe sees this as another get rich quick scheme. | |||
| 6 | "Let's Get Physical" | 24 April 1995 (1995-04-24) | |
| Joe applies for a job as a gym instructor in America so the Ferals, Robbie and Leonard help out in return for a reward of $500. But things get out of hand, especially when Leonard invents a Digital Anti Gravity device. | |||
| 7 | "School's Out" | 1 May 1995 (1995-05-01) | |
| The Ferals must pass an exam or else be sent to school. Luckily, Robbie and Leonard are on hand to help them out. | |||
| 8 | "Rich and Infamous" | 8 May 1995 (1995-05-08) | |
| Joe has won the lottery of a million dollars, so the Ferals, Robbie and Leonard use this to their advantage to buy stuff in his name, until they find out what he has really won and destroy Joe's new car. | |||
| 9 | "Feral TV" | 15 May 1995 (1995-05-15) | |
| The Ferals decide to cheat to get on television. | |||
| 10 | "Mixy Mania" | 22 May 1995 (1995-05-22) | |
| Robbie has entered 'Totally Cool's' talent competition. But so has Mixy — and she has taped over Robbie's entry. When Mixy ends up winning the competition, the promise of stardom goes to her head, and sets feral against feral in the battle for the spotlight. | |||
| 11 | "Ratty Ratty Bang Bang!" | 29 May 1995 (1995-05-29) | |
| Joe has a part time job in a food warehouse — and he is bringing home the goodies. When it is discovered that a coin-sized terrorist bomb has been planted somewhere in the food, there is mayhem because Rattus is ticking. | |||
| 12 | "Four Ferals and a Wedding" | 5 June 1995 (1995-06-05) | |
| Joe falls in love, but his relationship is complicated by his attempts to keep the Ferals away from the bride. | |||
| 13 | "Prime Suspect" | 12 June 1995 (1995-06-12) | |
| After watching some strange goings on at Robbie and Leonard's flat, Mixy thinks that Robbie is a murderer. | |||
| 14 | "Joe's Army" | 19 June 1995 (1995-06-19) | |
| To get back at the Ferals for stealing a turn in their car, Keith and Kylie take over their favourite rubbish tip. The Ferals turn to Joe (who is currently an army cadet in training) for help, but things get worse when he switches sides, Mixy is kidnapped and Kylie steals Leonard's new invention: S.N.I.F.F. (The Solar Neutronic Integrated Force Field). | |||
| 15 | "Fossil Fools" | 26 June 1995 (1995-06-26) | |
| When Derryn finds a dinosaur bone buried near the shed, the Ferals decide to open a dinosaur theme park with Joe as their partner. But Joe gets greedy and is determined to find more bones even if it means destroying their home and Robbie and Leonard's flat in the process. This is the final episode of the series and programme. | |||
Feral TV
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 30 | 1996 (1996) | 1996 (1996) | |
| 2 | 15 | 1997 (1997) | 1997 (1997) | |
Series 1 (1996)
| # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Feral Peril" | 3 April 1996 (1996-04-03) |
| 2 | TBA | TBA |
| 3 | "The Cane Toad Cometh" | TBA |
| 4 | TBA | TBA |
| 5 | "Mighty Dorky Power Whingers" | TBA |
| 6 | "Feral Match" | TBA |
| 7 | "Doctor Franken Burger" | TBA |
| 8 | "Bewdey Bottler Bush Show" | TBA |
| 9 | "Furry Tales" | TBA |
| 10 | TBA | TBA |
| 11 | TBA | TBA |
| 12 | "Get Lost" | TBA |
| 13 | "The Anthill Mob" | TBA |
| 14 | TBA | TBA |
| 15 | "Dodgy Ads" | TBA |
| 16 | TBA | TBA |
| 17 | TBA | TBA |
| 18 | TBA | TBA |
| 19 | "BB Or Not BB" | TBA |
| 20 | "Eggs With Legs" | TBA |
| 21 | "The Tadpole Connection" | TBA |
| 22 | "Young Roaches" | TBA |
| 23 | "Play Mixy For Me" | TBA |
| 24 | "The Easter Bunny" | TBA |
| 25 | "No Talent Time" | TBA |
| 26 | "The Siege" | TBA |
| 27 | "Flying Ferals" | TBA |
| 28 | "Good Sports" | TBA |
| 29 | "Warts And All" | TBA |
| 30 | "Club Feral" | TBA |
Series 2 (1997)
| # | Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The New Office" | TBA |
| 2 | "Feral Minds" | TBA |
| 3 | "The Door" | TBA |
| 4 | "Super Dog" | TBA |
| 5 | "To Mixy With Love" | TBA |
| 6 | "Badiators" | TBA |
| 7 | "It's My Party" | TBA |
| 8 | "Sing For Me" | TBA |
| 9 | "Who Killed Cock Robin?" | TBA |
| 10 | "The Big Sleep" | TBA |
| 11 | "Hair Today" | TBA |
| 12 | "Eat Cold Porridge Cyber Droid" | TBA |
| 13 | "Mr. Doggyverse" | TBA |
| 14 | "Itchy" | TBA |
| 15 | "Bush Tucker" | TBA |
References
List of Episodes: "The Ferals (3 DVDs Boxset)".
- https://www.gawby.com/en/tvshows/5034108
- "Feral TV - BB or not BB".
- "Feral TV - Play Mixie for me".
- "Feral TV - the Easter Bunny".
- "Feral TV - Flying Ferels".
- "Feral TV - Good Sports".
- "Feral TV". YouTube.