Iconic British animated series from 1970s is now available to stream for free

The infamous, cowardly and bumbling pirate Captain Pugwash has sailed onto streaming.

That's right, folks: the classic children's programme, which was first broadcast in the 1970s, became available to stream on ITVX Kids for free on 20 February, 2026.

It revolves around Captain Horatio Pugwash as he sails the high seas in his ship, the Black Pig, alongside his companions Tom the Captain Boy, pirates Willy and Barnabas, and Master Mate.

Captain Horatio Pugwash was created by John Ryan and initially appeared in a children's comic strip in the very first issue of the Eagle in 1950.

The strip was dropped from the Eagle after 19 issues, but later transferred to Radio Times, where it ran between 1960 and 1968.

In 1957, the Bodley Head published Captain Pugwash: a Pirate Story, the first in a series of popular children’s books written and illustrated by Ryan.

The same year, Ryan created an animated TV version of Captain Pugwash for the BBC, in black and white from 1957 until 1966, and in colour from 1974 until 1975.

Ryan once said of the character: "Pugwash has two qualities which I believe are present in all of us to some degree: cowardice and greed. It is the conflict between these opposing emotions which make the stories work. It may be that the Captain is popular because we all have something in common with him. What would you do if you saw a delicious toffee on the nose of a crocodile?"

In 2016, a live-action big-screen adaptation of Captain Pugwash starring Nick Frost as the titular pirate was announced, but in 2021 the actor revealed that "it was never going to be made" due to financing issues.

"I think the money was coming from the Far East and, being a producer now, you can look at something like Pugwash and think, ‘you want to spend £80million on a film for a character that no one really knows about in China?’" Frost said on the podcast Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing That I Did.

He added: "Realistically it's never going to be made. Which is a shame because it did look really beautiful."

Captain Pugwash is available to stream on ITVX Kids.

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