Mr. Squiggle

Did You Know?

• In February 2019 the Royal Australian Mint released a series of two dollar coins to mark the 60th anniversary of the first broadcast, featuring Mr. Squiggle, Gus the Snail, Bill the Steam Shovel, and Blackboard.
• One little girl sent Norman Hetherington three handkerchiefs for Christmas.
• The show was originally only asked to fill a six week gap on the ABC's schedule.

History

The character Mr. Squiggle was created by cartoonist and puppeteer Norman Hetherington OAM. He first appeared on the Children's TV Club on ABC TV before being spun off into his own programme, which premiered on 1 July 1959. Hetherington voiced and operated all the show's puppets, while his wife Margaret wrote the scripts. The premise remained consistent: children mailed in their squiggles, and Mr. Squiggle used his pencil nose to turn them into recognisable drawings, often upside down. He would then exclaim "Upside down! Upside down!" and ask his assistant to flip the picture. Every child whose squiggle was used received a letter from Mr. Squiggle. The last episode aired on 9 July 1999, though the final episode was produced in 1997; the contract with the ABC concluded in 2001. After production ceased, the entire puppet cast was owned by Hetherington. They were loaned for exhibitions such as at the National Film and Sound Archive and the "50 Years of TV" exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in 2007. Hetherington and his puppets appeared on the ABC series Collectors in 2010. In 2005 the Mosman Art Gallery hosted an exhibition called "Mr Squiggle, Who’s Pulling the Strings", which included an envelope addressed to "Mr Squiggle, The Moon" that had been delivered to the show.

Characters

Mr. Squiggle is a moon-dwelling marionette with a pencil for a nose, living at 93 Crater Crescent and flying to Earth in his pet rocket, Rocket. He is cheerful, kind, and good-natured but also scatterbrained, often getting distracted and taking space-walks, which his assistant must calm him from. Other puppets include Blackboard, a grumpy easel who says “Hurry up,” “Hmmph,” “Double hmmph,” and “Boringgg”; Gus the Snail, who has a TV shell (later a flower pot) and tells knock-knock jokes; and Bill the Steam Shovel, who tells corny riddles and belches steam when laughing. Human assistants over the years were Miss Gina, Miss Pat, Miss Jane, Roxanne, and Rebecca. In his earliest version, Mr. Jolly Squiggle on the Children’s TV Club, his assistant was Miss Faith. Comedian Mikey Robins played Reg Linchpin from 1989 to 1990. Guest performers included actor Paul Chubb and magician Timothy Hyde.

Historical collection

The National Museum of Australia acquired a trove of Norman Hetherington's puppets, scripts, artwork, props, graphics, merchandise, and fan squiggles in April 2024, with plans for a future exhibition. These items were on view at the museum from July to October 2025. A selection later toured as Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington, appearing at Newcastle Museum from July to November 2026.