Fortycoats in "being Ian Dempsey's Dad" shocker (1 Viewer)

[Bellatrix]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortycoats_&_Co.

Was everybody else aware of this??

Was I the last to know????

 

[avernus]

that link doesnt work there ted.

 

[roxy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortycoats_%26_Co.

 

[Bellatrix]

Don't know why...that page seems to exist in its own Wikipedia dimension, only to be accessed at moments of great need. Great Fortycoats need.

Anyhoo, here's the text:

* * * * * *

Fortycoats & Co.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Fortycoats & Co. was an Irish children's television drama series produced by RTÉ and broadcast on RTÉ One during the 1980s. The series was cancelled in the early 1990s.

The show featured the adventures of the title character Fortycoats (Fran Dempsey) - his catchphrase was "By my forty coats and my fifty pockets" - and his companions Sofar Sogood, a prim goody two shoes character and Slightly Bonkers, a naive schoolgirl. They occupied the Flying Trick Shop (also known as the Flying Tuck Shop) and battled against the evil Whilomena, the Whirligig Witch (and her cat) and the equally evil Pickarooney (who lived in a rubbish tip and kidnapped children).

Johnny Fortycoats was one of a couple of tramps who walked the coast of Dublin at the time. A wild looking man, universally recognized (Dublin is a large village), harmless as as anyone knew. He was far removed from the the world of television. It was his habit to wear several coats, hence the nickname.

The show was a spin-off from Wanderly Wagon, which had featured a similar character called Johnny Fortycoats. The general series format somewhat resembled Doctor Who (for instance, the Flying Trick Shop was, like the TARDIS, bigger on the inside than on the outside) though more fantasy than science fiction (time travel was not normally involved - unless as a result of a "magic spell" from the Whirligig Witch) and more squarely aimed at children.

RTÉ published two annuals based on the series. Fran Dempsey's son Ian was the original presenter of RTE's The Den, originally called Dempsey's Den, which introduced Zig and Zag (amongst other puppet characters) to the world.

 

[therealjohnny]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortycoats_%26_Co.

I can take talking snakes and crows in cuckko clocks but the weirdest thing is that adult women dressed as schoolgirls are usually pretty sexy..but Slightly Bonkers was a bowser

crazy


A woman who is not Slightly Bonkers

 

[ratmonkey]

his catchphrase was "By my forty coats and my fifty pockets" h introduced Zig and Zag (amongst other puppet characters) to the world.

I always wondered about that. Had some coats no pockets or had some just one or what was going on? What kind of crazy coat doesn't have at least two pockets?

 

[ICUH8N]

*stunned

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

has anyone seen this anywhere other than wikipedia? i dont think its true.

 

[ICUH8N]

I have the vaguest recollection that Fortycoats was Fran Dempsey, but I have no idea whether that's coincidence and he's no relation. You could always ask for clarification/dispute the veracity of the article on the edit page...

 

[ratmonkey]

Or ring up the Ian Dempsey show and ask him.

 

[avernus]

Apparently theyre estranged and havent spoken for over 15 years. I'd love to reunite them live on air. Although it could get messy - Ian Dempsey has a ferocious temper and once assaulted a child who called him "fat".

 

[Donkey OJ]

a child who called him "fat".

there's a chippers in blessington called dempsey's.
hmmmm. this is freaky.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Apparently theyre estranged and havent spoken for over 15 years. I'd love to reunite them live on air. Although it could get messy - Ian Dempsey has a ferocious temper and once assaulted a child who called him "fat".

I'm pretty sure that Fran Dempsey is dead.
I might be wrong...

 

[Gambra]

Apparently theyre estranged and havent spoken for over 15 years.

Where the hell you hear thet? This is all getting a bit mad for my liking..

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

Apparently theyre estranged and havent spoken for over 15 years. I'd love to reunite them live on air. Although it could get messy - Ian Dempsey has a ferocious temper and once assaulted a child who called him "fat".

kids can be so funny.

 

[pete]

I might be wrong...

unlikely

When the plug was pulled on the show they all went their separate ways. Lambert returned to his puppet theatre in Monkstown and brought Crow with him. Lambert's daughter, incidentally, was responsible for the nightmare that was Bosco. Forty-Coats got his own short-lived series (again this turned out to be too popular for RTE's liking) before Fran Dempsey, the actor who played him, died of a heart attack.

http://www.ivenus.com/therightstuff/features/File_77020000927140438.asp

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Think Fortycoats stopped around 1990.
He wouldn't have died at that stage though.

 

[Lefty Frizzell]

Apparently theyre estranged and havent spoken for over 15 years.

so they never managed to make peace?

 

[pete]

Think Fortycoats stopped around 1990.
He wouldn't have died at that stage though.

he was on an RTE Christmas night 2000 thing called "Murphys Christmas Crackers"...

http://support.unison.ie/entertainment/stories.php3?ca=67&si=333510&printer=1

 

[nlgbbbblth]

so they never managed to make peace?

heheh

coming to DVD next February.