The son of the man who created Bagpuss took his own life in a garden shed after being diagnosed with cancer, an inquest has heard.

Bafta-winning writer, producer and artist Daniel Postgate was found dead at his Whitstable home on June 27 this year.

A day before his death, the ‘kind’ and ‘talented’ 61-year-old had received a letter from the NHS which his family said ‘was the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

Mr Postgate, son of Bagpuss co-creator Oliver Postgate, had a history of depressionand anxiety and was often ‘preoccupied’ by his physical health.

An inquest heard Mr Postgate had received treatment for aplastic anaemia – where the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers – in 2019, which had gone well, but he was warned it could return.

In the year before his death, the father-of-two had split ‘amicably’ with his partner of 35 years as well as receiving a diagnosis for myelodysplastic syndrome – a form of blood cancer.

In a report prepared for the coroner, acting detective sergeant Lucy Clark said that on June 26 – the day before he died – Mr Postgate received a letter from the NHS regarding his diagnosis.

His family told officers he would have ‘researched every word of what was in the letter’ and that it contributed to his decision to take his own life.

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Daniel Postgate, the son of Oliver, the show’s animator, said that the story of ‘the big, cuddly cat’ meant ‘packing a lot into one episode’

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Bagpuss co-creator Oliver Postgate is pictured in April 2001. The English animator and puppeteer passed away in 2008

Having already received one cycle of chemotherapy, Mr Postgate told his family he was ‘afraid my illness can’t be cured’ in a handwritten note.

‘I hope you all have wonderful lives, and remember to love each other,’ he wrote.

His brother Simon Postgate spoke to him over the phone two days before his death and told the court: ‘I think he had something in mind, but I don’t know for certain.

‘He was able to communicate and was quite chatty and fairly relaxed, but he had underlying depression for about 40 years.

‘It was sometimes difficult to tell what frame of mind he was in.’

The inquest at Oakwood House in Maidstone on Monday heard the medical cause of death recorded was consistent with suicide.

Coroner Sarah Clarke ruled Mr Postgate had taken his own life.

She said: ‘I always say to family, I don’t think it’s a question [why a person has died by suicide] that can ever be answered.

‘He tells me he’s undertaking a deliberate act. He doesn’t want to endure the ongoing treatment.

‘I would be wrong to find another reason [for Daniel’s death].’

Mr Postgate had taken over Smallfilms – the production company based in Blean, near Canterbury, that made Bagpuss and other beloved children’s TV shows – following his father’s death in 2008.

Alongside Bagpuss co-creator Peter Firmin, he relaunched The Clangers for CBeebies, which ran between 2015 and 2020.

The show won a British Academy Children’s Award for Best Pre-School Animation, and Mr Postgate was nominated the following year for Best Writer.

More recently, he worked with Birmingham-based Threewise Entertainment on plans to bring Bagpuss to the big screen in 2027.

Speaking to KentOnline last year, he reflected on why the 1974 show about the pink-and-white cat still resonated with audiences.

‘It may seem quite rudimentary but kids found it kind of bewitching because, in some respects, it took a certain amount of their imaginations to be engaged in it,’ he said.

Mr Postgate began his career as an apprentice signwriter and painter before moving to London, where he worked as a cartoonist. His drawings appeared in publications including The Sunday Times and Radio Times.

A tribute posted by Smallfilms following his death said: ‘I am absolutely heartbroken to have to inform you of the passing of my dear friend and custodian of all things Smallfilms Daniel Postgate.

‘He was a lovely, kind man and will be hugely missed by everyone who knew him. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.’

Last year Mr Postgate suggested the BBC had failed to spot Bagpuss’s star quality.

He explained the story of ‘the big, cuddly cat’ meant ‘packing a lot into one episode’.

The writer also said: ‘Peter (the puppeteer) was very varied in it, he could do all these different things, as well, different styles.

‘I mean, he did most of it but that was the idea to keep it quite varied and… so each episode would have new characters, new adventures, you know, it was demanding.

‘And my dad always said it was the most demanding of the (shows that) they did because they had to have new characters each time, and that demanded a lot of imagination and work.’

Mr Postgate said he thought the show was axed as the BBC deemed it ‘sort of, out of date’, even though the creators were ‘quite keen to carry on’ for another series.

‘They (the BBC) were moving into new sort of zoomy sugary (children’s) programmes,’ he said.

‘So the BBC kind of moved on, seems to me that they probably weren’t correct about what children wanted.

‘I think as the programmes have endured so long, it seems to be (that) the BBC might be mistaken about the lack of appeal.’