The Original Pilot Show

"Dogs behaving badly... puppet style"

The original puppet who played JP the parrot, (formally called "Bowie" because he had two different colour eyes. )

The name JP actually stands for JeanLuc Picard - the parrot's all-time hero, with whom he shares a completely bald head!

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The non-broadcast pilot episode of "Pets" was shot at Elstree about 12 months before the series finally went into production. Here's the original cast line-up. Hamish looks almost the same, but note the different appearances of the parrot and Trevor (right).

In the pilot, as in so many future episodes, Hamish hangs himself. He is, however, brought back from the dead by Trevor, who sends 50,000 volts up his dogstar. A similar plotline was later used for real in the Pets episode "Reincarnation"

TThe parrot's rambling monologues were a feature of Pets right from the very beginining. In the pilot episode, the parrot demonstrated his knowledge of fretsaw work. He is pictured above with his latest constructions - a book shelf and a spice rack.

BTo the Pets "Anorak Zone"

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This was the original character design for Trevor (Formally named "Bollocks")

His colour had to be changed from white to grey because his fur flared under studio lights, and gave the lighting men headaches.