Origins
Podge originally appeared on The Den, as a decidedly evil little character. At first, he was introduced as nothing more than a puppet that Zag (of Zig and Zag) had found in a box amongst the rubbish behind a magic shop. Zag used him to practise ventriloquism, eventually performing a few dire shorts that showcased Zag's lack of skill. Zig was particularly jealous of the attention Podge was receiving.
Things took a sinister turn, however, when one day, during one of these shorts, a mysterious voice said to Zag, "aren't you a smelly stupid ugly alien". With the pieces in place for the revelation, Podge made himself fully known to the audience - alone with Zig at the conclusion of the broadcasting day, he moved and spoke on his own, bullying Zig, telling him he would be his friend if he stole the bike presently being offered as a competition prize. Zag and presenter Ray D'Arcy remaining oblivious to this as Podge would occasionally move in the background or be seen scheming on his own, and letters and pictures would pour in from the viewing children trying to let them know that Podge was evil. Eventually, after Zig finally spilled the beans, Podge made a power play and took over the programme for a day, revealing that he had been brought to life by a magician, but then sealed away when he turned evil. Podge also possessed some magical powers of his own that he'd learned from the magician, and turned one of the crew members into a teapot. He was finally dealt with when the magician arrived at the end of the programming day, hypnotised Podge, (but called him Albert) and took him away.
Read more about this topic: Podge And Rodge
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