One of the men behind much-loved children's TV characters including Bagpuss and Noggin The Nog will be honoured by Bafta later this month.

Puppet-maker and illustrator Peter Firmin worked with Oliver Postgate for half-a-century during which the duo created some of the most successful shows ever including The Clangers and Ivor The Engine.

Firmin, who also collaborated with Ivan Owen to make the puppet of Basil Brush, will be presented with the Special Award at this year's Bafta Children's Awards on Sunday November 23 at The Roundhouse in Camden, north London.

He said: "I'm delighted to receive this Special Award from Bafta. I first worked with Oliver Postgate in 1958 on what was originally meant to be a six-week series.

"In a television world hungry for new ideas, this developed into a 50-year partnership; a partnership which opened up the world of television to us and allowed us to explore new ways of telling stories to generations of children.

"Television has changed and developed beyond anything we could have dreamt of in the years before colour and digital and computer chips with everything, so it is touching that our work is still remembered with such affection.

"I'm honoured that our work, and that of everyone who contributed to it, is being honoured with this accolade."

The award will be presented by Bernard Cribbins and introduced by Michael Palin.

A new series of The Clangers, narrated by Palin, will be on screens next year.

It originally launched on the BBC in 1969 and the pink, long-nosed, inventive and loveable mouse-shaped creatures who live on a small blue planet not far from Earth were an immediate hit.

Harvey Elliott, who chairs Bafta's Children's Committee, said Firmin "helped lay the foundations" of today's TV industry.

He said: "Over the past 50 years, Peter's work has thrilled, entertained and inspired generations of film-makers and animators and he is more than deserving of the Special Award at this year's British Academy Children's Awards."