Captain Pugwash is a persistent urban legend, repeated by the now defunct UK newspaper the "Sunday Correspondent", that ascribes sexually suggestive names – such as Master Bates, Seaman Staines, and Roger (meaning "have sex with") the Cabin Boy – to "Captain Pugwash"'s characters, and indicating that the captain's name was a slang Australian term for oral sex. The origin of this myth is likely due to student rag mags from the 1970s. John Ryan successfully sued both the "Sunday Correspondent" and "The Guardian" newspapers in 1991 for printing this legend as fact. In May 2017, a live-action film adaptation was announced, directed
The Tripods (TV series) not mentioned in the TV series; the introduction of "cognoscs", spiritual life-forms vastly superior to the Masters themselves; and more other main characters, including love interests for both Will and Beanpole. The original texts have few female characters. John Christopher was asked about this for an interview on "Wordcandy", replying that at the time of writing the series, it was generally accepted that girls would read books with boy main characters, but not vice versa. He also stated that he felt the addition of an entire family of girls to the TV series was somewhat "over the top". The series