The Mad Dog Gang

The Mad Dog Gang Meets rotten Fred and Ratsguts was a New Zealand children's television drama filmed around Dunedin and Otago in 1978. It was written by Ian Mune and Arthur Baysting and directed by Ross Jennings. the novelisation of the series was also written by Ian Mune.

The series follows the adventures of brother and sister, Tom and Suey who are sent to live with relatives in Otago while their mother recovers from illness. There they meet Harvey Kepanui and form The Mad Dog Gang.

The show initially screened as three episodes, and was a huge hit, winning Best Drama at the 1979 Feltex Television Awards. It was followed by a second instalment 'The Mad Dog Gang Spooks Wilkie, Wink Wink and the Wobbler'.

 Wilkie, Wink Wink and the Wobbler were nicknames the kids (members of the Mad Dog Gang) came up with for the ``baddies'' they were spying on, based on certain characteristics they exhibited. For example, the Wobbler was a fat man, Wink Wink had a twitch that caused him to wink and so on. Actors playing these parts were John Bach, Bruno Lawrence and Ian Watkin. The title of the first series was The Mad Dog Gang Meets Rotten Fred and Ratsguts. These were the names the gang gave to a hermit-like man and his dog. The child actors were Buddy Ruruku, Ian Templeton, Julie Wilson and David Kennelly ... all from Dunedin.

 Paul Donovan (Otago Daily Times 11 April 2016)

The second series of the Mad Dog Gang used Cargill's Castle as the 'baddies' hide-out, so a good portion of filming was done there.

The child actors were Buddy Ruruku, Ian Templeton and Julie Wilson who were all from Dunedin. 

Documentary cameraman, Paul Donovan generously donated the digital versions of photographs that were taken during the filming of 'The Mad Dog Gang Spooks Wilkie, Wink Wink and the Wobbler' to He Purapura Marara - Scattered Seeds in 2024.