What's that, Skip? The actor wants paying?

Tony Bonner is not exactly a household name, even in his native Australia, but mention the word "Skippy" and many people's faces light up. Mr Bonner had a starring role in the television show – and now, 40 years after the cuddly marsupial hopped on to TV screens, he is asking: "Where's the money, Skip?"

The Sydney-born actor played the dashing helicopter pilot Jerry King in the first series in 1966. Since then, the programme has aired in more than 120 countries. It has also spawned a host of commercial spin-offs, including games, soft toys and videos, making Skippy a home-grown superstar long before Paul Hogan and Kylie Minogue.

But while the eponymous kangaroo is still earning its keep, Mr Bonner has not received a cent since leaving the show. For years, he fumed silently. "When I saw the latest boxed set of DVDs, I thought 'I've had enough'," he said. Now he is suing the producers, Fauna Productions, for a share of Skippy's millions.

The series was set in a national park in Sydney, where Skippy was the pet of the park ranger's son. Viewers were gripped by the pair's adventures, and by the exploits of Skippy, who could not only alert her human friends to trouble, but also tie knots, see off poisonous snakes and play the piano.

The programme attracted huge ratings in Australia, and was sold to Britain, New Zealand, the US and Japan after just one season. It was then that Mr Bonner walked off the set, claiming that Fauna had reneged on its promise of a pay rise if the show was a hit. The contract that he had signed contained no clauses about future royalties.The 64-year-old is now arguing that he is entitled to a cut of Skippy's earnings since 1968. "Everyone assumes that all this time I've been receiving royalties, and they're gobsmacked to find out I haven't," he said on Friday. "My image has been used all these years without any recompense, or even a thank you.

"I'm honoured to be part of the most successful Australian series ever made, and probably one of the top 10 in the world. But I think it's time that a fair go and a sense of honour came to the fore."

The legal action, brought in the New South Wales supreme court, is a reminder of Skippy's extraordinary longevity. Just three series were made, all in the late 1960s, yet the show continues to be screened in several places overseas, including Hong Kong, and Skippy remains a universally recognised character.

Mr Bonner, who later appeared in The Persuaders and films including The Man from Snowy River and Quigley Down Under, is not surprised by the show's enduring popularity. "It had all the ingredients," he said. "The aerial shots of Sydney were fabulous, and there was no gratuitous sex or violence. it was just a wonderful show of innocence and excitement. The whole family would sit down and watch Skippy over dinner."

He also believes that it promoted Australian immigration. "A lot of British people saw Skippy in the late 1960s and thought, 'Holy crap, doesn't Australia look fabulous?' A lot of them came here after watching Skippy in the north of England on bleak winter nights."

Bush legend

* Lest we forget, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was not just a cute creature; over the course of 91 episodes she saved the lives of 40 Australians – and a wombat and a Siamese cat – with help from her human pal, Sonny.

* Skippy's famous lip-smacking "talking" sounds are not made by real kangaroos. They were made by slapping together two sheets of flypaper smeared in tomato purée and paper glue, and dubbed in afterwards.

* Skippy's co-stars include Mark McManus, who went on to play the title role in 'Taggart'. His inauspicious first role was as a rustler in the 1966 first series. Meanwhile, 1970s poppet Liza Goddard – who went on to marry Doctor Who Colin Baker and pop goth Alvin Stardust – got an early break as Clarissa.

* Skippy was played by at least three different kangaroos, which is perhaps why there is more than one Skippy memorial. The "real" Skippy is buried in a national park in New South Wales, while a hardware store in the town of Shepparton displays a stuffed kangaroo the owner claims is Skippy.

* More happily, the descendants of the original Skippy kangaroos all live in a sanctuary in Waratah Park in New South Wales, perhaps poised for another revival of the TV series.

* Skippy is now a cultural reference point – Crocodile Dundee quipped of a dead kangaroo, "Good one, Skippy", and Skipinder the Punjabi Kangaroo was in 'Goodness Gracious Me'.