And –following on from
my tribute to Jim Henson's 'The Storyteller' in my last blog – here are a few
more that were prepared a little earlier than that.
Yes I decided to revisit
a few more classics in these next two blogs. In this first part I will
outline a week of classic children’s TV of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, (my era!) and
after that I will go away and revisit them all, making the most of the ones I
possess and the wonder of youtube.
But before we start, here
are a few questions for those with sharp memories.
*What sort of animal was
Bingo in 'The Banana Splits'?
*What sort of dog was
Belle in the series 'Belle and Sebastian'?
*What broadcasting
disaster befell the English dubbed version of the classic French series, 'The
Flashing Blade'?
*In the series 'Freewheelers' what was the name of the recurring character played by Ronald
Leigh Hunt.
*What is still known as
‘the scariest programme ever made for children?
By the end of this blog
you should have the answers to all of these, unless you happen to be a 60-s and 70-s TV
nerd, in which case you’ll be able to think of a whole lot more. In the
meantime belt yourself in and set the controls for a week of classic
children’s TV from Monday right through until Saturday. And yes you will notice that there are only
five, rather than six programmes and I’ll explain why later on. So without more ado.
Monday – ‘Freewheelers’
I have no idea whether
Southern TV’s children’s TV series ‘Freewheelers’ was actually shown on a
Monday, but it's always had a Monday feeling in my memory.
Believe it or not, there
were eight series of 'Freewheelers' made and a total of 104 episodes. Within this
list, it was by far the longest running, and I remember my sister and I being
riveted to it week after week. Director of episodes throughout Series1-8, Chris McMaster
conceived it as an ‘Avengers’ or ‘Department S’ for teenagers, being astute
enough to know how popular these ‘grown-up’ programmes were with that
demographic.
Probably the most
familiar thing about the programme is the theme tune ‘Teenage Carnival’ which
you can hear on youtube and will immediately capture long lost memories of evil
machinations, threats of world domination and assorted skullduggery.
 |
| Freewheelers Credits |
Initially
three teens aid British Secret Agent Colonel Buchan, (played by Ronald
Leigh-Hunt) to foil the plot of ex-Nazi Karl Von Gelb, (played by Geoffrey
Toone) to ‘reverse the verdict of the last war.’ Interestingly enough, when the
series was later sold to West Germany, the character of Von Gelb was
de-nazified – in the sense that he was made not to have been a Nazi after all.
He was the first of the villains in 'Freewheelers', to be followed later by
familiar heavy Jerome Willis and Kevin Stoney. And talking of heavies, the most
familiar to both 'Freewheelers' and Hammer horror fans, was the great Michael
Ripper in the role of Burke. Over the years the
children included Tom Owen, (son of Bill), Christopher Chittell who as Eric
Pollard in Emmerdale, holds the record for longest running character, and former
Doctor Who companion Wendy Padbury.
My most enduring memory
of 'Freewheelers' however was how it must have been almost solely responsible
for introducing me to the music of Wagner. I can see Von Gelb now as he listens
to the overture to Tannhauser on his headphones in his submarine. It's your fault Karl!
'Belle and Sebastian'
On Tuesday we have the
heart-warming story set in the French Alps, (actually filmed in the village of
Belvedere in Alps Maritime) of a young boy and his beloved Pyrenean Mountain
Dog Belle. He of course is Sebastian. Made in black and white, it first
appeared between October 1967 and January 1968 on BBC One and was based on the
novel of the same name by the actor and writer Cecile Aubry, whose real life French/Moroccan son
Mehdi El Giaou, played the name part to such winning and moving effect, and with
a truly memorable pout.
 |
| The wonderful Mehdi as Sebastian |
Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, it quickly became staple
summer holiday viewing, but it was originally broadcast in the prime-time slot
following Blue Peter. Due mainly to its powerful themes of love and its
endurance, script and acting, 'Belle and Sebastian' is rightly regarded as a classic of
children’s TV.
There were two sequels
but only one of them, Belle, Sebastian and the Horses, was shown on British TV
in 1968. Most memorably of all perhaps is the haunting final song,
‘Oiseau’, sung by little Mehdi himself.
I can’t imagine 'Belle
and Sebastian' ever working in anything other than black and white. There’s
something about it that perfectly suits the harshness and grandeur of the
alpine scenery and the poverty of many of the characters. 13 episodes of 26
minutes were made and you can get a lovely copy on DVD with the choice of the
original French or a dubbed version with a French accent which – as someone
says on Amazon – is oddly effective.
In 2014 a feature length
film of Belle and Sebastian was made, based on the original characters and
again featuring a boy and his Pyrenean Mountain Dog, which was very well
received, but if you want to catch moody black and white and Mehdi’s
wonderfully natural performance, go for the ‘Oiseau’ original.
Wednesday is ‘Flashing
Blade day!
 |
| The Chevalier and his faithful Guillot |
Well obviously I can’t remember
whether Wednesday ever was 'The Flashing Blade' day, but what I do remember is that
FB, a dubbed and re-edited version of a French adventure series called Le
Chevalier Tempete ran on children’s TV throughout the 60’s and 70’s and, despite
its often suspect dubbing and the fact that five seventy five minute films in French
had been adapted into twelve twenty two minute episodes for its BBC transmission, it quite
stole my youthful adventurous heart and that of my sister.
Originally released in
1967 it follows the adventures of the dashing Chevalier De Recci, (Robert Echeverry)
and his faithful sidekick Guillot, (Jaques Baluton) against the background of
the real-life siege of Casale, part of the ‘War of the Mantuan Succession’
between 1628-31. Our two heroes have to break through enemy lines under the
very noses of their Spanish enemies to take a message which will rescue the
beleaguered French garrison. All this while avoiding capture, enemy spies and
pursuing troops.
Such a description of course hardly covers why we loved it and continue to love it. Just watching
the first few minutes set against the continuing bombardment of Casale, take you – even with our
modern ears which can pick out the inferior dubbing – right back there.
Then there’s the music
and I don’t mean ‘You’ve got to fight for what you want, for all that you
believe’, (actually titled 'Fight' which – annoyingly catchy as it is – was of course not part of the French
original). What I do mean is the section of the first movement of Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie
Fantastique’ which was used as the background to any exciting bit – and there were a
lot of those! There was something about that acceleration of strings which just
got you so excited you could hardly speak and that was even before our hero the
brave Chevalier and his nemesis, (the wonderfully smooth and slimy Mario Pilar as Don Alonso)
set their blades flashing.
The series however is
infamous for the way it ended – or rather didn’t. On the last two episodes of
the original transmission, vision was completely lost Fans were of course
heartbroken and wrote to 'Ask Aspel' in their droves. I don’t actually remember this
tragedy, and nor do I remember some of the missing footage being shown on 'Ask
Aspel' sometime later.
There is however something else decidedly
odd about the series in its original form, and I will return to that in
the second part. In the meantime -
'As long as we have done our best,
And no-one can do more.
And life and love and happiness,
Are well worth fighting for.
Thursday?
Friday
In the meantime it’s
time for us to call in very briefly at a series which has been called ‘the
scariest programme ever made for children.’ Unlike other friends of mine, I
haven’t seen ‘Children of the Stones’ since it was first broadcast by HTV in
January/February of 1967. I was seventeen at the time and remember being pretty
knocked out by what seemed to me more than just another piece of children’s TV.
As part of this investigation I will be watching it on youtube, where some kind
soul has kindly placed the entire series. Produced by Peter Graham-Scott it is
regarded as a piece of landmark children’s TV. It was written by Jeremy Burnham
and Trevor Ray and deals in seven episodes of the arrival in the village of Milbry
(Avebury) by the astrophysicist Adam Brake and his son, where they find a
decidedly odd community.
Of the two things I
remember about it, one was how the villagers who were under the ‘influence’ of
the stones would say ‘happy day’ to people with annoying frequency. Secondly it
was the eerie music by composer Sidney Sayer, with the chants arranged and performed
by the Ambrosian Singers.
Saturday
And last but by no means
least – altogether now.
Tra-la-la,
la,la,la,laah.
Yes folks what would
Children’s TV be without a Saturday morning classic and in my day they didn’t
come much more classic than 'The Banana Splits' show.
OK let’s not pretend
that the four blokes in suits – Fleegle, ( the beagle), Bingo the gorilla,
Drooper the lion and Snorky the elephant, were the main attractions here. Their
antics might have been amusing enough as they pratted around in various theme
parks and pretended to be a band that could play in the same manufactured way
as Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith of ‘The Monkeys’,
(Drooper’s Deep South drawl was apparently based on the latter’s). The split's
animal hosts also had certain characteristics such as a deliberate Daffy Duck
type lisp for their leader Fleegle and Snorky the elephant talking only in odd
honks. The series was broadcast between September 7th 1968-
September 5th !970 and produced by Hanna Barbera.
 |
| The er -- band! |
But no, it wasn’t the
framework of fun and furry band frolic which made us love the show! It was the
fact that it was interspersed with live action and animation including Danger
Island, The Three Musketeers and most definitely ‘just get those blokes in
suits and go to The Arabian Knights'. This alone is a subject to return to next
time and I better stop there as dear reader I have rambled through the classics for long enough. So there only remain two things to complete. First –
and if you haven’t yet spotted them – here are the answers to our quiz.
*Bingo was of course a
gorilla with a cap and shades.
*Belle was a Pyrenean
Mountain Dog
*The last two episodes of
‘The Flashing Blade’ completely lost the picture.
*The character Ronald
Leigh-Hunt played in ‘Freewheelers’ was Colonel Buchan.
*Children of the Stones’
is regarded as the scariest children’s TV programme ever made.
Secondly you may have
noticed there was no entry for Thursday. Well not being over fond of Thursdays
at the moment, I’ve left it blank because – let’s face it – there’s bound to be
some classic I’ve missed and I rely on you to tell me which, or even go further
and compile your own list. In Part Two of ‘Banana Splits, Stones and Flashing Blades’ I will report further on watching most of them again.
Meanwhile thanks for listening and do tune in at the same time next month.
NB You can find the full version of Children of the Stones and full episodes of the Banana Splits as well as the Arabian Knights on youtube, where you will also find the theme music to Freewheelers and sing along. Later series of Freewheelers, and complete versions of Belle and Sebastian and The Flashing Blade including the end, (but in its french version) are available on Amazon. Enjoy!
Steve Gladwin - 'Grove of Seven' and 'The Year in Mind'
Writer, Performer and Teacher
Author of 'The Seven' and 'The Raven's Call'
4 a More people talk to me at parties.
