The Famous Five (1970s TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Famous Five is a British television series based on the children's books of the same name
by Enid Blyton
. It was broadcast on ITV
over two series in 1978 and 1979. It was produced by Southern Television
in 26 half-hour episodes.
in a co-production with a German company. The episodes were recorded on location and on film
(rather than the more usual video tape), making it the most expensive children's television series ever produced at that point. Each story was adapted from one of the original novels and featured the same main characters; George, Julian, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog. To play these roles were child actors, Michele Gallagher, Marcus Harris, Gary Russell
and Jenny Thanisch, while the dog was played by a Border Collie
called Toddy. Other regular actors were Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. The first series was produced by Don Leaver, while the second was produced by Sidney Hayers
. The executive producer was James Gatward. The stories were adapted for television by a number of writers and directors and starred many notable actors in guest appearances including; Patrick Troughton
, Cyril Luckham
, Geoffrey Bayldon
, Brian Glover
, Ronald Fraser
and an early appearance by Rupert Graves
.
The television scripts were amended slightly from the books to give them a contemporary, 1970s setting. Of the original 21 novels, three were never adapted; Five on a Treasure Island
and Five Have a Mystery to Solve
because the Children's Film Foundation
still had the film and TV rights to the books, while Five Have Plenty of Fun
didn't fit in the production schedule. Due to the success of the series, Southern Television were keen to make another season of episodes, but the Enid Blyton estate forbade them to create original stories. One criticism of the series was that many of the episodes featured scenes set at night-time which were badly lit to the point that it was difficult to see what was happening. These scenes were actually shot in daylight, but a heavy filter was placed over the camera to give the impression of darkness. The series was filmed mostly on location in Christchurch
and the New Forest
with many of the indoor scenes filmed in Exbury House, where the house doubled as many different dwellings.
The series spawned many merchandise items such as jigsaw
s and annual
s, while Look-in
magazine ran a picture strip story each week for nearly two years. The theme music (contrary to popular belief, not sung by the cast but by the Corona Stage Academy
choir) was released as a single in 1978, but failed to chart.
Jenny Thanisch is now a mother and works as a school teacher in the South of England. Gary Russell gave up acting in the mid 1980s to concentrate on writing as well as being the editor of several magazines. He was the script editor
on the successful 2005 revival of Doctor Who
. Marcus Harris embarked on a number of business ventures and later became a town councillor
.
In 1996 the books were revived again for another British television adaptation
. This time, unlike the 1970s series, it was set in the 1950s. More recently, an animated version
was made by the French company Marathon, which featured the children of the Famous Five.
The series remains unreleased on DVD
due to confusion as to who owns the rights to the television episodes, as well as complexities with the Enid Blyton estate. However, in 2010 it was reported that the release will be coming soon. In Germany, however, the entire series was released in October 2010 in a 7 DVD set (and respectively on one BlueRay Disc) with extensive bonus material.
The Famous Five (series)
The Famous Five is the name of a series of children's novels written by British author Enid Blyton. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942....
by Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
. It was broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
over two series in 1978 and 1979. It was produced by Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
in 26 half-hour episodes.
Production
Production for the series began in 1977, with filming commencing during the Summer of that year. The series was produced by Southern TelevisionSouthern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
in a co-production with a German company. The episodes were recorded on location and on film
Film stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...
(rather than the more usual video tape), making it the most expensive children's television series ever produced at that point. Each story was adapted from one of the original novels and featured the same main characters; George, Julian, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog. To play these roles were child actors, Michele Gallagher, Marcus Harris, Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
and Jenny Thanisch, while the dog was played by a Border Collie
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a herding dog breed developed in the Anglo-Scottish border region for herding livestock, especially sheep. It is the most widespread of the collie breeds....
called Toddy. Other regular actors were Michael Hinz as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. The first series was produced by Don Leaver, while the second was produced by Sidney Hayers
Sidney Hayers
Sidney Hayers was a British film and television director, writer and producer.Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, among his most acclaimed films were Circus of Horrors , The Trap and the occult thriller Night of the Eagle .In British TV, his credits included The Persuaders! and The New Avengers; he...
. The executive producer was James Gatward. The stories were adapted for television by a number of writers and directors and starred many notable actors in guest appearances including; Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
, Cyril Luckham
Cyril Luckham
Cyril Luckham was a British film, television and theatre actor.Luckham played the White Guardian in the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. He appeared in The Ribos Operation, the first serial in The Key to Time season, and Enlightenment...
, Geoffrey Bayldon
Geoffrey Bayldon
Geoffrey Bayldon is a British actor. After playing roles in many dramas including Shakespeare, he became known for portraying the title role of the children's series Catweazle , after turning down the opportunity to play both the First and Second Doctors in the long-running BBC science fiction...
, Brian Glover
Brian Glover
Brian Glover was an English character actor, writer and wrestler. Glover was a professional wrestler, teacher, and finally a film, television and stage actor. He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game. My strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman".-Early life:Glover was...
, Ronald Fraser
Ronald Fraser
Ronald Fraser was an English character actor, who appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s whilst also appearing in many popular TV shows.-Background:...
and an early appearance by Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as DI Lestrade in the critically acclaimed television series Sherlock.-Early life:...
.
The television scripts were amended slightly from the books to give them a contemporary, 1970s setting. Of the original 21 novels, three were never adapted; Five on a Treasure Island
Five on a Treasure Island
Five on a Treasure Island is a popular children's book by Enid Blyton. It is the first book in The Famous Five series. The first edition of the book was illustrated by Eileen Soper.-Plot:...
and Five Have a Mystery to Solve
Five Have A Mystery To Solve
Five Have a Mystery to Solve is the twentieth novel in the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1962. As the penultimate book in the Famous Five series, it follows the usual formula of finding secret passages, hunting treasure, and foiling evil-doers.-External links:**...
because the Children's Film Foundation
Children's Film Foundation
The Children's Film Foundation was a non-profit-making organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom, typically running for about 55 minutes. It was founded in 1951. For 30 years it was subsidised by the Eady Levy - a tax on box office receipts, but this was abolished in 1985...
still had the film and TV rights to the books, while Five Have Plenty of Fun
Five Have Plenty Of Fun
Five Have Plenty Of Fun is the fourteenth novel in The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton. It was first published in 1955.An American girl, Berta, stays with the five. Mysterious visitors to Kirrin island and a kidnapping combine to make this the adventure of a lifetime. Berta is hiding and only the...
didn't fit in the production schedule. Due to the success of the series, Southern Television were keen to make another season of episodes, but the Enid Blyton estate forbade them to create original stories. One criticism of the series was that many of the episodes featured scenes set at night-time which were badly lit to the point that it was difficult to see what was happening. These scenes were actually shot in daylight, but a heavy filter was placed over the camera to give the impression of darkness. The series was filmed mostly on location in Christchurch
Christchurch, Dorset
Christchurch is a borough and town in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. The town adjoins Bournemouth in the west and the New Forest lies to the east. Historically in Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 and is the most easterly borough in...
and the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
with many of the indoor scenes filmed in Exbury House, where the house doubled as many different dwellings.
Broadcast
The Famous Five was first broadcast on ITV on Monday 3 July 1978 at 4:45pm. This was a year after it had been filmed and during production of the second series. The first episode was Five Go to Kirren Island (an incorrect spelling for Kirrin Island), although was not the first episode filmed (Five Go to Mystery Moor). The first series proved popular and ran until the end of the year with a six-week break during October and November. Due to a lack of remaining stories, the second series consisted only of seven episodes and was broadcast from June to August 1979 (again, a year after production). The Famous Five was sold to many overseas countries such as Ireland (where it was repeated in 1981, 1983 and 1985), Canada and Australia and was dubbed into many languages for the European market such as German (the series having been part-financed by a German company), French and Spanish.The series spawned many merchandise items such as jigsaw
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
s and annual
Annual publication
An annual publication, more often called simply an annual, is a book or a magazine, comic book or comic strip published yearly. For example, a weekly or monthly publication may produce an Annual featuring similar materials to the regular publication....
s, while Look-in
Look-in
Look-in was a long running children's magazine centred around ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior TVTimes". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994...
magazine ran a picture strip story each week for nearly two years. The theme music (contrary to popular belief, not sung by the cast but by the Corona Stage Academy
Corona Stage Academy
Corona Stage Academy also known as The Corona Stage School was a successful British drama school founded by Miss Rona Knight in the mid 1940's. The school started in Chiswick before later moving to 16 Ravenscourt Avenue, Hammersmith in 1955...
choir) was released as a single in 1978, but failed to chart.
Series one
- Five Go to Kirren Island: Part 1 (Original transmission: 3 July 1978)
- Five Go to Kirren Island: Part 2 (10 July 1978)
- Five Go Adventuring Again (17 July 1978)
- Five Go to Smuggler's Top: Part 1 (24 July 1978)
- Five Go to Smuggler's Top: Part 2 (31 July 1978)
- Five Go Off in a Caravan (7 August 1978)
- Five Go Off to Camp: Part 1 (14 August 1978)
- Five Go Off to Camp: Part 2 (21 August 1978)
- Five on a Hike Together (4 September 1978)
- Five Go to Mystery Moor (11 September 1978)
- Five on a Secret Trail (18 September 1978)
- Five Go to Billycock Hill (25 September 1978)
- Five on Finniston Farm (2 October 1978)
- Five Get Into Trouble - Prisoners (19 November 1978)
- Five Get Into Trouble - Conspiracies (26 November 1978)
- Five Get Into a Fix (3 December 1978)
- Five Are Together Again: Part 1 (10 December 1978)
- Five Are Together Again: Part 2 (17 December 1978)
- Five Have a Wonderful Time (31 December 1978)
Series two
- Five Fall Into Adventure: Part 1 (27 June 1979)
- Five Fall Into Adventure: Part 2 (4 July 1979)
- Five Run Away Together (11 July 1979)
- Five Go to Demon's Rocks: Part 1 (18 July 1979)
- Five Go to Demon's Rocks: Part 2 (25 July 1979)
- Five Go Down to the Sea: Part 1 (1 August 1979)
- Five Go Down to the Sea: Part 2 (8 August 1979)
Aftermath
Toddy the dog died shortly after filming was completed on the series. Despite ITV's wishes to continue the series, no further episodes were made due to the Blyton estate's veto on new stories being written, although a new set of novels were published in France in 1981. These have been widely dismissed by fans of the original books however. The four starring actors met up again in 1980 for a newspaper story on their progressing careers. By this time, only Gary Russell was continuing an acting career and he too soon gave it up. This was the last time the four met up although Russell, Harris and Thanisch did meet again in 1990 and for a radio interview in 2011.Jenny Thanisch is now a mother and works as a school teacher in the South of England. Gary Russell gave up acting in the mid 1980s to concentrate on writing as well as being the editor of several magazines. He was the script editor
Script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...
on the successful 2005 revival of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. Marcus Harris embarked on a number of business ventures and later became a town councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
.
In 1996 the books were revived again for another British television adaptation
The Famous Five (1990s TV series)
The Famous Five is a British television series based on the children's books of the same name by Enid Blyton. It was broadcast on the CITV, the children's strand of ITV, over two series between 1995 and 1997...
. This time, unlike the 1970s series, it was set in the 1950s. More recently, an animated version
Famous 5: On the Case
Famous 5: On The Case is an animated television series which is currently broadcast in the United Kingdom, on the Disney Channel. It is a British and French television co-production, loosely based on The Famous Five series of books created by Enid Blyton...
was made by the French company Marathon, which featured the children of the Famous Five.
The series remains unreleased on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
due to confusion as to who owns the rights to the television episodes, as well as complexities with the Enid Blyton estate. However, in 2010 it was reported that the release will be coming soon. In Germany, however, the entire series was released in October 2010 in a 7 DVD set (and respectively on one BlueRay Disc) with extensive bonus material.
External links
- The Famous Five on the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- The Famous Five on Enidblyton.net