Review for Look-Back on 70s Telly - Issue 3

What a fantastic selection box, just in time for Christmas! Lord knows how complex the licencing for this type of compilation must be, which may account for why we see so few 'selection box' type products. Which is a shame, because frankly, for anyone who grew up in the seventies, this is an absolute blast.

Following on from the first two volumes (which featured pre-school favourites in Issue 1, and older children's drama in Issue 2), this edition firmly fixes focus on the slightly older child, the teens. The majority of the plentiful episodes (8 per disc in the 2-disc set) are either surprisingly good, or 'so bad they're good' which are by far in the minority.

This is the stuff which made rushing home from school worthwhile. Whilst mum cooked the fish-fingers and mixed up the 'Smash', there was no internet or instant messaging to get in the way of your concentration and appreciation of these often quite complex programmes.

So here's what you get.


Catweazle - The Demi-Devil (originally aired in 12/04/70)
As with all Catweazle (the entire series is available from Network) this episode is great fun. It's the only episode that I can recall which has Catweazle not only drunk, but wearing a natty evening suit too, rather than his hessian rags. There are some laugh aloud moments, when Catweazle believes that his magical powers are working after all. If this doesn't convince you to buy the set then nothing will.


Escape Into Night - Episode One (19/04/72)
A bed-ridden girl discovers a pencil with hidden powers. Very 'Charlotte Sometimes' and intriguing enough, despite the grainy VT footage, to ensure you'll want to get the whole series which, thankfully, is already available from Network. Sadly, it's all now only available in monochrome as the colour episodes have been wiped. Having said that, chances are you saw it this way back in the day!

The Feathered Serpent - Episode One (21/06/76)
I was looking forward to checking this out as I had no recollection of the original programme, and it features one of my favourite 'Doctors' - Patric Troughton. However, this heavy period piece from ancient times just felt too stodgy and unconvincing for my tastes. Maybe it improves but, for me, one of the weaker inclusions.


Just William - The Sweetest Little Girl In White (27/02/77)
A superb and timely episode, opening the classic 'Just William' series with Bonnie Langford doing her 'I'll thrceam and thrcream until I make mythelth thick' routine. The new series (featuring the ideally cast cheeky young lad from 'Outnumbered' in the title role) is just about to air so a good opportunity to see this version first. Again, the whole series is available from Network.


Sky - Burning Bright (07/04/75)
What a brilliant opening episode. Like a children's version of 'The Man who Fell to Earth' replete with a Bowie lookalike in the principal role, this surreal first episode really is a reminder of how good imaginative children's TV can be. I have the whole set on order and can't wait!
Eerie, unsettling and a benchmark production for children's television in the 1970s, Sky was created by Doctor Who's Bob Baker and Dave Martin the exterior scenes set in Avebury, Glastonbury Tor and Stonehenge, are genuinely haunting.


Anything You Can Do (09/07/74)
This is something of an anomaly here. Like X-Factor but without the show-business sparkle, it's a contest that battles regions against each other, straddling the various arts, with a panel (including a smoking Mickie Most) silently attributing points. It's the most lacklustre set of performances ever committed to video - and pretty hilarious stuff. Enjoy this episode - it's the only one to have survived a tape-wiping cull.

The Intruder - The Stranger (02/01/72)
A slightly slow-moving, but spooky drama featuring a stranger to a coastal town, with a patch over one eye and a beret, claiming to be not only a successful businessman but the son of a man who's 'adopted son' feels very put out. Particularly as there is clearly something fishy going on. Apparently much missed by those who remember it but alas, I was not in the UK when it originally aired. No other episodes are available currently though maybe this heralds a potential release of the whole series, which will be worth watching.

Soldier And Me - Conspiracy (15/09/74)
Another much-loved but rarely aired programme! And another which has yet to see the light of day as a full series. This kicks off with a lad who is about to discover that all is not quite as it seems. His father is a Czech and it seems that some Czech assassins have entered the UK hell-bent on killing any dissidents who fled the Czech republic in favour of the 'West'. As a result, the lad teams up with another lad (nicknamed 'Soldier') and try to take their story to the police who do not believe them. The gang's leader tells his henchmen to get rid of the boys and the chase begins.


The Siege Of Golden Hill - Ultimatum (08/06/75)
A curiously violent episode which features a gang of tearaways who wreak havoc on a local social club before running off into the night. It's surprisingly edgy for Children's TV, with a harsher edge than 'Grange Hill' for example. This is the first of 12 episodes, none of which are available elsewhere as far as I know. It was followed by a 6 episode series simply entitled 'Golden Hill' so it must have been seen as a success.

A Place To Hide - The Hideout (04/01/76)
What a great opening episode! Three individuals (starts as 2 ladies and a man, though once the disguises are off, it's two men and a lady) plan and execute the perfect robbery and decide to lay low. And they've had got away with it too if hadn't been for those meddling kids! I'd love to see the rest of this but sadly not available as this goes to press.

Wreckers At Dead Eye - The Stranger (28/10/70)
A grainy old pirate series, replete with toothless villains with patches over one eye. My only recollection of this series is as a regular feature in early Look-In comics so I was thoroughly looking forward to seeing it. The Cornish coast looks wonderfully bleak but the series failed to ignite for me, running pretty faithfully to all the clichés of a genre that doesn't much interest me. 'Treasure Island' was more than enough!


The Danedyke Mystery - Episode One (03/06/79)
This I liked! Although I had just about left home for Art College when this aired, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. The conceit (an ex-copper Padre) is irresistible and who better to solve the mystery! Nicely acted and well shot and in very good nick too. Apparently adapted from the novel `Septimus and the Danedyke Mystery' by Stephen Chance.



The Jensen Code - Episode One (28/02/73)
Another series available in full from Network that has lost its colour in the mists of time, with original tapes missing, presumed wiped. I've ordered a full set of this too - as a companion to the 'Sky' set. It's a classic British sci-fi piece, full of surrealistic improbability, in the mould set by 'Quatermass' and this first episode is a fantastic teaser. Sixteen-year-old Terry Connor is sent, along with a few of his friends, to an Outward Bound centre. On his first day at the centre Terry is taken pot-holing by the senior instructor, Alex. All goes well until, at 100 feet underground, Alex goes to search for the torch that Terry has dropped. Hours pass, and, to Terry's astonishment, when Alex finally returns he has no recollection whatever of having been absent. Terry suspects something sinister is taking place - it is surely no coincidence that there is a secret Ministry of Defence establishment nearby. But just how deeply his curiosity will involve him in dangerous matters becomes clear when he learns the truth about the 'Jensen Code'...

The Jensen Code was a highly unusual children's thriller series, written by Carey Harrison (author son of actor Rex Harrison), and starring David (Dai) Bradley, the BAFTA-winning young star of Kes, as the teenager who unwittingly uncovers a terrifying space-age espionage project.

Follow Me - Episode One (26/06/77)
A mix of social drama and thriller, with a boat obsessed youngster finding himself boarding with his ne'er do well Dad aboard a dis-used and leaky boat. There's a lot of boating detail here for those who care for such things but it's all a bit slow moving in this opening episode. Not one to get in a fever about!

Boy Dominic - Lost At Sea (24/03/74)
What a corker! Even Brian Blessed was rather good in this, not feeling the need to shout the whole time. Featuring Murray Dale as Dominic, ( the son of 'Carry On' stalwart Jim Dale), this was set in Yorkshire in the year 1820. The well-to-do Bullman family were about to have their world torn apart when the head of their family, Charles Bulman (Richard Todd) loses his ship -The Bright Star, off the north coast of Africa. With no word of the fate of his father and no income, Dominic and his mother, Emma (Hildegard Neil) are forced to sell their Greenwich home. Together they travel to Yorkshire and throw themselves on the mercy of Lady Bulman (Mary Morris), who turns them away as money grabbers. With nowhere else to go, they throw in their lot with an old seafaring friend of Charles', a drunken old salt by the name of William Woodcock (Brian Blessed). Together they open a guesthouse catering for patrons from all walks of life and of varying notoriety. This first episode sets things up beautifully for what feels terribly like one of those rather good BBC period dramas for kids. Only this was a Yorkshire TV show which is available as a two disc set from Network.

Hold The Front Page - The Great Rug Scandal (16/01/74)
This was a slightly batty children's sitcom about a group of newspaper journalists trying to unmask the Mr. Big of the Great Rug Scandal. Used Chroma Key technology to put characters against cartoon backgrounds with thought-bubbles coming out of their heads, this was later used in eighties ids show 'Zzzap!'. Cast members played several roles each which, in their madcap world, seemed perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, through the eyes of a jaded adult, this just doesn't quite cut the mustard.

Conclusion
Whilst the picture quality is (understandably) widely variable - from a near perfect picture for 'The Feathered Serpent' to the grainy, washed out look of 'Wreckers at Dead Eye', as a 'selection box' this gets 10/10 for sheer nostalgic entertainment and value. Though I didn't get the full pack (just a check disc) if you order the set you'll be the proud owner of the following Free Gift. If this doesn't tip you over the edge then nothing will! Don't forget - your purchase will help encourage companies like 'Network' to continue to fight the good fight, digging out obscure gems from yesteryear, dusting them off, and releasing them so we can enjoy them one more time - at least!

Oh - here are the details of the 'free gift'!

Catweazle's disco. Now you can join in with the groovy wizard and his cool pals (including Violet Elizabeth, Queen Bodicea and one of the fab stones from Escape Into Night) as they strut their funky stuff in this cut-out-and-keep diorama