Review for Children of the Stones: The Complete Series

In 1977 I was already gigging with my first band, the toe-curlingly named 'Streetfighter' - a punky outfit playing occasional lunchtime gigs at ill attended working men's clubs in the Midlands. At 15, I'd outgrown 'children's TV' so sadly never got to see this incredibly good TV series until years later. As it turns out, about thirty years later and then only as a lo-res copy as the release of the series a few years ago on DVD, and its consequent deletion, meant that copies went for larger amounts that I was prepared to spend. Network have changed all that, and you can now pick up the series for a song. Which brings me back to my first band - and loads of other great things that happened that year. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. So it goes without saying that, if you saw and loved this first time around then you should purchase it without delay. No need to read any more of this review.


For others who, like me, love good television from the sixties and seventies but who didn't see it when it first aired, there is still plenty to recommend it.
It's a tale of seven parts (all contained on the first disc of this set), each starting with a nightmarish title sequence that has one of the scariest scores ever written and recorded (Sidney Sager) which really sets the tone for what follows. With giant stones seeming to lurch at the camera as the other worldly music and breathy vocals ensuring that every child under the age of 15 would be forever psychologically scarred in a way not seen since a decade earlier with 'The Singing Ringing Tree'. Very spooky stuff!


The series can hardly be described as a white knuckle-ride though. It's actually a rather slow brew where everything is not quite as it should be from the start, and a general sense of unease is created.


Matthew Brake (Peter Demin) arrives at the remote village of 'Milbury' with his father, Adam (Gareth Thomas, best known for his title role in 'Blake's 7') who is studying a curious Stonehenge circle of giant rocks that sit at the heart of the village. When they arrive they get a strange greeting ('Happy Day') from the majority of villagers, whilst others seem frightened and ill at ease.


It's clear that the giant stone formations have some power, and possibly some kind of hold over the villagers. And why did his dad literally pass out from shock when he placed his hands on one of the stones?

Filmed in Avebury in Wiltshire, always on film for exteriors and video-tape for interiors, it has a typical seventies look and feel, though is presented here in remarkably good nick.


The story continues to unfold in an increasingly sinister way and both son and father seek purely scientific explanations for all the strange incongruities in village life - and they soon figure out that all the 'happy' villagers must have been brain-washed in some way. So they are determined to resist. But no matter how they try, no one is ever quite able to leave the village (a direct steal from 'The Prisoner'?), as if the stones themselves have some hold on the villages occupants. This pre-occupation with ancient stones reached dizzy heights in the seventies in the UK (only second to Kung-Fu) with books and films and TV series reflecting the interest ('Escape into Night', Dr. Who's 'The Stones of Blood' just two examples).


It's interesting that a television show should so unapologetically feature so much scientific reasoning and intelligent rumination; almost unimaginable in Children's TV shows now. This was from an age before dumbing down was essential.
The series fairly whips by (if you have the time, a single sitting would work just fine) and it concludes in a suitably satisfying way. It's just damn good TV - regardless of its seventies look and feel, and its original target audience.


An unexpected bonus is the second disc. It features episodes from more HTV serials, The Clifton House Mystery, Into The Labyrinth, King of the Castle and Sky. What a bonus that they were all an episode on from the 'taster' volumes 'Look Back at 70's Telly' which have already been issued.

There are also some excellent production stills included as part of this essential set.

I would recommend this to nostalgic fans of the show (essential) as well as to anyone who is able to get past the prejudices associated with viewing archive TV and who can see the series for what it is - a really exciting and imaginative series that will have you captivated throughout.

And we have Network to thank for risking a release - which is why they remain my favourite distributor of all time.