(Found) Can't Remember Old Children's TV Series

[Phyrebrat]

I hope this is okay to sneak in and ask this.

I'm trying to find the name of an 80s or late 70s chldrens TV programme on BBC1. It was much in the vein of things like The Box of Delights, and The Phoenix and the Carpet, although perhaps a bit more Enid Blyton-y.

Essentially it was (perhaps) two brothers and two sisters (or any combination of less or more than that) who either lived in, or went to stay with extended family in a posh country seat. There was a lake, and on the island in the lake was a pavilion which the family used to store old chairs and so on.

However in the room were dummies called The Ugly Wuglies. They wore old clothes and had paper bags for heads, much like old fashioned Penny-for-the-Guy.

I used to be terrified of them but I want to read or see the episodes they were in, again.

Can anyone help?

pH

 

[Graymalkin]

The Enchanted Castle?

 

[Phyrebrat]

The Enchanted Castle?

Thanks I'll give it a bit of digging to see if that's it. Part of me wonders if this is set too early. I was thinking it may be more around the 50s, but it's a good start. Thanks.

pH

 

[Danny McG]

Thanks I'll give it a bit of digging to see if that's it. Part of me wonders if this is set too early. I was thinking it may be more around the 50s, but it's a good start. Thanks.

pH

@Phyrebrat was it the series?
I got faint memories of Ugley Wuglies myself now!

 

[Phyrebrat]

@Phyrebrat was it the series?
I got faint memories of Ugley Wuglies myself now!

Thanks for the reminder, @dannymcg - yes it was The Enchanted Castle , @Graymalkin was right (apologies for my slackness in replying properly).

The Youtube segments have been deleted but from the stills, the ugly wuglies seem different than I remember.[edit: Just fell down a warren of Youtube Children's 'creepy' TV show intros and episodes - what is it about the 70s and 80s that lends itself so well to terrifying folk horror? Or was it just that I was a kid then? Owl Service, The Box of Delights, Children of the Stones, Picture Box (opening music) etc etc].

The photos show human actors under the masks but as I recall it, their faces were not visible, and rather were old fashioned paper bags - the sort you'd get from a bakery - with crudely drawn faces on them.

I'll find em sooner or later. There's a pinterest page but it's been hourglassing for five mins so I just closed it.

pH

 

[HareBrain]

what is it about the 70s and 80s that lends itself so well to terrifying folk horror? Or was it just that I was a kid then?

Interesting question. The two series I would equate with folk horror (rather than folky but with disturbing elements) would be Children of the Stones and Quatermass, in 1976 and 1979. Plus in 1977 you had the Doctor Who adventure The Image of the Fendahl. This is about the time the hippie idea had become tarnished in the mainstream, and maybe writers were exploring the darker side of folklore rather than its more positive side.

But there have been folk-related series since, such as The Box of Delights in 1984 and Earthfasts in 1994. I'm not sure it's ever been common enough to plot a trend, except that I can't identify anything this century that's been really like that. Both of those two series were based on much earlier books.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Interesting question. The two series I would equate with folk horror (rather than folky but with disturbing elements) would be Children of the Stones and Quatermass, in 1976 and 1979. Plus in 1977 you had the Doctor Who adventure The Image of the Fendahl. This is about the time the hippie idea had become tarnished in the mainstream, and maybe writers were exploring the darker side of folklore rather than its more positive side.

I'm trying to be productive in my writing and now you mention this Fendahl thing, I want to go and have a look at that instead. What Quatermass are you referring to? The ones I've seen I would class more towards the SF than folk end spectrum. In fact, is that how the spectrum goes? From folk one end to SF at the other? Or perhaps folk horror to cosmic horror?

Children of the Stones might not be half as scary without the score it has.

But there have been folk-related series since, such as The Box of Delights in 1984

Yes I mentioned that one above as it holds a special place for me; Christmas 1984. I think the acid test for how scary a children's programme will be is simple: the opening credits. The Box of Delights follows that rule to the letter.

pH

 

[HareBrain]

I'm trying to be productive in my writing and now you mention this Fendahl thing, I want to go and have a look at that instead.

Do, it's great. If I can't be productive, I don't see why anyone else should be.

What Quatermass are you referring to?

The TV series with John Mills. Actually, it's not folky but it is kind of hippies vs science.

I think the acid test for how scary a children's programme will be is simple: the opening credits. The Box of Delights follows that rule to the letter.

As someone who used to be terrified by the Doctor Who theme, I get you.

 

[Danny McG]

It's odd, and serendipitous, that you should revive this thread now. In the last few days, I've been trying to recall the name of a series that was, more or less tenuously, based on some people working in the area of the environment and/or environmental health. I can't even recall whether it was on the BBC or a commercial channel (although I think it was the former), or even the decade in which it was broadcast.

One episode started with the main character driving through the countryside (on the way to work?) and fiddling with a cassette in the car's player. A children ran out of a field and was hit by the car. (The general tenor of what followed was based on the premise that it was the child's fault, and so they investigated why he'd been running and from where.) Another episode seemed to involve a health clinic/spa. A third one was about chemicals being stored where they shouldn't (which may have been deliberate); someone fell ill, and may have died, as a result.

You may be able to tell that I'm very unclear about the details, to the extent that I half-believe I'm conflating different series.

@Ursa major
The bit about the chemicals puts me in mind of one of the 'Screen Two' presentations in mid eighties. Titled 'The Russian Soldier' but there wasn't actually a soldier involved.
Warren Clarke played a farmer who had a chemical mishap and a sinister Man from the Ministry turned up to basically take over

 

[pambaddeley]

I hope this is okay to sneak in and ask this.

I'm trying to find the name of an 80s or late 70s chldrens TV programme on BBC1. It was much in the vein of things like The Box of Delights, and The Phoenix and the Carpet, although perhaps a bit more Enid Blyton-y.

Essentially it was (perhaps) two brothers and two sisters (or any combination of less or more than that) who either lived in, or went to stay with extended family in a posh country seat. There was a lake, and on the island in the lake was a pavilion which the family used to store old chairs and so on.

However in the room were dummies called The Ugly Wuglies. They wore old clothes and had paper bags for heads, much like old fashioned Penny-for-the-Guy.

I used to be terrified of them but I want to read or see the episodes they were in, again.

Can anyone help?

pH

I don't think I saw the TV series but I recognised The Enchanted Castle because I read the book many years ago by Edith Nesbit. My recollection is that the children were doing a play and they made an audience out of figures which were old broom handles and paper bags for heads etc and that these then came alive somehow.

 

[Vladd67]

@Ursa major
The bit about the chemicals puts me in mind of one of the 'Screen Two' presentations in mid eighties. Titled 'The Russian Soldier' but there wasn't actually a soldier involved.
Warren Clarke played a farmer who had a chemical mishap and a sinister Man from the Ministry turned up to basically take over

If I remember correctly the man from the ministry also got infected as the chemical was in the farms water supply and he had been drinking tea all day.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Could have been a political drama made-for-tv film or mini-series. A new (possibly controversial) PM gets toppled from power - maybe he promised nuclear disarmament? Either way, the political establishment gets him removed from power.

Sounds like A Very British Coup, but it's not that one, or House of Cards. Possibly broadcast on Channel 4.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Danny McG]

Secret State?

Secret State (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[paranoid marvin]

Secret State?

Secret State (TV series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Thanks for the suggestion. Funnily enough, when I was trawling through some lists of political thrillers trying to find it, I stumbled across this one. I hadn't heard of it, so decided to watch it and it was very good. But unfortunately it wasn't the one I remember.

It's definitely not before the 80s, and probably in the 90s or possibly slightly later.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Thanks for the reminder, @dannymcg - yes it was The Enchanted Castle , @Graymalkin was right (apologies for my slackness in replying properly).

The Youtube segments have been deleted but from the stills, the ugly wuglies seem different than I remember.[edit: Just fell down a warren of Youtube Children's 'creepy' TV show intros and episodes - what is it about the 70s and 80s that lends itself so well to terrifying folk horror? Or was it just that I was a kid then? Owl Service, The Box of Delights, Children of the Stones, Picture Box (opening music) etc etc].

The photos show human actors under the masks but as I recall it, their faces were not visible, and rather were old fashioned paper bags - the sort you'd get from a bakery - with crudely drawn faces on them.

I'll find em sooner or later. There's a pinterest page but it's been hourglassing for five mins so I just closed it.

pH

There seems to have been a lot of children's drama of the 70s and 80s that edged to spooky/scary stuff.

Into The Labyrinth, King of the Castle, Come Back Lucy, The Changes, Clifton House Mystery, Witches and the Grinnygog etc etc were all great shows and still hold up today.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Wow, someone else remembers "The Clifton House Mysteries" - Peter Sallis as Milton Guest

 

[paranoid marvin]

Wow, someone else remembers "The Clifton House Mysteries" - Peter Sallis as Milton Guest

This and Into The Labyrinth I had only the vaguest of memories of until the internet came along and I found them again. Clifton House was actually condensed into a movie, but was originally a serial on tv. Now it's available on DVD (as are a number of other previously unobtainable releases. One that seems to crop up quite regularly in people's memories is The Enchanted Castle, and (for some reason) it is one of the few that hasn't found it's way on to Youtube or to purchase on DVD.



There also seemed to be plenty of spooky programmes involving mirrors (and quite often time travel). I have vague recollections of a girl (and perhaps her brother) staring into a standing mirror and switching places with (Victorian?) children. In the end they were fooled, and the modern kids ended up trapped in the past. I think it may have been an episode of ITV's 'Dramarama'.