Look Back – Volume 4
Before Children’s ITV there was ‘Watch It’ the late afternoon slot that provided children with teatime television treats. This DVD, the forth volume of Look Back, has been released following the success of the original two releases.
School’s done, the fish fingers and chips have been scoffed and now it’s time to sit down with a Texan bar and a packet of Spangles to enjoy the best kids’ television that ITV has to offer…
Back in the day when childrens’ programmes were, by turns, fun, challenging, dramatic, spooky, hilarious and fantastic, tea-time programming was a staple part of the lives of millions of kids. Diverse and highly popular, it fired imaginations and was invariably an integral part of any worthwhile playground antics the next day.
Relive those moments and be a kid again with this special two-disc set featuring the best of childrens’ ITV programming from the 1970s. ATV productions rub shoulders with classics from Tyne Tees Television, Granada, LWT, Thames Television and Yorkshire TV.
ATV Network classics on this release include the highly popular The Kids from 47A which revolved around the adventures of four children whose widowed mother was taken into hospital, leaving them to cope on their own. The eldest—office worker Jess Gathercole—becomes the family matriarch, making every effort to keep her schoolchild sister and brothers at home with her.
Three series were made in Birmingham. The first of 15 episodes was shown in 1973, the second series of 13 episodes later the same year and a third run of 13 episodes aired in 1974. A special edition entitled Home Sweet Home was produced and aired in 1975.
The series was championed by ATV Network’s then Head of Children’s Drama (and currently, as this is written in 2010, our President) Alan Coleman who also directed the series alongside Richard Bramall and Johnathan Wright-Miller. Writers for the show included famous names such as Lynda La Plante and Phil Redmond..
Another fondly remembered ATV children’s drama on this release is Come Back Lucy the fantasy drama written by Pamela Sykes.
First released as a story book in 1973, in 1977 ATV Network commissioned a television of the show, which aired in 1978 across six half-hour episodes.
The story centred around a young girl called Lucy who lives with an aunt named Olive. Blissfully together the pair share a love for the Victorian era and their house is a treasure-trove of old furniture and items. When Olive dies however Lucy’s world is turned upside down and she is forced into a ‘modern world’ when she goes to live with her cousins and their parents and that is just the beginning of the adventures which include ghostly going ons and more!
The full DVD set contains (ATV series in bold):Arthur of the Britons, Fly Into Danger, Children of the Stones, A Bunch of Fives, Tom Grattan’s War, The Ghosts of Motley Hall, The Kids from 47a, Warrior Queen, The Doombolt Chase, Quest of Eagles, Come Back Lucy, The Boy Merlin, The Flaxton Boys, Pardon My Genie, The Clifton House Mystery and King of the Castle.
As with the original releases the DVD is styled as if it was an edition of the Junior TV Times ‘Look-In’.
Pictured: ATV’s Come Back Lucy.
