Famous Five, TV comeback?

[Tony Summerfield]

I am sure we have discussed this before as it was originally announced back in July. It follows the adventures of present day George and Timmy who get transported back to the 1950s by time travel.

http://screenterrier.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... eback.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Francis]

Let's hope that it is shown on BBC and not just on SKY so that we all get a
chance to see and comment on it. I hope it is done well - the Time Travel
idea is a good one as it will connect modern children with the past and overcome
the problem with having mobile phones, Maybe it will also highlight how much
freer children were in the past.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Here's a bit from the Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/book ... ision.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Viv

[Belly]

Did anyone read the Lashings of Nostalgic Cheer article in the Telegraph by Max Davidson? Along the same lines.

This struck me:

When JK Rowling revived the English boarding school story in the Harry Potter books, she sparked a renaissance in childhood reading that many had thought inconceivable. Children who had been wedded to their computer screens could suddenly be observed deep in 500-page hardbacks.

Could TV adaptations of Famous Five books spark a similar revival? It would be nice to think so. Sentence for sentence Enid Blyton may be a dire writer, but she is a good enough storyteller to keep her readers turning the pages; and it is the habit of page-turning, as I can testify from experience, that converts a curious child into a voracious reader.

After my Enid Blyton phase as a seven-year-old, I went through a Robert Louis Stevenson phase, an Arthur Conan Doyle phase, a Mark Twain phase and, by 12, an Ian Fleming phase. By the time I was 15 I was devouring Othello and King Lear as if they were the latest edition of the Beano. The Famous Five, though quickly outgrown, was the bottom step of a glorious literary escalator.

I do not have grandchildren but if and when I do, I would be far happier seeing them ascend the same escalator, starting with Enid Blyton - where the worst that can happen to a character is a scraped knee - than overdose on sci-fi cartoons peopled by crazed psychopaths with stun guns. So let's all raise a glass of ginger beer to old-fashioned adventure and a dog called Timmy.


I agree with the part in bold in particular. Gillian Baverstock once wrote to me in a letter that her mother was delighted when her books took children upward into the delights of the realm of adult books and reading - or something like that.

Agree with Anita that I'd like to see long forgotten EB books brought to TV. Barney mysteries, Naughtiest Girl, Malory Towers, St Clares, 'one offs' - Hollow Tree House, The House at the Corner, The Put 'em Rights, Six Bad Boys. What about the Secret Series imagine that brought to TV with a Bond like budget! There will be many more than I can't bring to mind right now.

Has anyone influential here ever written in/spoken to those that do the TV adaptations? Heaven knows I used to pester them as a child and often received hand written replies!

There does seem to be a fashion for the 'retro' right now. The recent James Bond film took me back to the Bond films of the 60s/70s. Maybe we should try to capitalise on it?

[Soenke Rahn]

Seems to be Lost in Austen

George goes back in Time ...

Compare http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvand ... naustenep1

I have made also a thread in the German Fünf Freunde Forum to it.
http://108500.forumromanum.com/member/f ... onsearch=1

[Anita Bensoussane]

The Famous Five series with the time-travelling George and Timmy was mentioned in another thread, Soenke, which I've now merged with this one (see the posts at the beginning of the topic).

[Francis]

I've been lost in Blyton ever since 1954 when I discovered Noddy. So pleased that the
new series is set in that wonderful year. By the way Jane Austen lived about 15 miles away
from Guildford in a very small village called Chawton. The house where she lived with her mother
and sister is much as it was and well worth visiting.

[Loony the Dog]

When is 'Lost in Austen'' coming out?

[Tony Summerfield]

We have slightly crossed wires here! Lost in Austen has nothing to do with the Famous Five and it was shown on ITV back in 2008.

[Loony the Dog]

Oh help! Which one is the Famous Five time machin one?

[Soenke Rahn]

We have slightly crossed wires here! Lost in Austen has nothing to do with the Famous Five and it was shown on ITV back in 2008.

Hallo Tony, Yes, that's right but it's a similar plot and the similarity was so apparently and cleary. This was my point, maybe it was the inspiration of this plot ... But Lost in Austen is not Lost in Blyton.

[Soenke Rahn]

Oh help! Which one is the Famous Five time machin one?

Yes, such Time machine could help on the solution of the cases of the 5 ... Maybe George coould go back in the year (round about) 1840 and met Edgar Allan Poe, maybe he will have a hint from the Rue Morgue (compare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder ... Rue_Morgue" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) for a case with lost papers, out of a study of a tower of Mr. Hayling ... . Ok, maybe the filmproject could be something for a big movie ... but a serial - I have doubt ... friendly greetings, Soenke

[Moonraker]

Have I climbed the Faraway Tree in the night, and now am in the Land of Shaking Heads and Rolling Eyes?