Malory Towers TV series

[Katharine]

Anita, I can see your point about the original books not being enough to make such a long TV series, however, I feel they've gone about it the wrong way. Why on earth only have one Mam'zelle? There was the storyline of the drawings done of them by Belinda? - that would have made a good episode or two. Secondly, maybe I've got it wrong, but I'm pretty certain that Irene's mother was mentioned in one of the books, so again, why rewrite a character just to satisfy the plot? Why not bring in someone else? I'd also be interested to know what percentage of the population was Jewish at the time the books were written, and whether it was usual for a girl to go to a boarding school with non Jews. I know very little about the religion/faith, but I have read a few news articles in recent years which suggests that the children go to separate schools to the rest of the British population and mix very little outside their community.

I also don't feel it sits well with Enid Blyton that she would go into such depths as Irene struggling with her father's engagement - my impression of her books is that she'd either ignore family situations altogether, or stick to simplistic situations whereby someone had a 'wicked' step-parent, or none at all.

I haven't seen it, but I can imagine that bringing in Matron's character a bit more would work well - that's about the only change that I can imagine wouldn't ruin the feeling of Enid's books.

If the original 6 books weren't enough for the TV version, why on earth didn't they quickly accelerate the main characters through the school and then focus on younger characters such as Felicity and invent all these new plots for those instead? I think that's what they did with The Worse Witch series - Mildred Hubble and her friends moved on, and they brought in a younger cousin who could get up to all sorts of new adventures.

[Anita Bensoussane]

The trouble over the drawings does feature in the second series of the TV programme, but it's not quite the same as in Enid Blyton's Second Form at Malory Towers. For one thing, there's no Belinda in the TV adaptation. Like Irene, Belinda isn't heavily involved in the meatier storylines in the books. Since Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series contains more characters than casting could probably afford - or would be practical - it's not surprising that girls who are somewhat on the periphery are either discarded altogether (Belinda) or given a more demanding role (Irene). In the TV series, another girl is responsible for the drawings and the two members of staff in the sketches are Mam'zelle and Matron.

It doesn't seem unlikely to me for a Jewish girl to be at Malory Towers. In Antonia Forest's End of Term (1959), there's a girl named Miranda who is Jewish. End of Term is about Kingscote School for Girls which, like Malory Towers, is a private boarding school. I remember a few Jewish pupils at my own school, though I'm talking about a co-educational comprehensive in the 1980s.

Enid Blyton does have some deep and sombre storylines revolving around characters' families. The two that spring to mind immediately are from the Naughtiest Girl series, with Joan Townsend's parents neglecting her for years because of a tragedy in the family (The Naughtiest Girl in the School), and Julian Holland only making up his mind to use his brains instead of wasting them because of something that happens to his mother, which gives him a terrible shock (The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor). Oh, and Sally Hope is so jealous of her baby sister that she insists she's an only child (First Term at Malory Towers), while Daphne Millicent Turner lies about her family and pretends a photo of a glamorous-looking woman is a photo of her mother because she feels that her real parents aren't grand enough (Second Form at Malory Towers). For that reason, the story of Irene coming to terms with her father's engagement doesn't seem out of place (it's not unduly heavy or ridden with angst - more wistful really).

I'm glad Darrell, Sally, Gwen and co. haven't been "accelerated" through the school because the actors portray the characters beautifully - though the younger actors playing Felicity, June, Clarissa and co. are great too.

[Katharine]

I suppose the drawings being of Matron instead could work as long as the two characters were often at loggerheads with each other, although I can't understand why Belinda has been left out of the series, as I thought my daughter said there are characters in it who don't appear in the books. Or am I mistaken about that?

Anita, interesting to hear that you met Jewish children at your school, as far as I'm aware, I've never met anyone.

I agree that Enid Blyton does have some more in-depth family plotlines. The closest I can think to the Irene story is Margery Fenworthy? who has a step-mother she doesn't get on with. I just can't understand why they didn't use those that were already in the books rather than alter someone's whole background.

Does the Sally Hope jealousy story feature in the TV programme?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, the Sally Hope jealousy story is in the first series.

Regarding non-book characters, there's an older girl who is in a few episodes in the first series, and a boy in his teens (Ron) who works as a gardener/groom at the school. Ron is in every series (he's useful for plots involving the grounds, horses and the village) and his younger brother Fred sometimes makes an appearance as well. Miss Parker has become Mr. Parker, and there's a teacher in the third series (Miss Johnson) who turns out to be a criminal.

[Katharine]

Groan, it just sounds worse and worse.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Most of the additional characters fit in well in my opinion - though not all. Ron is instantly likeable, and there are some interesting plot threads involving the older girl in the first series.

Mr. Parker seems dreadful at first, being new to teaching and unsure how to deal with things, but he gradually settles in and becomes a popular member of staff who relates well to his pupils.

I can't stand Miss Johnson, however. She's an over-the-top character with over-the-top storylines, completely unconvincing. I find the story of her reign at the school impossible to swallow, and as a result the third series is the one I like least.

[Katharine]

In my head I've renamed the TV version as 'Faulty Towers'.

[Wolfgang]

I'm sure the similarity of the name to Fawlty Towers is just a coincidence.

[dsr]

Regarding Jews at school, some are more orthodox than others. As our guide on a tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem once told us, something that perhaps should have been obvious but I hadn't thought about at the time - there are Jews who are orthodox and wear obvious Jewish clothing and follow all the rules religiously, and there are Jews who basically believe in God and follow religious observances on the Sabbath and holidays and don't eat pork, and there are Jews who do not believe in God and are Jewish by ancestry only, not by faith.

It's perfectly possible that a non-orthodox family would send their daughter to an English boarding school; and the only real difference would be no bacon for breakfast and possibly missing assembly.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, the Jews at my school were non-orthodox. I also once worked as a volunteer on a secular kibbutz in Israel.

Dsr, your post has reminded me that my uncle (who is only six years older than I am) had a Jewish friend at his co-educational comprehensive in Immingham in the 1970s. When his friend came to his house for the first time, my grandad was just tucking into a bacon sandwich after having finished a long shift at work. He knew nothing of the boy's background and said to him, "Hello. Excuse me eating. Would you like me to make you a sandwich? There's nothing like a bacon butty, is there?" A bit of an awkward start, but they soon got to know and like each other.

[timv]

Antonia Forest was in fact Jewish herself - her real name was Patricia Rubinstein - and it's generally supposed that Miranda West, who is one of my favourite AF characters, was based loosely on herself, with some of the themes at Kingscote School taken from AF's own schooldays in Hampstead in the post-WW1 period. This presumably includes the mildly anti-Semitic attitudes of some of the staff, especially the eccentric Headmistress, Miss Keith, who is presented as wanting to keep Miranda out of the (Christian New Testament-based) annual School Nativity Play in End of Term - she doesn't think that a Jewish pupil such as Miranda believes in its 'message' of Jesus as the Son of God anyway so she's not an appropriate participant. As far as we know Miranda's father is a relatively 'relaxed' secular Jew and wouldn't be annoyed at her taking part in a Christian entertainment; M has trouble in getting into the School Play in an emergency to replace someone despite being a good actor, but from the Head not her family. (The Kingscote Nativity Play with its rather stilted mix of acting, tableaux, and carols was apparently based on AF's own 1920s school play. ) AF herself later converted from Judaism to Catholicism and in the 1970s put her opposition to the ending of the Latin language in Church services at the Second Vatican Council in her Marlows novel The Attic Term.

The portrayal of Miss Johnson in the Malory Towers series seems to come more from the world of 'minor' 1920s-50s girls' school stories, in books and comics, than from Blyton - one of the strengths of Enid's school books was indeed that she was a good deal more realistic and less sensational in her storylines than a lot of her contemporaries. (It's a bit ironic and disappointing that this series introduces such non-Blytonisms and so gives a mudddled impression to people who haven't read the books about their storylines and the latter's themes.) The 'crooked teacher who the girls thwart and who ends up getting fired' plotlines were favourites of some of the 1920s-30s girls' magazine school stories, especially those influenced or written by the admirers of 'Frank Richards' (Charles Hamilton) the creator of Billy Bunter and co - eg the 'Morecove School' series which was set in a building on a cliff in N Devon with secret passages etc so it may have given Enid ideas for MT's setting.

In the 1950s some writers, eg Mary Gervaise (real name Joan Brown), even had fake Headmistresses who'd been put in the school by crooks to help their plots after kidnapping the real one - so far the TV Malory Towers hasn't dredged that old cliche up, but you never know... Possibly Miss Johnson's activities may have been inspired by the modern continuation MT books, where in one of them there's a temporary teacher called Miss Tallant? who is engaged in a war of nerves with the girls, finds out about June's planned tricks and thwarts them, blackmails a new pupil with a 'Dodgy Past' to spy on the class for her, and ends up sacked.

The acting in the MT series, especially by the girls, is the best thing about it and the plots are somewhat shaky though Covid restrictions probably made it look worse by cutting back the size of classes or of visitors ; but at least the series has keep going for several years so we see the girls growing up in 'real time', always a problem when a TV company is trying to cover a long school series and so has to film one series or so per year for some years to cover all the books. (No TV company would guarantee the money to keep a series on air for a long period, for a start.) Imagine trying to film Elinor Brent Dyer's 27 years or so of Chalet School school years, compared to MT's 5 to 6 years - though I think you could probably do the early Tyrol books and the scenery plus the Nazi baddies would make it memorable and 'Real Life with Serious Issues' for critics to approve of.

[Anita Bensoussane]

As far as we know Miranda's father is a relatively 'relaxed' secular Jew and wouldn't be annoyed at her taking part in a Christian entertainment; M has trouble in getting into the School Play in an emergency to replace someone despite being a good actor, but from the Head not her family.

I remember Miranda pointing out that it would actually be particularly apt for her to be given a part, as Jesus and his family were Jewish.

The portrayal of Miss Johnson in the Malory Towers series seems to come more from the world of 'minor' 1920s-50s girls' school stories, in books and comics, than from Blyton - one of the strengths of Enid's school books was indeed that she was a good deal more realistic and less sensational in her storylines than a lot of her contemporaries.

Good point, Tim. Some of the other plot strands in the Malory Towers TV adaptation remind me of boarding school stories from comics too - e.g. the supposed haunting, the dunce's cap incident, the finding of the secret room, and the treasure-hunting. I'm thinking of picture strip stories like 'The Four Marys' (Bunty), 'The Silent Three' (School Friend) and 'Bessie Bunter' (School Friend, June and Tammy). Bessie Bunter is Billy Bunter's sister, of course, and she had first appeared in a Greyfriars School story in The Magnet.

[Moonraker]

Plots aside, I simply love the actresses playing the pupils. They are full of fun and really (imho) portray the camaraderie that Enid showed in the original books.

By the way, I simply loved the long rally between Katharine and Anita!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think Katharine and I enjoyed it too - I know I did! Life would be incredibly boring if we all thought the same about everything!

[Mara]

Is Series 5 of Malory Towers the final series? I know there will be 20 episodes instead of 13 in Series 5. I read somewhere that it will cover the final two books.