The Enid Blyton Society

BBC re-imagines Enid Blyton for the 1st edition dust-jacket generation.


The cast of Blytonian, an award winning team of writer's re-imagining of Enid Blyton's best-loved characters, has been announced
A 25-part series, written by an award winning team of scriptwriters, will have two hour episodes laced with nail biting stories in a master class guide to Blytons' books for the unedited, original edition loving generation.
It will see Martin Clunes starring as Enid Blyton’s Uncle Quentin, Sean Connery as Bill Smugs, and Ben Fogle as Julian Kirrin.
They will join acting talents including Kate Winslet, as Aunt Fanny, in scenes which could see Susie from the Secret Seven Series bumping into Snubby from the Barney 'R' Mysteries.

The series, entitled Blytonian, was largely written by Justin Geste, who told the Telegraph he initially dismissed it as a “really crazy idea” which no-one would dare commission.
It will be a familiar set-up to anyone familiar with Golden Age 1940’s and 1950’s Enid Blyton, with real life sets based on Kirrin, Peterswood, Baronia, The Secret Island and The Faraway Tree.

Filmed entirely in the UK, it saw programme-makers build a complete replica of Fatty’s famous shed where all the Find-Outers meet, alongside Kirrin Cottage, The Secret Seven’s Shed, and The Isle of Gloom.
The programme, among the most ambitious projects ever commissioned by the BBC, started filming on the first of April.

Justin Geste, who last year presented a BBC documentary about Smuggling and Spook Trains, promised his remarkable take on the works of Blyton would attract even those who knew nothing about her, who could learn to love the original unaltered characters outside the pages of the original novels.

Saying he hoped to appeal primarily to the older generation of Enid's fans, the screenwriter said: “What I bring to the project is a magical treat for those who are still under the age of twelve in mind, body and spirit.”
“The way Blyton has been treated on television before is mixed.
"There is a whole generation of people who may know characters like Jack and Prince Paul but wouldn’t necessarily have a clue who the politically incorrect Famous Five are…”

"It will bring a whole raft of new people to Blyton and her characters. You don't need to have read the books or know who the characters are. You can discover them with Blytonion. That makes it incredibly exciting."
He added he was “well-trained in episodic writing” thanks to his years on an old battered typewriter on his loggia , he pointed out that Blyton herself was the master of the cliff-hanger, having released many of her works in weekly magazines.

The original commission of 25 two hour episodes, he said, was the “tip of the iceberg” of material on offer, leaving the possibility of a much longer-running series if it proves popular.
“It's quite a simple concept,” he said. “Taking a selection of Blytons' most iconic characters and free them from the narrative of the book.
"Take them and put them all in one place, and see what happens. Let them interact and see what it's like when Julian meets Fatty and Andy,or Mrs Hilton takes tea with Mrs Stick...”