Children of the Stones

Wonderful HTV series for children that still sends a shiver up the spine, Children of the Stones is a masterclass in how to create atmosphere on a low budget, although the plot, largely borrowed from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, doesn't make a great deal of sense. The brilliant soundtrack of wordless choral music contributes immensely, while the Avebury setting with its weathered stones is used to excellent effect. Some reviewers have suggested it is like a kids' version of The Wicker Man - not really, this is played very straight and has none of The Wicker Man's comedy or eccentricity. Night of the Demon might be a closer comparison.

Iain Cuthbertson puts in a trademark eye-rolling performance, while the parents Gareth Thomas and Veronica Strong are a bit too like the nice teachers at school. The child actors do well, and are less irritating than most. Freddie Jones hams it up like a good 'un, and Ruth Dunning is the housekeeper from hell.

The ending is truly awful, sci-fi gobbledegook that merely provides a form of words to allow them all to stop. It is all about atmosphere, leaving logic and coherence behind at the boundary of Milbury.

Scientist Adam and his bright son Matthew move to the small, sleepy, happy village of Milbury. An attractive little place, slap bang on the site of an Ancient Stone circle, it's a village with a secret.

A really enjoyable series for people of all ages, I find it such a shame that series such as this aren't made for today's youngsters, back in the 70's there seemed to be a wealth of programmes made for teens, some pretty memorable, iconic programmes.

I'm sure those that watched this during its transmission remember it fondly, and for good reason, it's a very watchable and enjoyable series. Enough good stuff going on for first time viewers too.

Very 70's in terms of production values, music and clothing, so expect plenty of dodgy ties and haircuts.

8/10 definitely one to watch.

If you haven't seen Children of the Stones yet, I strongly suggest you do. It is appropriate for all age levels and is an extremely well written and well preformed miniseries. As was the case with the BBC and other british TV production houses in the '70's, they operated on a shoestring budget. While this limited any serious use of special effects, it allowed for great script writing with a well thought out storyline. Children of the Stones will draw you into an odd, sometimes surreal, story about a small country town with a strange history centering around the ancient standing stones in and around the town. What begins as a simple scientific survey of the stones by an "outsider" and his teenage son soon becomes an investigation of a number of oddities with the townfolk and the strange history of the area. The local museum curator, another "outsider", joins in experience. The past and present mingle. The town and it's people have a tale to tell. Spellbinding and sometimes spooky, Children of the Stones will draw you in and keep you riveted, wanting for more! The plot is not as thin as one might think when beginning the journey. What is the secret of the town? Why are the people wary of visitors, but at the same time try to entice strangers to stay and live there? What happens to a person for them to suddenly change their minds and make them decide to become a permanent resident? How are the ancient standing stones connected with it all? If you appreciate a great plot, this miniseries is a must-see.

This TV serial aired thirty three years ago and brought back a lot of memories of the originality of UK children's TV in those days. It is probably a little too "talky" for today's audiences and it does require one's whole attention. Back then, there were many TV serials, books and films dealing with the occult or prechristian pagan themes, and like murder mysteries, they were invariably set in picture postcard English villages, where everyone seems to be addicted to afternoon tea with cakes, and which makes one wonder just WHAT is going on in those little villages. Many, if not all, villages date from ancient times, especially if they are near a river or water source, and thanks to the laws which prevented people moving away from the parish or estate that they were tied to, the villagers' ancestry goes back as far as the village. Old customs and practices linger on, which adds to the mystery and folk lore.

Unless you have visited Avebury and the general area, you can have no conception of how huge these monuments are, and how many circles and long barrows (neolithic burial chambers) there are. We know next to nothing about their builders and for what purpose they were built, which leaves room for fanciful imagination. We do know that what remains today is but a fraction of what once stood. Even the Avebury Circle and Stonehenge are mere fragments of what used to be.

As I grew up listening to Journey Into Space and the Quatermass Experiment on radio, the time warp and parallel universe themes were no surprise. Throw in a bit of pagan witchcraft and I was on familiar ground. Without giving away any of the plot (everyone else has done that for me) I cannot help wondering whether the creators of LOST watched this show in their youth, as there are many similarities. So many in fact that I would go so far as to say that the finale of LOST will show that the island was on a circular parallel time where events kept repeating themselves.

I would have given this show a rating of 10 for sheer originality, but the lack of close captions hampered me, being age related hearing impaired, and I could not follow the plot at all. Had it not been for reviews on the Internet I would not have had a clue what was going on. I am surprised how many viewers found it scary, as I did not find it so, but that is perhaps because I could not hear the actors very clearly.

If ever any one ITV region was the head of the pack when it came to producing children's TV, then HTV West, on the merit of "Children of the Stones" alone, would be it.

Broadcast in 1977, COTS is a 7-part fantasy series set in the fictional village of Milbury. Starring a pre-Blake's 7 Gareth Thomas and 70s telly stalwart Iain Cuthbertson, this delightful little series concerns a scientist and his son's attempts to discover the secret power behind the Milbury stone circle.

This is an incredibly eerie sci-fi series and to call it a kids show is a bit of an insult. It is a well crafted tale, brought to the screen with some very adept direction and a remarkably haunting musical score.

The performances from the cast are uniformly excellent and special praise must got to the talented youngsters involved.

If you can get a hold of this tremendous series then I can highly recommend it. However, it has been deleted on video in the UK for some time.

COTS is kids TV at its best - thoughtfully written, well acted, amazingly directed and a delightful, summery, eerie masterpiece. Because of its folksy score and pagan references COTS has been referred to as "The Wicker Man" for kids - it could be called a lot worse.