A Hitch in Time

Clarke wrote many Ealing Classics. Here he is using his talents to pen this wry and entertaining spoof of Dr Who. All the more knowing because Patrick Troughton had played Dr. Who.

A mixture of Doctor Who and Catweazle in this Children's Film Foundation production.

It was written by the legendary TEB Clarke who wrote some of the Ealing classic comedies including an Oscar for The Lavender Hill Mob.

The centrepiece is former Doctor Who Patrick Troughton. He plays eccentric Professor Adam Wagstaff (Patrick Troughton) who has created a haphazard time machine that he operates from an ancient castle.

Just in time to help him out are two local schoolkids Paul (Michael McVey) and Fiona (Pheona McLellan) who respond to his cries for help when the professor finds himself trapped.

As the kids weigh less they are ideal for his time travel experiments. Paul ends up back to his class earlier in the morning when he was late for his history lesson. He is chastised for his tardiness by history teacher Sniffy Kemp (Jeff Rawle.)

They later bounce around in time, and each occasion their nemesis is some ancestor of Sniffy Kemp.

Fun and amusing, it is a light knockabout squarely aimed at kids. It might have helped if the story had a bit more depth but it gave me more of a Catweazle vibe.

Excellent childrens film, simple fun adventure but with exception of Patrick Troughton (my favourite Doctor) it's not Dr Who. The similarity to the early Dr Who stories is little more than superficial Patrick Troughton is excellent as always as was Jeff Rawle as Sniffy.

This is worry free TV, no children were harmed in the making or watching of this film.

I seen A Hitch In Time many years ago when I was younger when BBC1 screened it one afternoon during the children's programmes after school.

It is about a professor with a time machine known as OSKA and is discovered by two children in a cave. The Professor, Wagstaff then sends the children through time and encounter several villains.

Professor Wagstaff is played by Dr Who actor Patrick Troughton and is joined by Sorcha Cusack and Ronnie Brody.

A Hitch In Time is one of the Children's Film Foundation movies and would be good to see it again, along with others from this company. Problem is that they never seem to be on the telly now.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

I loved this film as a kid and was amazed to find it on DVD recently as it is the kind of film that you expect to be gathering dust in the film vaults of some dusty British studio, but no, it has been released for all to enjoy on DVD in England. The plot is simple enough, an inventor (played by Pat "Dr Who" Troughton) invents a time machine but can never get it to work right. Enter two kids who happen to discover his hiding place and end up going through time while encountering a bullying teacher, and, while going further back in time, even the teacher's ancestors. This is a classic kids film, the sort mom and dad can leave any child with and know that he or she is going to be entertained and not need ten years of therapy. So track it down, it is worth a watch, and if you get the DVD, you also have Go Kart Go, an early Dennis Waterman film with rival Go-Kart teams!