The Owl Service

It's sad and disappointing that some reviews fail utterly to appreciate that this serial was an absolute classic of its time. It was bold in its conception, using real locations instead of studio-based sets which was unusual for its time. Its many years now since I first saw it but I remember it vividly as a very disturbing piece of story-telling thanks to the wonderful writing of the great Alan Garner and the brilliant direction of Peter Plummer.

Supposedly produced for young people, this mini-series has moments of eroticism and sexuality that are too adult for adolescents. The eternally youthful looking Gillian Hills was 24 in 1968 when she starred in this. Gillian, Michael Holden and Francis Wallis form the odd love triangle in an old Welsh country house and are drawn by occult forces to reenact a Welsh myth. They're supposed to be around 15 or 16. There's a weird vibe to the show. There's a modern car and SLR camera in some scenes and the three dress in style contemporary to 1968, especially Gillian who wears the miniskirts of that time. She's petulant and pouty and not really lovingly photographed by the DP and the two guys who vie for her attention are even more pouty and petulant. Yet the rooms in the fetid, worn out house are lit by old-fashioned oil or kerosene lamps making it seem like a house of the 19th century. The audio is in rough condition and with odd dialogue and overwrought acting, the listening is rough going. The Owl Service is not horror, not a soap opera, not a mystery and not a romantic saga but it's a mix of all of them.

Having enjoyed Children of the Stones recently I bought this expecting great things of another (supposed) classic of spooky children's (or young adult's) TV drama. I have to report that I was sorely disappointed.

Somehow, despite having a very limited number of locations and cast – or, in fact, anything very much happening for long periods – the story is still extremely difficult to follow. The direction is uneven; plot lines tail off and are never explained or resolved and the acting is often inept sometimes verging on the pantomimic. The decision not to even show one of the main characters (Margaret – I wonder if Mat Lucas and David Walliams were taking notes?) just adds to the general confusion.

This is a real shame because the storyline has great potential and there are odd flashes of brilliance. You just feel the whole thing could have been much more effectively and concisely told in half the time and that the necessity of padding it out over eight episodes left even those involved unsure as to what the hell was going on.

I can only put it down to the inexperience of Peter Plummer and Alan Garner in writing and directing TV drama. Both of them were also probably too close to the material to be able to see what a tangled mess they were creating.

On the plus side, the title sequence is great; Gillian Hills is wonderfully sexy and her relationship with Michael Holden is touching and occasionally quite erotic. Francis Wallis as Roger, on the other hand, is such a moaning prig it's impossible to feel any sympathy for him at all.

View as a weird late '60s TV curio – just don't expect a satisfying dramatic experience.

Strange that reviewers' opinion about this series is split, in that there is very little of merit in here at all, beyond Edwin Richfield's trademark twitchiness. It is extremely slow, stretched to breaking point across four hours. The three juvenile leads are extraordinarily inept and equally thumpable (well, maybe Roger is marginally worse than the others). Eerie moments are not followed up, so their effects dissipate. Mysteries are raised and never resolved. Bafflingly, the character Margaret, who is fairly crucial, is never shown; even the DVD notes fail to explain why. Some scenes have to go to enormous lengths to work around her absence; even a cardboard cut-out in silhouette would have been preferable. It is not stylish; the camera is generally static and the editing plodding. And the resolution, when it comes, resolves very little, choosing instead to wrap it all up in sci-fi gobbledegook.

And yet somehow it has become a cult classic. Go figure.

This was originally a Sunday evening children's programme. Some people found the plot hard going. However this does not distract from beautifully filmed,mystic quality of the programme. As a video release this would ideal, enabling it to be digested in your own time. Could be Gillian Hills' finest hour?