Just William

I adore the Just William stories, they are so funny and charming and one of my favourite childhood memories is listening to Martin Jarvis narrating the stories on the cassette tapes, he reads them so perfectly. This series is absolutely wonderful, but it is such a shame that there may not be more as this series deserves more and the fact it was scheduled at midday when not many will be watching. Thank goodness though I recorded it, and a lot of people who I showed Just William to loved it as well.

The story lines of the show are just as witty and as charming as the ones in the books, I loved the part when William mangles Shakespeare, and sticks to the spirit of the stories. And the writing is excellent, I have run out of times of how much I laughed at the dialogue, and the situations are even better. The pace I have no problem with either, and the direction is adroit. Then there is the period detail, when it comes to the photography, scenery, costumes and location work Just William is visually very beautiful. The music is quirky and nostalgic too.

I loved the acting. Daniel Roche captures the essence and character of mischievous yet endearing William Brown perfectly, while Lily James and Henry Melling are charming as his parents and Warren Clarke and Caroline Quentin are great contrasts as the Botts. Isabella Blake-Thomas also perfectly captures her character of Violet Elizabeth. Oh, and for other fans of the cassette tapes, Martin Jarvis is narrator and he is of course magnificent.

All in all, a wonderful series that I wish lasted longer and shown at a different time to when it was, it was a real treat and better than some of what aired after the watershed during the festive season(save a few exceptions such as Eric and Ernie) and what have you. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I was an avid fan of the books and was reluctant to watch the tv show lest it ruin my memories. But it actually made the books come alive even better than my memory of them. Daniel Roche was born to play this part, and the rest of the family is on the nose. Violet and the Botts are perfect. The other outlaws are decent. The schoolmaster does not work quite as well (its easy for the acting for such a period piece at this point to seem over the top). A note on the books - they are aimed at children but are actually very readable by adults - the vocabulary is sophisticated and the episodes are innocent but very funny. The world created is idyllic in a wodehousian way. By comparison, I personally find even the Harry Potter books hard to read as an adult - perhaps because they take themselves seriously and these are purely comic. The choice of episodes was great but I really wish there had been more. Too late now - the kid actors have grown up unlike the character who moved through time but never grew up.

Watch this with my grandson, who was the same age as the main character at the time we watched it. He loved it and wanted more episodes. We've all known kids like this I think or maybe we've been kids like this or had brothers like this

Not sure why we were required to have so many letters in our reviews. It should be just good enough to say it was really good. Watch it with your kids the preteen ones or if you have a weird sense of humor, anyway watch it his older siblings were kind of annoying, but that can often be the case. I personally wish they were more episodes, but the main character would be way too old now to do that!

I'm surprised that this well-produced, well-acted series only has four episodes. Everything about it is high quality from the jouncy theme music to the ever-so-slightly-over-the-top performances. What's great is that no matter who is on the screen, they're funny: Rebecca Front as the calm eye-in-the-hurricane mother, Daniel Ryan as the perpetually-perturbed father, a young Lily James as Daniel's flirtatious sister, Harry Melling as Daniel's moody, poetry-spouting brother. And the guest performances are just as good. Caroline Quentin and Warren Clarke are hilarious as the pompous Botts. And even in the relatively small roles of William's friends, teacher and headmaster we have well-defined amusing characters. And of course, Daniel Roche's performance as William anchors the entire show. William is an unapologetic boy making mischief as if it's his fulltime job, matter of fact in his attempts to one-up people he dislikes, and unconcerned that his behavior creates anarchy wherever he goes. And all of this without being irritating or obnoxious. I'm not at all familiar with the books this series is based on but if the series is a reflection of the books....they must be classics.

This is a very well done version of the William books with a great cast and lovely period charm. But I can't help but wonder why adaptation of these books seem to be always set in the 1950s. The bulk of the William stories were written in the 1920s 30s and 40s and have a very different character to that which is presented here.

For most of the William stories the Browns lived in a fairly substantial house with servants. By comparison they are seen here in a quite small suburban dwelling. The sister Ethel in the books is an attractive and intelligent young woman. In this series she is portrayed as just a bit of a tart and not too bright. The boys themselves are very well cast. William himself is not quite as cunning as he is in the books but the portrayal otherwise is very good.

Overall a nice adaptation but I would love to see one set earlier in the 20th century