Moondial

This Six part childrens was just brilliant. Minty is a rather sulky teenager sent to live with her aunt following her fathers death. She finds a beautiful garden in at the local manor house and there is a sundial in the centre of the garden. Minty has strange mental powers and when she touches the dial she becomes dizzy! when she recovers she finds she has been transported through time to the turn of the century. Here she finds the manor house filled with maids and servants and lords and ladies. But there is a girl who is trapped in the house as she has a disfiguring birthmark which is seen as a devils mark! Minty with the help of the servant tom must rescue the girl before she becomes part of a sacrifice.

...and rewatched it for the first time in over thirty years this summer as part of a general binge of kids telly.

This was then, and still is now, really good. There's a real sense of mystery and eeriness, and the young cast act really well. The music/score is excellent, and while perhaps some of the effects have dated, the story hasn't, because it doesn't rely upon them.

British kids telly used to be brilliant, didn't it?!