Follyfoot

Follyfoot was a very succesfull movie for children and adults who like horses a lot. In 1971 I was a child but until now I never forgot about it. If there would be someone who has this serie on tape it would please a lot of people to let me know. I know that in Germany for example is a website for follyfoot fans. Hopefully I hear something of someone who liked the serie as well as I did. Also I do not know who are paul and Steve? I saw the sirie twice, ones in English and ones in German. I always thought that in English it was Steve and in German it was Paul but that it was one and the same boy. If I see the pictures at the internet I cannot see two boys, so which one is paul?

Regards, Ronald van der Struik >

This really was a great children's show of the 1970's. Based on the bestselling books by Charles Dickens great-granddaughter, Monica. At Follyfoot Farm, the Colonel looks after old and ill-treated horses, helped by his stepdaughter, Callie, and two stable-hands, Dora and Steve. These three have plenty to do at the stables, but can always find time to get involved in the mystery and adventure that abound at the farm. Anyone who loves horses and enjoyed Black Beauty for example would love this show as would anyone seeking good old fashioned entertainment. And that theme song-once you hear it you can't stop singing it! So go on, sit back, sing along and enjoy some nostalgia. they really don't make them like this anymore.

I remember that when this programme first aired I had a crush on Dora and fully sympathised with her! Maybe I wished I could have somehow stepped into the screen and comforted her. Such was the involvement I had with the characters (especially Dora).

Recently I bought the DVD's of all 3 series and found that, despite my advancing years, that crush has not really gone!!! Inside we do not age and I am still that young man doting on a TV Character!!! The series has a beautiful innocence that cannot be replicated nowadays. Young people want action, and romance is now quite up front-so the shyness of the characters in this series may not be appreciated. I am not a horse lover in particular- I liked the series because of the characters- Ron, Steve, Dora, Slugger, the Colonel were all very memorable and the story lines, were gentle, emotional and absorbing for those with a little patience.

Forget the show, which never grabbed me as a kid, but that theme tune. The haunting sounds of folkies The Settlers singing The Lightning Tree (a symbol of the show) is my favourite TV theme. It took me ages to find the record, but since I did it's never been off my turntable. Time someone sampled it really - I put it on a tape and brought it into work and everyone was entranced by it. Best theme tune of all time? You decide.

When my partner first proposed we watch Follyfoot years ago I was convinced it was a bit of flimsy 70s second-hand nostalgia from our parent's generation. A children's TV show? About ponies??? No thanks. What I wasn't expecting at all was almost Kes-like contemporary social commentary built around some seriously complex and very well-observed character work. Follyfoot is genuinely something of a revelation. It was enormous in its day but seems now only the preserve of "it-was-better-in-them-dayers" on Facebook. Truthfully it can be rather dated and the combination of cheap 1950's film stock music and chaste preteen yearnings can get a bit much but the tough bits feel dark and this little old telly relic can occasionally be genuinely shocking. From the literary lineage of Dickens and with names like Stephen Frears and Michael Apted in the mix, it's wild that this has become so obscure. Don't be the fool that I was all those eons ago, give this a go.