Escape Into Night

I'd even forgotten the title in my search for details about this series, was it really 31 years ago?! I remember rushing home from school to see it even though it frightened this seven year old to bits. I was thrilled when Paperhouse was released but it all seemed so different, a bit more "grown-up", different illness (I think Marrianne had a broken leg in the series and not glandular fever)and missing the stones with one eye if I remember rightly. The ever-encircling stones gave me nightmares but still I watched and Marrianne was given an indelible pen at one point so she couldn't erase her drawings! I must track down the original book by Storr to see which dramatization is more faithful, I so wish the UK series was brought back as I would dearly love to see it again (I'd probably be still hiding behind a cushion)!

Like most of the people who have commented on this series I found this programme very haunting, not scary so much as disturbing or unsettling. I was older than most of the people who have posted so far, twelve in 1972 (& strangely like one of the above was convinced this prog. was from the late 60's) & also couldn't remember the name of the series. I tracked it down a few years ago & last year discovered that all 6 episodes do still exist in some form but only one in it's original colour form. It was shown on ITV btw not BBC as someone has said. Last night I finally watched one episode for the first time in 34 years that I managed to obtain from a collector on DVD. It was very poor quality b/w but fascinating to see. It was the final episode which was good as I couldn't remember how it ended and if the boy got out of the house (but won't spoil it for anyone lucky enough to see it again). The rocks had reached right up to the house. I had forgotten the eyes! There was strange radiophonic workshop type electronic noises (rumblings and whirrings) throughout the scenes in the house which may be what provided some of the chills that people remember. In fact they even drowned out some of the dialogue but this may be just down to this DVD not how it went out on air. The acting has not held up well by today's standards or even compared to say 'Timeslip' from the same era of kids drama. There was still something imaginative and strange about the programme though that lingers.

The somewhat fusty memories of this programme still gives me the jitters, it scared me silly, I had quite a vivid imagination as a child and everything was thrown into turmoil when i watched this chilling masterpiece, ( I didn't want to look out of my window at night), What scared me so much about Escape into night? ... THE STONES... they were seriously evil, and you can guess that many nightmares followed, A classic 'KIDS' TV programme from when they had to rely on the story and not the effects to keep the audience glued to the box. If you thought doctor who was scary, (and it was), this was 100% more creepy... having said that ... I wish it was on DVD so i could watch it again, I have recently purchased children of the stones on DVD and that was fairly creepy too. come on independent television, Cash in on an old favourite while you can. p.s. The ORIGINAL book is still available MARIANNE DREAMS by CATHERINE STORR, published by FABER & FABER, ISBN 978-0-571-20212-6

I'm glad to find this listing - I remember watching this as a child, and there were some memorable scary moments - when the voices start coming out the radio.

I'd recommend the Catherine Storr book, even for adults!

Latest: The DVD is being released by Network in May 2009.

Just as an additional comment, I tracked down the sequel (book) Marianne and Mark which is somewhat harder to find than the bestselling Marianne Dreams, from which this programme derives. Marianne and Mark is quite a curious book, because although it is clearly the same Marianne and Mark from the earlier story, the author seems to push back the early happenings as though it were make belief. Marianne, now a teenager, seems to have dismissed the events as being induced by her sickness.

My wife and I were talking about what made things scary for kids, and how we had both been particularly disturbed (insert joke here) by movies where there seemed to be no rules and anything could happen. That led me inevitably to this movie, which I must have seen on TV when I was about seven while living in New Zealand and which has stuck in my mind for 30+ years since. It's an interesting contrast to what people usually think of as scary movies but often forget within weeks or months. There's no gore, really very little action of any kind, but it puts those subtle hints in the back of your mind that ultimately leave you looking over your shoulder or come back to you in dreams for a long time. If you can imagine the idea of a psychological thriller for kids, this is it.