Children of the Stones (1976)

REVIEW

Often referred to as The Wicker Man (1973) for children, Children of the Stones was one of a series of unrelated but consistently adventurous and offbeat drama series for younger viewers made by producer Patrick Dromgoole for the independent British TV company HTV during the 1970s and 1980s. Although the shows (among them The Georgian House (1976), Sky (1976), King of the Castle (1977), The Clifton House Mystery (1978) and Into the Labyrinth (1981)) inevitably now look rather dated, at the time they were unlike anything else being shown in the kids TV slot.

Children of the Stones has weathered the ravages of time rather better than most of them - the cuts between film for location work and video for interiors, common in British television at the time, still jar, and the performances range from the excellent (Iain Cuthbertson) to the bloody awful (most of the kids) - and is still compelling viewing thanks to the strong, intricately plotted storyline and the overall sense of menace that pervades the apparently idyllic country setting.

Gareth Thomas, still a year away from his central role in Terry Nation's Blakes 7 (1978 - 1981), is rather uncharismatic in the lead here as Adam Brake, perhaps befitting his role as a scientist, and is acted off the screen by Cuthbertson who gives a knockout turn replaying Christopher Lee's Lord Summerisle part from The Wicker Man as genial lord of the manor and ex-astronomer Rafael Hendrick, the discoverer of the black hole at the heart of the mystery. You know from the very second you meet him that his geniality is going to be exposed as a sham, but the revelation of his past and his role in the mystery are still satisfyingly worked out and acted to perfection by Cuthbertson. Sadly, the usually very wonderful Freddie Jones turns in a rather ropey performance as Welsh alcoholic Dai, popping up from time to time to sweat profusely and utter dire words of impending doom. It's a clichéd part and Jones does little to elevate it into something interesting.

Jeremy Burnham and Trevor Ray's scripts are the key strength here, resolutely refusing to talk down to its target audience, filling the story with complex ideas that wouldn't even be considered today. It results in a slower pace than would be tolerated now as the plot slows down to accommodate lengthy exposition and the expounding of theories on ley lines, supernovas and mysticism, but the programme is all the more effective for it.

The village setting is remarkably well used, suggesting the genuine isolation of the few people not to have fallen under the psychic control of Hendrick. The transformation of the ordinary kids into brainwashed zombies, much given to inanely proclaiming "Happy day!" to each other in a way worryingly reminiscent of the locals in The Prisoner (1967 - 1968) and their chant of "Be seeing you!"

When first presented with the scripts, director Peter Graham Scott is said to have remarked "And this is for children?" and he clearly realised straight away that terrifying the kids was exactly what was required here. Creepily directed by Scott, the already unsettling scripts are given further frissons by the extraordinary, deeply unsettling score by Sidney Sager, and build up to one of the most effective and memorable climaxes British television ever produced.

!! SPOILER WARNING !!

The final shot of Children of the Stones haunted an entire generation of cathode ray addicted British kids and, until the series was released on DVD in 2002, remained the single most enduring moment of the entire show. As Brake and his son Matthew finally flee the village, they pass an identical car coming in the opposite direction, failing to notice that its driver appears to be Hendrick, last seen being consumed by a beam of light from the back hole, apparently returning to the village. Some have felt that the dénouement was a cop out, a tacked on ending that betrayed the writers' uncertainty as to how the story should end - which is utter nonsense as the entire series has been obsessed with circularity (every episode title contains the word "circle") and the final shot actually underscores the main preoccupation of the scripts. There are some aspects of the closure which don't make a lot of sense (the reappearance of Hendrick as a potential buyer, now known as Joshua Litton, of the manor house we know he's going to live in is fine, but why is his butler Link (John Woodnutt) now an estate agent?) but overall it's a perfect way to, as it were, close the narrative circle.

It's easy to detect the influencing hand of Nigel Kneale at work in Children of the Stones - like Kneale, Burnham and Ray mix science with mysticism, pitting a rational empiricist against the entirely irrational but increasingly undeniable forces of the supernatural and writing their narrative around the resulting conflict. By coincidence, the following year ITV produced Kneale's final Quatermass story, simply titled Quatermass (1979) which also featured a circle of standing stones as the device which sets the story in motion.

Children of the Stones boasts an ambitious script, full of audacious ideas, most of which are realised well. It remains one of the best of the 70s ITV childrens' shows and still has a haunting, resonant power when seen today - something that can't be said for all of the HTV / Patrick Dromgoole productions of the day.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008