Swallows and Amazons Forever! explained

Genre:Children's
Screenplay:Michael Robson
Director:Andrew Morgan
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Num Seasons:1
Num Episodes:8
Location:Norfolk Broads
Channel:BBC Two

Swallows and Amazons Forever! is a 1984 BBC children's television series based on two children's novels from the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome: Coot Club (1934) (four episodes), and The Big Six (1940) (four episodes). Despite the title, the Swallows and the Amazons children from Ransome's other books do not appear.

The setting is the Norfolk Broads in the 1930s, partly near the village of Horning. The main characters are visitors Dick and Dorothea (Dot) Callum and locals Tom Dudgeon, the twins Nell and Bess, three boatbuilders’ sons, Joe, Bill and Pete – the Death and Glories – and adults Mrs Barrable, Dr Dudgeon (father of Tom) and Frank Farland (father of the twins).

Coot Club sees Dick and Dot learning to sail, whilst dealing with five obnoxious adults in the Margoletta motor cruiser, who are called the Hullabaloos by the children. The Big Six is a detective story in which the Death and Glories are accused of setting boats adrift.[1]

A Puffin paperback with the same title was published in 1983; it is a condensation of Coot Club (omitting the postscript) and The Big Six (omitting 7 chapters). It was reissued as a Red Fox paperback in 1993 with the title Swallows and Amazons for Ever!

It was intended that Swallows and Amazons Forever! should have continued with adaptions of all the books in the series, and Swallowdale and The Picts and the Martyrs were to have been next. Casting and scouting for locations began, but the cost of filming on National Trust property in the Lake District was too expensive, so the series was cancelled.[2]

Episodes

The series was first broadcast on BBC Two on Wednesdays in 1984.[3]
It was repeated as two compilations on Friday 28 March and Sunday 30 March 1986.[4] [5]

EpisodeDateTime
Coot Club - Episode 1Wednesday 14 March 19847.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 2Wednesday 21 March 19847.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 3Wednesday 28 March 19847.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 4Wednesday 4 April 1984 7.00-7.25pm
The Big Six - Episode 1Wednesday 11 April 19847.05-7.30pm
The Big Six - Episode 2Wednesday 18 April 19847.15-7.40pm
The Big Six - Episode 3Wednesday 25 April 19847.15-7.40pm
The Big Six - Episode 4Wednesday 2 May 19847.10-7.35pm

Characters

Richard Walton as Dick Callum

Caroline Downer as Dorothea Callum

Henry Dimbleby as Tom Dudgeon

Claire Matthews as Bess Farland

Sarah Matthews as Nell Farland

Nicholas Walpole as Joe

Mark Page as Bill

Jake Coppard as Pete

Rosemary Leach as Mrs Barrable

John Woodvine as Mr Tedder the Policeman

Colin Baker as Dr Dudgeon

Andrew Burt as Frank Farland

Simon Hawes as George Owden

some minor characters

Julian Fellowes as Jerry a Hullabaloo

Patrick Troughton as Harry Bangate the Eel Man

Sam Kelly as the Owner of the Cachalot

References

  1. Book: Hardyment, Christina. Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk. 1988. 1984. Jonathan Cape. 144.
  2. Web site: What viewers thought of the BBC serial Swallows and Amazons Forever. 15 February 2013.
  3. Web site: BBC Genome. 4 April 1984 .
  4. Web site: BBC Genome.
  5. Web site: BBC Genome.