BBC TV adaptation of the classic children’s novel http://www.shvoong.com/books/387428-children-new-forest/ by Captain Maryatt, (also responsible for creating the Flying Dutchman legend). The first half of this likeable six part series is quite faithful to the book, which concerns the fate of a family of Royalists caught up in the English Civil War. When Parliamentarians home burn down their comfortable, and their mother is murdered defending it, four children take refuge in the New forest, where they are befriended and cared for by the family gamekeeper and poacher. Passed off as his children, they are obliged to learn how to fend for themselves in a life without servants or creature comforts. They have to hunt, cook, and make what they need for themselves. At first the children are unruly, but they gradually adapt to the lifestyle, and become extremely resourceful (realistically). Inevitably however, their activity draws them to the attention of the Roundheads.
The second half of the series
departs radically from the book, in which the children grow to adulthood, over
the whole twenty years of the Civil War up to the restoration of the
Monarchy. Much of the story deals with
the oldest son, who wants to join the army and avenge the deaths of his parents
and the execution of the King. In the
TV series, the children help to rescue the King from a roundhead plot, and
smuggle him to a boat which will let him escape to The Isle Of Wight. If this was Charles The Second, heading for
France, all would be well, but it is the first Charles. That he did go to The
Isle Of Wight is well known, but he was virtually a prisoner there until the
end of hostilities, when he was summarily executed. The TV series tries to make
a premature happy ending for its junior heroes, and therefore fails to be of
much value. It’s entertaining enough, with its pantomime villain, a Leveller
who even levels churches to the ground. Not a patch on the book though.
Arthur Chappell
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