The Bastable family were once rich but now hover on the brink of financial ruin. The six Bastable children turn to treasure-seeking in a desperate effort to save the family home.
Each of the children has their own idea about where possible treasure may be found, but with the demands of the creditors growing and their father toiling away on his latest invention, time is running out.
Adapted for children’s television by Dorothea Brooking, her narrative had the running theme of the children working towards rescuing the family from its predicament, but with each episode as a self-contained story in its own right, concentrating on a different idea for locating treasure.
The series was re-done in 1961 with a different cast, but once again produced and adapted by Brooking. A third adaptation (this time in colour) was produced in 1982. All adaptations were based on the novel by E. Nesbit which was first published in Britain in 1899.
Oswald Bastable
Wilfred Downing Dicky Bastable
Ernest Downing Noel Bastable
Anthony Lang Alice Bastable
Caroline Denzil Horace Octavius Bastable
Sonny Doran Dora Bastable
Isla Richardson Father
Oliver Burt Albert’s Uncle
Gordon Bell Albert Next Door
Christopher Cresswell Mrs Leslie
Barbara Cavan Mr Jenkins
Cyril Conway Mr Foulkes
Willoughby Gray Lord Tottenham
Peter Grisewood Eliza
Damaris Hayman Bert
Richard Wade
Episodes
Digging for Treasure | The Poet and the Editor | Being Bandits and Noel’s Princess | The ‘G.B.’ and Lord Tottenham | The Robber and the Burglar | Lo! The Poor Indian
