The Growing Summer aired under the Heyday Theatre banner on ITV at 6.15 pm on Sunday evenings, debuting on 1 September 1968. It was the first filmed children’s series made by the newly formed London Weekend Television.
Adapted for television by Eric Thompson from a novel by Noel Streatfeild, the series featured a quartet of children – 13-year-old Alex (Hoagy Davies), 12-year-old Penny (Zuleika Robson), 10-year-old Robin (Mark Ward) and 9-year-old Naomi (Laura Hartong) – who go to live with their eccentric and magical great aunt Dymphna (Wendy Hiller) in Ireland for the summer when their mother has to go abroad to nurse their father who is desperately ill.
Great Aunt Dymphna lives in a lonely old house miles from anywhere, and the children quickly find they have to fend for themselves if they want to eat and sleep in reasonable comfort.
The series was shot in colour on location near Bantry Bay, Southern Ireland.
LWT was invited to send a special 80-minute edition of the show to the 21st International Exhibition of Films for Children in Venice.
Great Aunt Dymphna
Wendy Hiller Alex
Hoagy Davies Penny
Zuleika Robson Robin
Mark Ward Naomi
Laura Hartong Stephan
Louis Selwyn Mrs O’Brien
Eileen Colgan Tinker
Alan Lake
