In 11th Century England, deep in the heart of the countryside, an eccentric and bumbling Merlin-like alchemist and magician called Catweazle (Geoffrey Bayldon) finds himself cornered by Norman soldiers.
Relying on the unsure powers of his magic, he leaps into a lake while trying to harness the power of flight to escape his pursuers – taking with him his toad “familiar” Touchwood, his thumb-ring and his sacred magic knife, Adamcos.
Unfortunately, he flees further than he had hoped – travelling 900 years through time into the 1970s.
In unfamiliar surroundings, Catweazle is soon discovered by Edward “Carrot” Bennett (Robin Davies), the 14-year-old son of a farmer who lives on Hexwood Farm near the magician’s water tower hiding spot, which he calls ‘Castle Saburac’.
Through him, Catweazle discovers that things have changed beyond his imagination. Being a magician, everything he experiences in the twentieth century such as motor cars, telephones (‘telling bone’), and electric light (‘electrickery’), he believes is the result of magic.
His magic incantations include “Salmay, Dalmay, Adonay” and;
S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S
“Nuthing works!” was Catweazle’s favourite saying, usually muttered while blowing on his thumb-ring for luck. And he was usually right.
Filming of the first series began in the summer of 1969 at Home Farm, East Clandon, near Guildford in Surrey. The series was filmed almost entirely on location, with most of the interiors of the house filmed in the farmhouse itself and not a studio set.
Only the sequences in the interior of ‘Castle Saburac’ and a few other interiors were shot at Halliford Studios. The tower exterior was made of fibreglass and constructed in the woods near Home Farm.
Other locations seen in the series included shops and buildings referred to in the episodes as “Westbourne”, which were filmed at East Horsley in Surrey.
Catweazle finally finds his way back to his own time at the end of the first series and, as the second series begins, Catweazle is imprisoned in Farthing Castle trying to conjure Gold at the behest of the great Norman lord, William de Collynforde.
Instead, his magic works for once, and he manages to fly from the castle, but once again, it is through time, not space.
Hurling himself, full of faith, from the battlements, Catweazle lands in the moat . . . but the castle has vanished and in its place is a large white house with a clock tower with a little turret on top, in the village of Kings Farthing (the actual house used for filming was the Brickendonbury Manor estate in Hertfordshire).
The second series repeated the same formula, but this time Catweazle’s young friend is Cedric (Gary Warren), the son of Lord and Lady Collingford (pictured above). The other regular characters in the new series were Groome, the gardener, handyman and tour guide, superbly played by character actor and Carry On regular Peter Butterworth, and housekeeper Mrs Gowdie (Gwen Nelson).
Catweazle finds himself a new home – and a rather fetching old tricycle – in an abandoned railway station (“Duck Halt”) and sets about finding the mystic 13th (yes, thirteenth) sign of the zodiac in order to return to his own time, while Cedric hopes to restore his family fortune by finding the lost Collingford treasure.
The 13 episodes which made up season two were shot (entirely on location on and around Brickendonbury) during the summer of 1970, and as the first series had been, were shot on 16mm film.
Who can forget that immortal Catweazle zodiac-chasing song;
Twelve are they that circle round
If power you seek they must be found
look for where the thirteenth lies
mount aloft the one who flies
The second (and final) series ended with the Collingford treasure being found and Catweazle, after commandeering a hot-air balloon, finally getting to fly.
Catweazle was created and written by Richard Carpenter. The first series debuted in the UK on Sunday 15 February 1970 at 17.30, with series two transmitted from Sunday 10 January 1971 at 5.35 pm.
The famous jaunty theme was actually a library piece called Busy Boy by Ted Dicks, who was also responsible for writing popular novelty songs such as Right Said Fred and Windmill in Old Amsterdam.
Geoffrey Bayldon passed away in May 2017, aged 93.
Catweazle
Geoffrey Bayldon
Edward “Carrot” Bennett
Robin Davies
Mr Bennett
Charles Tingwell
Sam Woodyard
Neil McCarthy
Cedric Collingford
Gary Warren
Lord Collingford
Moray Watson
Lady Collingford
Elspet Gray
Groome
Peter Butterworth
Mrs Gowdie
Gwen Nelson
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Filming of the first series began in the summer of 1969 at Home Farm, East Clandon, near Guildford in Surrey. The series was filmed almost entirely on location, with most of the interiors of the house filmed in the farmhouse itself and not a studio set.
Catweazle finds himself a new home – and a rather fetching old tricycle – in an abandoned railway station (“Duck Halt”) and sets about finding the mystic 13th (yes, thirteenth) sign of the zodiac in order to return to his own time, while Cedric hopes to restore his family fortune by finding the lost Collingford treasure.
