Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Kids TV
    Kids TV TV Shows - 1970s 2 Mins Read

    Phoenix and the Carpet , The

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 7 6 – 1 9 7 7 (UK)
    8 x 25 minute episodes

    Four children – Cyril (Gary Russell), Anthea (Tamzin Neville), Robert (Max Harris) and Jane (Jane Forster) – discover a strange egg inside their new (second-hand) Persian carpet. As they drop the egg accidentally into the fire a Phoenix is hatched. The fabulous bird of antiquity can grant wishes and explains that the rug is in fact a magic carpet.

    Flying to France on the carpet, the children and get trapped in an abandoned tower containing a casket of treasure that’s guarded by ghosts.

    In subsequent episodes, the children travel to the South Sea Islands and India.

    Colour Separation Overlay (CSO) was used to the full to provide the effects of the flying carpet (although the carpet flys completely flat and never flaps in the wind). By modern standards, it’s a rudimentary effect and the children are often caught in the overlay and partially disappear, while some aerial footage of London beneath the carpet clearly shows modern parked cars in Edwardian London!

    The phoenix – rude, and with the personality of a spoilt child – was ingeniously realised as a single puppet who looked like a carving or statue come to life. Its CSO flying was less impressive.

    Essentially a sequel to E Nesbit’s Five Children and It, the series debuted on 29 December 1976 and then aired on Wednesday afternoons in January and February 1977 on the BBC.

    The series was remade twenty years later with David Suchet as the voice of the phoenix and, although the effects were better in the 90s version, the phoenix looked like a cross between Rod Hull’s Emu and Orville the duck!

    Cyril
    Gary Russell
    Anthea
    Tamzin Neville
    Robert (Bobs)
    Max Harris
    Jane
    Jane Forster
    The Phoenix
    Richard Warner (voice)
    Joe Barton (puppet)
    Mother
    Daphne Neville
    Father
    Edward Brooks
    Eliza
    Trisha Mortimer
    Cook
    Susan Field
    Madame
    Bernice Stegers
    Henri
    Adam Stafford
    Mrs Biddle
    Hilary Mason
    Ranee
    Surya Kumari
    Burglar
    Bernard Holley
    Reverend Septimus Blenkinsop
    Nigel Lambert
    The Lamb
    V.M. Hartman
    Mrs Wigson
    Deddie Davies

    Episodes

    The Magic Fire | Queen of the Island | Some Indian Things | The Temple of the Phoenix | Gifts from Persia | What to Do with a Burglar | The Hole in the Carpet | A Night at the Theatre

    Related Posts

    • Mystery Hall
      Mystery Hall
      1 9 6 7 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Young Jimmy Brent (Mark Colleano) is spending a holiday at a…
    • Mandog
      Mandog
      1 9 7 2 (UK) 6 x 25 minute episodes Wheelchair-bound Kate (Carol Hazell), brother Duncan (Adrian Shergold) and Kate's friend…
    • Drop-In
      Drop-In
      1 9 7 0 - 1 9 7 4 (Canada) 30 minute episodes In the early 1960s, Rex Hagon and…
    • Magic Ball, The
      Magic Ball, The
      1 9 7 1 - 1 9 7 2 (UK) 26 x 15 minute episodes Written and narrated by Eric Thompson…
    • Confession
      Confession
      1 9 7 0 (UK) 11 x 60 minute episodes Debuting on Friday 3 July 1970, this anthology of hour-long dramas…
    • Tickled Pink
      Tickled Pink
      1 9 7 8 (Australia) 6 x 25 minute episodes 1 9 8 1 (Australia) 6 x 25 minute episodes This…
    • Jamie
      Jamie
      1 9 7 1 (UK) 13 x 30 minute episodes In this Sunday tea-time children's sci-fi drama series from LWT, young…
    • Richie Brockelman, Private Eye
      Richie Brockelman, Private Eye
      1 9 7 8 (USA) 5 x 60 minute episodes This short-lived series was a failed spin-off from an episode of…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleCanal Children, The
    Next Article Beezer, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Don’t Look Back (1965)
      In April 1965, when Bob Dylan arrived for a two-week tour of […]
    • Janis Ian
      Janis Ian was born Janis Eddy Fink. She was only 15 when she […]
    • Up In Smoke (1978)
      Two boys, Pedro (Richard “Cheech” Marin) and Man […]
    • Safe Place, A (1971)
      Tuesday Weld plays a vulnerable woman – sometimes called […]
    • An American Family
      1 9 7 3 (USA) 12 x 60 minute episodes Craig Gilbert’s PBS […]
    • Afro
      The hair-do that simply exploded out of the head – BOOM! […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.