1 9 8 6 (UK)
4 x 30 minute episodes
Young “Tolly” Oldknowe (Alec Christie) is invited by his Great Grandmother (Daphne Oxenford) – who he has never met – to spend Christmas at her large and remote house in the country.
There, he encounters three children who lived in the house generations ago. They aren’t ghosts but exist outside time (for reasons that are never explained) and can communicate with their 20th-century cousin.
The original 1950s story by children’s author Lucy Boston was set at Hemingford Grey in Cambridgeshire.
This BBC series was not filmed there but the location work around Crow’s Hall, a 16th-century moated manor house in Stowmarket, Suffolk, is suitably picturesque yet claustrophobic in a cosy and intimate way.
Peter Howell’s pretty violin-heavy score decorates the visuals beautifully, Colin Cant directs with subtle elegance, and the acting is superb throughout.
Toseland “Tolly” Oldknowe
Alec Christie
Granny Oldknowe
Daphne Oxenford
Boggis
George Malpas
Linnet Oldknowe
Polly Maberly
Toby Oldknowe
Graham McGrath
Alexander Oldknowe
James Trevelyan
Mother Oldknowe
Heather Ramsay
