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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Shows by Decade»1980s Television
    1980s Television Drama Shows W 6 Mins Read

    West Country Tales

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    1 9 8 2 – 1 9 8 3 (UK)
    14 x 30 minute episodes

    This supernatural anthology drama series was initially based on real-life experiences sent in by viewers in response to a BBC appeal to submit stories of encounters with the weird and the supernatural. The second series used concocted stories rather than stories based on viewer submissions.

    Each episode was told largely via narration – often by Keith Barron or Jack Watson – with very little character dialogue.


    The Sabbatical

    The Reverend Anthony Shaw (Keith Barron) – a zealous puritanical priest – hangs up his dog-collar for a week’s holiday in a West Country village. The break is something of a busman’s holiday as it turns out, for professional interest prompts him to visit the dank little parish church where devilish odd things happen.

    Reverend Anthony Shaw
    Keith Barron


    The Poacher

    The poacher (Dave Royal) survives by poaching fish and game on the local lord’s land by night but finds his time-honoured practice threatened by the new arrival of something troubling in the woods.

    Narrator 
    Douglas Leech
    Poacher
    Dave Royal
    Pan
    Michael Venner


    The Breakdown

    A lone woman (Anita Harris) traveling in the countryside has a car breakdown near a remote house owned by an eccentric man (John Abineri) widely suspected locally of being a murderer. She makes herself at home and in the morning, the garage man returns her car and finds the house eerily quiet.

    Recalling the mysterious disappearance of the man’s wife, he fears the woman has come to harm. Instead, he finds the man stabbed in the back.

    Narrator 
    Keith Barron
    The Woman
    Anita Harris
    The Man
    John Abineri
    Garage Mechanic
    Brian Jennings


    The White Bird of Laughter

    High above Dartmoor, a solitary bird is on an endless journey. This bird of legend flies on and on and on across an eternity of summer skies, further and further from evil with no destination and no purpose but this, the celebration of its final freedom.

    Gillian Miles, Adrian Van Den Bok and Peewee Hunt lead a Dartmoor-set drama about the legendary symbol of freedom.

    Narrator
    Jack Watson
    The Girl
    Gillian Miles
    The Boy
    Adrian Van Den Bok
    The Father
    Peewee Hunt
    The Master
    Cyril Epstein
    The Mistress
    June Bishop


    The Visitor

    Janis’s husband, a merchant captain, is away at sea. They have recently moved the family home away from London to settle, with their 3-year-old daughter, into a remote cottage on the North Cornish coast. For a while life seems idyllic, then Janis (Janis Winters) discovers a hidden cove that will change her life.

    Janis
    Janis Winters
    Fran
    Joanna Foster
    Kelly
    Kelly Arkless


    The Beast

    “I raised the gun to my shoulder It felt uncomfortably heavy. My breath was coming in long open gasps, like escaping gas. Then a dark chill spread across my body as I realised the sound was not synchronous with my heaving chest – it was not my breath at all!”

    An unnamed narrator (voiced by Jack Watson and played on-screen as an adult by David Gilpin and as a teenager by Jamie Barron, son of actor Keith Barron) recounts how, as a young man in a Cornish village, he had a strange encounter with a strange, Bigfoot-like creature (Milton Reid) in the woods.

    After 17 years away in the city, he returns to the village at the request of his cousin, Jenny (Maggie Green) who has taken over the family farmhouse – his childhood home, Foxhollies Farm near Bennetts Wood – with her husband Bill (Steve Tomlin). The couple are being stalked by the same beast that the narrator encountered in the woods years before.

    Narrator
    Jack Watson
    The Boy
    Jamie Barron
    The Man
    David Gilpin
    Jenny
    Maggie Green
    Bill
    Steve Tomlin
    Delivery Man
    Brian Jennings
    The Beast
    Milton Reid


    Miss Constantine

    Little Miss Constantine (Wynna Evans) – a confused elderly woman – lives in a vast, rambling once-grand mansion nrat Taunton, her thoughts crowded with remnants of half-forgotten family history. The darker shadows of the shuttered rooms are invaded by mysterious visitors with deadly white faces – “the people from the authorities”. Can the vicar exorcise her intruders?

    Narrator
    Keith Barron
    Miss Constantine
    Wynna Evans
    Vicar
    Martyn Townsend


    With Love Belinda

    London couple Jill (Wendy Richard) and Peter (Martyn Townsend) move to a large country house for a fresh start after the death of their young son, David (Vincent Helyar). Their attempts to put the tragedy behind them are stymied when their surviving child, Belinda (Charlotte Helyar), keeps insisting that she sees and plays with her brother.

    Narrator
    Jack Watson
    Jill
    Wendy Richard
    Peter
    Martyn Townsend
    Belinda
    Charlotte Helyar
    David
    Vincent Helyar


    The Wit To Woo

    Elizabethan bride, Lavinia (Jenny Hanley) seeks help from a forest-dwelling witch (Jo Anderson) to win back the affections of her unfaithful husband, Robin (Calum Browne).

    Narrator
    Keith Barron
    Lavinia
    Jenny Hanley
    Robin
    Calum Browne
    The Witch
    Jo Anderson
    The Maid
    Joan Hanson


    Tell it to The Marines

    The corporal (Tom Adams) insists it’s going to be “a night to remember”. And that’s just what it turns out to be for Martin (Andy Hart), who does his best, though his heart’s not in it. But the last straw comes when the corporal picks up a lonely widow (Jenny Barnes) and then gives her Martin’s name instead of his own.

    Narrator
    Jack Watson
    Corporal
    Tom Adams
    Martin
    Andy Hart
    Widow
    Jenny Barnes
    Stripper
    Samantha Jay


    Ring a Ring a Rosy

    Ellen (Nanette Newman) is a widow living in rural isolation in the Somerset countryside with her beautiful but fiendish mute daughter, Rosie (Tamar le Bailly). When new boyfriend Paul (Jamie Barron) suddenly vanishes, and young Rosie wanders home with blood on her hands, Ellen suspects the worst.

    Narrator  
    Keith Barron
    Ellen
    Nanette Newman
    Rosie
    Tamar le Bailly
    Paul
    Jamie Barron


    Sarah

    The turn of the century and a violent storm hits the south west of England. During the night a rescue flare is seen, but the lifeboat cannot be launched in such heavy seas. Then the coxswain makes a historic decision; 20 brave men will attempt to carry the two-ton boat across wild country to a sheltered bay.

    Narrator
    June Barrie


    The Little Bounder

    After seven years indentured to a Dartmoor farmer, Lizzie’s farewell gift from her mother proves, after all, to be a lucky talisman. Gillian Miles plays both mother and daughter.

    Narrator/Antique Dealer
    Desmond Hawkins
    Lizzie/Mother
    Gillian Miles


    The Healer

    He arrives in the village with a briefcase full of money – the result of his latest successful confidence trick. Now it’s time to lie low. But it’s hard to resist the challenge when the place is full of potential victims.

    Narrator
    Jack Watson
    The Healer
    Keith Barron

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