Children of the Stones

[Jamie McCrimmon]

Does anybody else remember this? It wasthe creepiest thing on telly when I was young and it was quite like Doctor Who in many ways, with the isolated village under seige by an alien force. I recently bought it on dvd and it's still hugely enjoyable. Gareth Thomas is very Doctorish in it, he'd have made a good Doctor I think!

[Logo Polish]

I watched it about three years ago. Loved the music and the singing of the characters who were all "treated" was incredibly eerie. I get the impression Adam Brake was a bit more satisfying a character for Gareth Thomas to play than Blake was. I remember someone comparing the woman who he teams up with, with Liz Shaw too.

[Paul Monk]

Its great and I love it lots but why are the the families single parent families? I'm not sure there are any with both parents in the village.

Happy Day!

[Wayne]

I've got 'Children of the Stones'. It's excellent! To say it's supposed to be 'kids tv', it's better than half of the 'adult' stuff these days! Very spooky stuff!

[Ralph]

Is this the one with stones Stonehenge size that move?

[Jamie McCrimmon]

It is! I'm glad other people remember it.

[Ralph]

Yeah I remember that one being scary

[Captain Tancredi]

I must get this one of these days to see if it's something I remember really frightening me from the time- I can still remember (must only have been about 4-5) something being on mid-afternoon and the cliffhanger being somebody finding out that touching a standing stone was a Bad Thing and leaping into a car to drive to the stones and stop another character from touching them- arriving too late, of course. At which point the screen went a bit funny, but then again I'm not sure that isn't my imagination as we were one of those families who had a sheet of green sticky-backed plastic stuck on the screen of a black and white set until we went colour.

[Ralph]

All I remember is people being in a house and these living stones are moving on all around them like silicon triffids

This is another programme I'll need to catch up with sometime as well - It's starting to build up though - I'll be getting turning into "Milky" before I know it

[Dirk Gently]

All I remember is people being in a house and these living stones are moving on all around them like silicon triffids

That sounds more like The Stones of Blood to me.

[Ralph]

I think it does too - memory fuses it all together!

[Andrew Curnow]

I have a vague, oh-so-vague recollection of being scared by this programme when I was a wee lad.

Not that that's relevant, but I just wanted to post so I could praise Jamie/Heather's glorious new "Tom 'n' TARDIS" avatar!

Was Iain Cuthbertson in Children of the Stones?

[Jamie McCrimmon]

Aye, he was the villain, very good he was, very sinister.

The more I think about it, the more it seems a shame that Gareth Thomas didn't take over the role of Dr Who at some point.

[SiHart]

Jonno gave me his old video copy a few years ago and I still haven't watched it.

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

You should Si. Although the video version is quite badly edited together between episodes which can be very annoying.

[Captain Tancredi]

The more I think about it, the more it seems a shame that Gareth Thomas didn't take over the role of Dr Who at some point.

I think it's fairly well documented that Thomas was trying to get into the RSC and "serious theatre" in the mid-1970s and took on the role of Blake primarily to get his name known, have a few lead roles on his CV and become more bankable. That said, he could have been quite good five or ten years ago as well, as a fat, jovial older Doctor.

[Dirk Gently]

... as a fat, jovial older Doctor.

Colin Baker had already been the Doctor.

[Wayne]

Tim's obviously still not forgiven Colin for The Airzone Solution.

[Jonno]

Give the video to charity, Si, and buy the DVD for just £6 at Play!

Oddly enough, I don't recall watching this at the time - odd, given that I lapped up all sorts of telefantasy. I bought the video in the early 90s and instantly fell in love with it and soon after was lucky enough to visit the village where it's set - Avebury, I believe? Quality TV.

[Nyder]

Really enjoyed the Radio 4 documentary. Stewart Lee was the ideal narrator. Veronica Strong sounded a bit frail, but I guess we're all knocking on a bit

Can't believe they're planning to make an opera of COTS!!!

HAPPY DAY

We need a Happy Day day. What date could we nominate?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The first episode was originally broadcast on 10th January - that's a Thursday next year and goodness knows we may all need cheering up once Christmas has finished for another year!

[Stuart Wallis]

Just keep drinking the anti-freeze, then you won't care about anything!

[SiHart]

The DVD is only £8 from Network DVD until Sunday!


Well worth it. We watched it this summer and really enjoyed it.