Timmy will be played by a border collie. Wrong. Just so wrong.

[PretzelKnot]

According to Wikipedia, Timmy will be played by a border collie in the new BBC Famous Five adaptation.

This is outrageous. I know some of the 80s editions of the books had Timmy on their cover as a border collie but he’s not. He’s a huge, fearsome, loyal protective mongrel who can hold back a bunch of bad guys in a tunnel allowing the kids to escape. Border collies are lovely and highly intelligent but no border collie could hold back a tunnel full of armed bad guys.

Here is the original description of Timmy-

“They sat up and looked to see what Timothy was like. They saw no
fisher-boy—but instead a big brown mongrel dog with an absurdly long
tail and a big wide mouth that really seemed to grin! He was bounding
all round George, mad with delight. She came running down to them.

‘This is Timothy,’ she said. ‘Don’t you think he is simply perfect?’

As a dog, Timothy was far from perfect. He was the wrong shape, his head
was too big, his ears were too pricked, his tail was too long and it was
quite impossible to say what kind of a dog he was supposed to be. But he
was such a mad, friendly, clumsy, laughable creature that every one of
the children adored him at once.”

Border collies already get a lot of glory in movies and TV shows. Now they are stealing a mongrel’s chance to shine.

I still don't get why we need another adaptation, when we have perfectly good ones from the 70s and the 90s - unless there's a deliberate 'motive' to this.

Considering the books were very much of their time in the 40s, I don't see what authentic new info about that period we've learned now that we didn't already know 50 years later.

I am 100% with you and hereby choose this as my hill to die upon. Is there a petition? (Not even joking).

I always saw Timmy looking more like this.

Read all the Famous Five books a million times and would have sworn that old Tims was a border collie. I was clearly influenced by the late 70s TV show ( loved the theme tune. What a banger)

As long as all the working class characters that Julian and co patronise are authentically simple minded I won't mind too much that Timmy is being mis-pedigreed. And any Welsh kids must be barefoot and slightly feral. It's only right and proper.

I really want to support you on this one - I would ordinarily always fight for the under’dog’…but
Sorry border collies are just the best dog. I swoon a little every time I see one. Sorry!!

Although surely this TV show is going to be terrible. The whole point is that they are posh white rich kids who hate poor people and are arseholes to all their servants, they have to run with this for the re-make otherwise make a different show

Absolutely.

Anyhow, here's a flag for you all.

Most of the suspense and jeopardy will be completely non-existent now, if instead of hoping beyond hope that Timmy will have found a random passer-by and got the message out to come and rescue them from the cave where they're being held hostage, they can just whip out their phones and wait for the police to speed along to the precise What Three Words address that they've supplied, with regular progress updates all the way.

And then, when the police have rescued them, they will send their parents on a mandatory childcare course for re-education, teaching them not to merrily send their kids off to chase dangerous smugglers or run off and join the circus when they should be doing their online homework nuggets (on devices with proper parental controls).

Just reading about the new adaptation and the cast. Jack Gleeson as Wentworth.

Who the hell was Wentworth in the books???

I was clearly influenced by the late 70s TV show ( loved the theme tune. What a banger)

I was unreasonably gutted and felt betrayed when I discovered that it was sung by a children's choir and not by the Five (well, four of them, I guess) themselves.

The whole point is that they are posh white rich kids who hate poor people and are arseholes to all their servants

Come, come, now - they don't hate poor people, Gypsies and non-white folk: they just don't get what they are for. At least the ones getting jobs as their servants helpfully make it easy for them to grasp their purpose!

It's being discussed as a "progressive" adaptation so I assume it's off the back of the rewrites. In which case Timmy could actually be a horse.

Who the hell was Wentworth in the books???

I read that and I similarly have no idea at all.

To me, it's like when they advertise an 'all-star' version of a TV gameshow that I excitedly tune in for (sadsack, me), and it turns out that the 'celebs' are all off Love Island.

I always thought he was a border collie ?!

Yes they were posh rich white kids but they were never mean to servants.

They absolutely loved their live in cook and were devastated when she got quarantined with scarlet fever. The only servants they were mean to were the nasty ones who were actually thieves and kidnappears in disguise who took over Kirrin Cottage when Mrs Kirrin was in hospital and locked a kidnapped girl in the dark dungeons of Kirrin Castle. Dastardly.

They did however have a painfully naive “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” view of poorer people. Case in point- Jo the gypsy girl (think it was Jo- many Blyton series had an ubiquitous gypsy girl) trying to explain that they would steal if they were really hungry and the kids being shocked and saying they absolutely would not.

And I must disagree about border collies being the best dogs. Labradors are the best. However, I wouldn’t accept a lab playing Timmy either because just like border collies, they are not fearsome.

I think the dog in the Five Find-Outers - with Fatty, the detective - was a spaniel.

He played by Kip, a bearded collie.

Loony was a black spaniel in the Mystery series.

Border collie in the 1970s adaption, I remember as I had my picture taken with him!

If they can race-swap the children they can certainly breed-swap old Tim.

Same, actually. Which does correspond to some of the book (or audio books?🤔) covers we had, IIRC.

@siucra Nope, the dog (beloing to Fatty) in the "Mystery" series was a Scottish Terrier.

The Barney mysteries were my absolute fave

Found him! I'd say he's brown...

Secret Seven’s dog, Scamper, was a golden Cocker Spaniel I’m sure.

How come Timmy was one of the Famous Five, but Scamper was not one of the Secret Seven?

I gift you this morning’s earworm, for those old enough to remember.

Has Julian escaped from Mumford & Sons?