Mallory Towers!

[PlomBear]

On BBC iplayer from Monday!

I've been watching with my soon-to-be 9YO DD and it's been joyful. It's been so long since I've read the books that I've forgotten about the finer details so I'm not quibbling about the authenticity and I've no bother with the diverse cast. The actresses playing Darrell and GML are excellent, given their ages.

I read the GML fanfic and it was very poignant.

DDs watched all 13 episodes and I've missed a few so we are watching back from the start. It's her birthday on Monday and I can't get copies of the books so I've downloaded the first one on my Kindle and it's now on my reading list too.

I've watched a few episodes but it's made me realise how little I remember from the books

Same here. It must be about 50 years since I last read them. How come so many of you remember so much detail? Do you have elephant brains? I am so pleased I saw this thread, and am binge watching right now. I am absolutely loving it.

Is anyone reminded of the timid nun in Call the Midwife?

Was it just me who shuddered at the thought of surgery being performed in the unsterile san?
It was so dim in there it’s a miracle Dr Rivers could identify Sally’s appendix and didn’t remove some vital organ by mistake.

I thought it was highly unlikely as well.

So glad I picked up on this thread, I thought the show had been cancelled. Going to find it on I player this instant

Watched the first 2 this morning and love it! Nice comfort-watching for these times.

Is anyone reminded of the timid nun in Call the Midwife?

Do you mean Cynthia, who became Sister Mary Cynthia when she became a nun? Yes, I thought her voice and Mary-Lou's voice were incredibly similar, and so was their sweetness and eagerness to please everyone.

I’ve just watched the first episode - the warnings on this thread were very helpful. It’s not exact but close enough!

Dd and I have watched it all this week. She was not interested at all to start but was hooked within 5 minutes. It’s been lovely to have something that we sat down and watched together.

I loved the swimming pool, it was just as I imagined and when I think of Malory Towers, that is always what I think of first. But I agree they better have the brown tunics in the next series, they fascinated me as a young reader.

(I’ve just realised, writing this, that my fascination with the tunics is clearly why I bought Dd particularly old-school tunic style pinafores from M&S for school!! My sub-conscious obviously saw them as being Malory Towers-esque! Hilarious)

I loved the books 40 ish years ago, but don’t remember a lot of detail, so that’s not bothering me. DD (8) avd I hace watched the first 10 episodes. She’s fascinated, we’ve both loved them so far.

How come so many of you remember so much detail?
In my case because i reread them to the dds

@Papergirl1968 I'm not sure about the 1940s, but wasn't it fairly usual once upon a time for operations to be performed on any suitable table, in any place? Roald Dahl describes how his half-sister had her appendix removed on their own nursery table in the 1920s.

Darrell, Gwen and Mary-Lou are brilliantly cast, as was the snobbish Gwen's mum, and Miss Grayling. I thought the teacher from the other school at the Lacrosse match was unconvincing, though, especially during the exchange with Darrell outside the bus: she didn't have nearly enough vitriol in her eyes.

You know who Matron reminds me of? The stiff Mrs Bale the housekeeper in As Time Goes By. "I heard grave news on the shipping forecast; lunch will be served in three and one-half minutes."

This show is great for what it is, a BBC show aimed at children; it reminds me of the BBC Chronicles of Narnia, which I think were fantastic. But does anyone remember the TV series of the Famous Five, that was on in the mid-90s? Now that was appalling. Although they had 1950s costumes (which changed from one scene to another on Kirrin Island), the acting was awful, there was none of the original dialogue, George (Jemima Rooper) looked incredibly un-boyish, yet was still mistaken for a boy, all the characters were either dumbed down so they had no personality (especially Anne), or wildly exaggerated (Julian). And they tried too hard to make it politically correct: names such as Aunt Fanny and Sooty were changed.

I haven't seen any of this yet.

I'm hoping Zerelda Brass is going to turn up at some point, though.

True, Wanderings I remember Sue Barton’s husband, Dr Barry, sewing their daughter Tabitha’s cut leg up on the kitchen table in one of the Sue Barton, Such and Such Nurse, books.
I loved the Famous Five adaptation. I can still remember the theme tune. You’re right about the characters though.
One thing that’s annoying me with Malory Towers is this ghost business. That was never in the books from what I recall.

I hope we get the characters of Amanda (aspiring Olympic champion), and June (I think a younger relative of Alicia). I loved reading about Amanda seeing the sporting potential in June, despite her being very troublesome and uncooperative.

I watched the last episodes today and enjoyed them a lot. There were only a few things that bothered me about the series. The repeated mentions of the offscreen 'lifeguard' every time anyone went anywhere near the pool was one, as someone posted earlier. The ghost storyline was irritating at first, but it grew on me.

All I remember of Emily from the books was that she was quiet and liked sewing. Was there another character in a later book who had a mother who worked at the school and didn't tell anyone about it because she was ashamed? That seems vaguely familiar, but I can't quite recall the specifics.

Thanks for this, loved malory towers and the twins of St clares

Just seen the trailer, Darrell looks so young!!

I thought she was always older than me, but then I remembered, I'm 53 now, not 10..

I'm 3 episodes in now, I always imagined them to be older and a bit more glam than me when I read them, o think it was them when I was 10ish and imagined them 15.

They have got Matron all wrong,really badly written and cast. She's like the nun in Derry Girls in this

OMG. I’ve just seen this. Mallory Towers!!! This is too much!

It was definitely implied there'd be another series- I jolly well hope so!

The ghost bit was annoying but i can see why they included it. I'd have loved it when i was about 8!

Re: surgery at home; my grandfather was a GP in the NE of England, and would have retired in the early 1950s. My dad used to describe memories of him carrying out surgery both in his surgery, and the patients’ home if necessary.

They'll have to expand the cast and sets in quite a bit way if they film the whole series, to accommodate all the various new girls, new staff members, and the inclusion of Felicity, June etc. Let's hope they decide to make the investment, I think it would improve it.

In my boarding school in the early 90’s the san was like a mini hospital. Hospital curtains and weird equipment. I can imagine surgery being carried out there.