Mallory Towers!

[PlomBear]

On BBC iplayer from Monday!

That's what I thought too. Some might be around 14 and obviously Pamela is late teens but they don't look particularly older than they're meant to be.

I've seen something online saying the actress playing Darell is now 13, therefore around 12 when this was filmed. Not sure how definitive it was, though.

Quite impressed that they managed to cast so many 12 year old ish flat chested actors! As for the location, I haven't worked out which part is filmed in Canada but the end credits include Hartland Abbey which is Nr Bideford in North Devon.

I couldn’t work out what was filmed in Canada, as it all looked very Cornish to me.

My favourite EB apart from Malory Towers was Hollow Tree House.

Looking back it was fairly mad. Children abused by their Aunt Margaret so ran away to live in a tree. Friend brought them food. Thought it sounded great as a child.

You can still buy it on Amazon for £400. Should never have donated my copy to Oxfam in the 70's as it turned out 😂

Adore Ashley McGuire but her character as Matron is all wrong. Matron was warm and nurturing, not a bully. Don’t know why they asked her to play it that way.

The children are a bit stage school for me although I like the girl playing Gwendoline.

happilybemused
I loved Hollow Tree House. The Put-Em-Rights where a group of children fixed villagers' problems and were improved themselves in the process was fab too.

Looking back it was fairly mad. Children abused by their Aunt Margaret so ran away to live in a tree. Friend brought them food. Thought it sounded great as a child

Knowing what we know about EB now it was probably true

I'd never heard of the Hollow Tree House, only the Faraway Tree.

The magic faraway tree was my favourite EB book.

@QueenoftheAndals I remember that series! They were all titled 'The [Location] of Adventure'. Dinah had a brother called Philip, and the other two were Jack and Lucy Ann. I think they had a pet parrot. I doubt they'd stand up to an adult re-reading, though - lots of heavily stereotyped suspicious foreigners, if I'm remembering rightly.

I did love that they got to go off and have exciting adventures with no adults in sight.

Interesting random fact, Enid Blyton’s second husband was Kenneth Darrell Waters.

I really enjoyed the series, I read all the books as a child but I coudn't remember much!

I particularly liked Darrell, Pamela and Miss Grayling.

I hope there are further series.

Great escapism viewing.

Lots of the books here; free of charge to download.
www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Blyton,%20Enid

The exterior and outdoor scenes were filmed in the UK. All the interior sets were filmed in a studio in Canada

I’ve watched a couple of episodes - why have they made Matron Into such a cow? And Mamzelle was not that glam I’m sure.

Finished the series the other day, found the ghost story a bit predictable in the end. Also, does anyone else think that their song sounds a bit like "Fawlty Towers, la la la la la...."?

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

One of the girls, is it meant to be Alicia, has an American accent! I hope they show Alicia's bitchy side.

Teaandscone

Thank you so much for that reference, I have 'The Twin's at St Clare's' ready to read! X

@SerenDippitty The actress is Canadian, I think the story is that her parents have sent her to MT to get a British education.

Me and DD have enjoyed watching this do much!! ( Me possibly more lol ). It's just the tonic that's needed in all the current madness! We are on episode 10 I'm making it last by watching no more than two episodes a day. I think I'll be rewatching though

so much

I've just started reading Third Form at MT and they are so awful about/to Zerelda! For no reason whatsoever (apart from the fact she's American, apparently ).

It's really bad, worse than I remembered. Even the adults are at it. Eg, the Rivers family give Zerelda a lift to MT, and Darrell's father just decides to ignore her for no reason whatsoever, it blatantly states he has no patience with people like her! She hasn't even done anything!! Ok she wasn't ready when they came to pick her up, hardly the crime of the century is it?! So now I'm Team Zerelda

Re PPs comment about Mamzelle being so chic in the programme, the books mention that Mamzelle Dupont always wore nice well-fitting dresses and high heels, so I guess she was meant to be quite stylish - something that totally passed me by when I read it as a kid.

I thought the ghost story was just silly. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t got to it yet but the adult involved should have been fired for their part in it - knowingly terrifying some of the girls and giving them nightmares.

Just finished watching and I've enjoyed it even more than I expected, really hoping they make more series! I'm going to have to have a search to see if I still have the books anywhere now