Mallory Towers!

[PlomBear]

On BBC iplayer from Monday!

How is a 12 year old going to portray an 18 year old when they get to the end, that's my question!

Who would other people want to be friends with?

Irene, too. Or Katherine, whom I find very likeable despite being a more minor character.

12-year-old me would have tried to make friends with Gwen, though. Shared dislike of sports, cold water, and having to tie your long hair back (and the idea of boarding school, for that matter!) Much as I loved the books as a child, I wasn't a Malory Towers sort of girl.

There’s huge amounts of fan fiction redeeming Gwen. After all, it’s hard to know what she might have been like if literally everyone in her form hadn’t made their contempt for her since the start of her time at MT. Other girls who cheat, lie and steal are redeemed, but not Gwen, who ends up with a vicious lifelong punishment — after her father’s near-death, a dull job being the family breadwinner, with the implication she won’t ever be able to marry as she will need to support her parents financially as long as they live.

How is a 12 year old going to portray an 18 year old when they get to the end, that's my question!

Something tells me they're not going to record seven series in one year ...

The casting of Darrell, Gwendoline and Marylou is bang-on.

Reading this thread has been wonderfully nostalgic. Do you remember Bill and Clarissa setting up a riding school together after sixth form? I never picked up on the covert lesbian undertones at the time .

Really enjoyed this series. However, I have a few minor irritations.

1. Darells hair - it always looks beautifully coiffured, as if she has stepped out of a high-end boutique, and is always immaculate after playing lacrosse, going swimming, getting up etc.
2. Darrell is a brat - she interferes in every one else’s life wrupiting letters to parents, contacting the college, hitting and pushing people etc
3. Gwen - feel a bit sorry for her really, as she has a different perspective on life,
4. where are all the other pupils? You see the odd one walking down the corridor, but there are six forms of pupils that are missing from the school. Also, surely the school has more than three teachers.
5. when do the girls eat. You never see them going down for their meals.

Sorry, probably overthinking all this.

There are all sorts of bones to pick, like how Alicia stands Darrell up on Parent's Day to go out with her "best friend" Betty's family, yet we never see Betty, and she's not mentioned in any cast list.

Still, nitpicking aside, it's a fun watch. Apparently, the BBC released all the episodes at once to entertain bored children stuck at home during lockdown. Jolly good show, I say 🏑

As a children’s BBC series it was fine. As an adaptation of Malory Towers I thought it was dire.

1. Matron was awful. In the books she is a kind caring soul, not as people have said a Mrs Trunchbull. The attempts at humour were pathetic - mind you that might be looking at it as an adult. It might also scare a kid about to go off to boarding school.
2. Many of the characters were wrong. Ms Potts is always described as a manly, outdoors sort.
3. The BBC pulling their usual stunt of going over the top on the PC front. These books were written in the 40’s when there were very few ethnic minority people in this country. I totally appreciate the need for modern kids to feel included, but it felt forced, and not thought out. Almost as though they recognised we need the modern statistically correct number in the production. We can shove one in here, here and here.

It killed a few hours, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

No it was Miss Peters who was the outdoorsy mannish one, not Miss Potts.

@QueenOfTheAndals - I stand corrected. You are of course correct. Must reread the books.

We did see Betty, didn't we? ISTR a scene where she turned up in school having missed the beginning of term and Alicia greeted her fondly. She was in a different tower in the books, so was rather less evident anyway.

Yes we did see Betty - she appeared very briefly in the background, having just reappeared from Tasmania or somewhere. (Can you imagine how long it would take to get back from Tasmania in 1946?! No wonder she missed the start of bloody term! In the books they were always on their way back from the south of France!)

I suspect that Alicia's character has been dumbed down so much because we're supposed to like her. In the books she was mainly extremely popular, but if all of her various bullying exploits were put on the screen now then the young viewers of 2020 would probably be horrified!

I think the actress who plays Dear Gwendoline Mary is superb. She has just the right look of permanent disdain and contempt! And they could leave her character unchanged because we're supposed to dislike her. I liked her mother's ghastliness too, including introducing herself to Mary-Lou with her entire long flowery name!

Yes, Gwendoline does have the right look of disdain and superiority. Also thinnk Mary-Lou manages her mousiness well.

We loved it. Perfectly timed for lockdown.

Darryl, Gwen and Mary Lou well cast I thought.

Ah, you must be right about Betty! I did look for IMDB, but they don't list the character at all. Then I looked for Gwendoline's mother, and she isn't listed either.

I thought Gwendoline's mum looked like Lady Gaga, the little we saw of her!

I didn’t think Gwen’s mum seemed silly and fawning enough. And I was sad about no Mrs Winters.

Something tells me they're not going to record seven series in one year

True, very true.

Have watched whole series. Found some of the additional storylines difficult - ghost, debutante dress, St Hildas, Emily's mum. Seem to be padding it out!

I think the whole debutante dress and Pamela leaving was.a bit to keep in check a lot of Enid Blyton's bias.

Frankly at the time girls would have been encouraged to get a good marriage before an education.

Gwen was always bullied because she wanted to go to finishing school and get married.

Enid probably a boy ahead of her times

Finished the whole series now and feel a bit bereft. It was pure escapism, despite its faults.

Why do they only list three or four girls names in the opening credits - Darrel, Gwen, Sally and Alicia. Mary Lou and Irene has quite large roles and aren’t listed. Also, Gwen actress’s s name comes up with a shot if Irene playing the piano, so initially thought it was her.

The actress who plays GML, reminds me of Cousin Eustace in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from 2010 who ended up in We're the Millers!

Miss Potts is a bit like Miss Rabbit from Peppa Pig. She's definitely a Jack of all trades!

Dd absolutely loves it. She is also looking forward to the Snow Spider that starts on CBBC on Sunday