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Sunday evening childrens shows 80's/90's Narnia etc

81 replies

Puddlewoman · 14/02/2025 17:19

I found a copy of the chronicles of narnia the old bbc series in a charity shop and have been watching it one episode a week with the youngest on a Sunday evening like I did back in the day.
DS is not a fan of t.v shows and films and often finds they cause him anxiety but this I think due to episode length and mild content worked for him. Now we've finished the whole set I am trying to find reccomendations of similar things we could watch.
I remember the borrowers but does anyone have any other reccomendations?

OP posts:
lavenderlou · 14/02/2025 20:00

YY to Moondial and the children of Green Knowe. There was also a good adaptation of A Little Princess in the 80s, although a very girl-heavy story.

1AngelicFruitCake · 14/02/2025 20:00

5 children and it
The Queens nose

Thesebloominhorses · 14/02/2025 20:03

Toms midnight garden
the Moondial
children of Green Knowe

the above are all beautiful books as well

also Merlin. More modern but of the same ilk

purpleme12 · 14/02/2025 20:03

I'm am so going to watch Round the Twist when I get home now

elliejjtiny · 14/02/2025 20:03

Love these kinds of tv programmes, they are my guilty pleasure. Always used to watch the Narnia series with my mum and dad after bath and hair wash on a Sunday evening, all cosy in my pyjamas and dressing gown.

Member984815 · 14/02/2025 20:06

Mirror mirror , time travel theme . The girl from tomorrow.

Toddlerteaplease · 14/02/2025 20:06

The Demon Headmaster. The original one.

Toddlerteaplease · 14/02/2025 20:06

VivienneDelacroix · 14/02/2025 17:32

Moondial

Loved this. We went to Belton frequently.

murraymcgill · 14/02/2025 20:09

Pheonix from the ashes something like that I enjoyed that

Jung200 · 14/02/2025 20:17

Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn
Gentle Ben

DonutRings · 14/02/2025 20:17

The Borrowers
The Prince and the Pauper (there was a serialised version of this circa 1992 I think)
The Queen's Nose
The Amazing Mr Blunden

Was there an adaptation of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase or am I making that up?

Franklefoot · 14/02/2025 20:21

OlgaFjeldso · 14/02/2025 17:49

I used to love the Chronicles of Narnia at Sunday teatime! Especially the Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the ship with the purple sail. I can see it now…

The Phoenix and the Carpet was lovely too, when the children find the Psammead buried in the sand, and keep making flawed wishes. I think they wished their little brother wasn’t such a baby and he turned into an adult in one episode.

My favourite BBC series though was Little Sir Nicholas. About a little boy who is heir to a big estate by the sea, but gets shipwrecked and presumed dead, but actually ends up in France and is brought up by a poor French family. So a new heir needs to be found and it’s this obnoxious boy called Gerald, but then Little Nicholas is found in France and brought back, but now he’s scared of the sea and can’t even speak English, so everyone is divided over who would be the best heir.

I had forgotten all about Little Sir Nicholas, I remember loving that one too. There was a golden pony in it I think? How did it end?

mum2jakie · 14/02/2025 20:32

Helpagirlout222 · 14/02/2025 19:01

A few years back the Phillip pulman books were made into a tv show.
We watched them as a family and it really reminded me of that Sunday evening vibe!

His Dark Materials - it's still available on BBC iplayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000b1v2/his-dark-materials

Might be a bit scary/too old for OP's son though.

His Dark Materials

In a parallel world ruled by the sinister Magisterium, a battle rages over a mysterious particle called Dust. Can orphan Lyra stop the fight from spilling over into our time?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000b1v2/his-dark-materials

RedHelenB · 14/02/2025 20:45

Our John Willie you tube.

Wendolino · 14/02/2025 20:47

The courage of Andy Robson was a good Sunday afternoon series.

mogtheexcellent · 14/02/2025 20:52

Round the twist is on prime. Dd loves it.

goingdownfighting · 15/02/2025 11:43

We've recently watched Merlin. It's still on iPlayer

tobee · 17/02/2025 00:24

Needmorelego · 14/02/2025 18:13

@tobee I guess you haven't watched Malory Towers and Famous Five.
You can't get much more middle class and old fashioned as that 😂

I didn’t see them but had thought they had been very much updated?

Addeline · 17/02/2025 01:01

The Silver Chair

Talisin · 17/02/2025 02:03

wastingtimeonhere · 14/02/2025 18:56

Depending on age..Barriers

Oh my god - there’s someone else in the world who remembers Barriers!

SootherSue · 17/02/2025 02:39

Bernard's Watch, Woof, The Queen's Nose, Famous Five, The Worst Witch (that was on Prime a little while back I think).

Would a comedy show make him feel less anxious, as the stakes won't feel as intense? I'm thinking about something like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sister Sister, Drake and Josh, etc.

Youhaveyourhandsfull · 17/02/2025 02:43

VoodooPigeon · 14/02/2025 17:21

Box of delights!

YABU to suggest that in February. December only!

Growsomeballswoman · 17/02/2025 03:37

The Storyteller. Or maybe not, hedgehog man still scares the crap out of me.

FreddoSwaggins · 17/02/2025 07:34

DonutRings · 14/02/2025 20:17

The Borrowers
The Prince and the Pauper (there was a serialised version of this circa 1992 I think)
The Queen's Nose
The Amazing Mr Blunden

Was there an adaptation of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase or am I making that up?

Yes to The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. You are not making it up.

Some of these suggested might be scary of her son gets anxious. Though I think 80s/90s children's scary was a slower pace - might be a fse memory but children's programmes were a lot less frantic than today's.

Unless I was banned from watching the crazy stuff. One thing for certain it was easier to prevent children from seeing things in the 80s - with less availability and no recording/rewinding tv (unless the family were fancy pants with a VHS (or Betamax!)) Only opportunity was watching around your friend's house. 🤣

SwanOfThoseThings · 17/02/2025 07:50

A Little Princess - 1986 BBC version (it's on YouTube) - very faithful to the book.