Take two young boys, two young girls and a dog, mix them up together and what have you got? The Famous Five, of course; those marvellous miniature TV detectives. Now, if you answered correctly, award yourself five marks, but if you were wrong you obviously haven’t been watching enough television and it’s imperative you read on...
The Famous Five is yet another great children’s offering from ITV (from Southern, in this instance), which by now has something of a reputation for taking renowned books and turning them into equally renowned television series. The Five were originally the creation of Enid Blyton and they rank alongside Noddy and friends as the best of her superb children’s characters. (By the way, believe it or not, Enid’s books were once the centre of a big controversy and have actually been banned by some local authorities!)
The books were written in the 1950s and although the story lines may be a bit dated, the producers have tried to bring the characters more up to date by dressing them in jeans and t-shirts. As producer James Gatwood put it: “Times have changed, these are children of the Seventies, not the Forties and Fifties. We have updated the stories and adapted the attitudes of the children to their time.”
And it’s not only the children who have been updated – Aunt Fanny now looks after her own organically grown vegetables in her Wellington boots. While Uncle Quentin is no longer just a plain scientist, but an environmental chemist.
The four lucky artists who have been given the golden opportunity of launching their careers with a hit series are Michele Gallagher, Jenny Thanisch, Marcus Harris, Gary Russell and Toddy the dog, who starred in The Railway Children. The series was made entirely on location in an old manor house in the New Forest, and many special effects such as secret doors, passages and caves had to be built.
Most young people would think of acting as an easy, do-as-you-please life, with lots of fame, plenty of money and no school. The young stars of The Famous Five soon found out differently – they had to spend at least three hours a day studying school-books, and were not allowed to eat cakes, sweets or have fizzy drinks.
We wonder if that applied to Toddy the dog as well. Never mind, though, we’re sure, given time, the five young detectives will be able to solve that problem.
Hurrah! The Famous Five are back!
As you must know by now, those super-sleuths The Famous Five are back on screen in a series that includes several new adventures. Yes, Julian, Dick, Anne and George – not forgetting Timmy the dog, of course! – can again be seen getting into all sorts of scrapes and solving lots of mysteries.
The first series, also from Southern Television, was a major success and boosted the membership of the special Famous Five Club, which had already gained 255,000 members since the books first became popular. It also led to a huge number of Famous Five spin-offs, including records, card games, jigsaw puzzles, and ties.
Which just goes to prove that all those anti-Enid Blyton librarians and teachers underestimated the huge appeal of her books when they complained that her writing was trite, boring, over-simplified and did nothing to stretch the imagination. Some local authorities even went so far as to ban Miss Blyton’s books from their libraries!
But the famous Five stories are just as popular today as they ever were and anre great favourites with the four young actors who portray the characters on television.
“The four are so mature in the way they work things out together,” says Marcus Harris, who plays the part of Julian “although their characters are so different.”
Jenny Thanisch, who plays Anne, was overjoyed when she heard she’d got the part: “For me, this will be like living out an adventure of my own!”, she said at the time.
But what are the four teenagers doing now that the filming for the series is over? Well, they’re all studying hard and their acting careers have had to take second place at the moment.
Marcus attends a comprehensive school in Woodcote, Berks., and Jenny is at the Corona Stage School in Chiswick, London, where she studies for her ‘O’ Levels in the mornings and stage-craft in the afternoons. This includes the techniques of acting, dancing – ballet and tap – and make-up, which means that she has to work twice as hard as any ordinary schoolgirl! The same applies for Michelle Gallagher (George in the series) who attends the Arts Educational School, also in London.
Gary Russell, who plays the part of Dick, attends a boys’ school in Maidenhead and studies part-time at the Redruth Theatrical School. He has recently recorded several children’s stories to be broadcast on German radio as English language teaching aids.
With the current success of The Famous Five, it looks as if we’ll be seeing a lot more of Marcus, Jenny, Michelle and Gary in the future...
Super Famous Five Competition!
Bicycle and wrist-watches must be won!
With The Famous Five now on screen again, not only do we look at the show in our super feature (on page 25); we’ve also arranged a competition with a difference!
As avid viewers of the series will know, The Famous Five love to get on their bikes and ride! Well, you could be the lucky owner of one of our intrepid adventurers’ machines – it belonged to Jenny Thanisch, who plays Anne – if you win our exciting competition.
The bike was actually used by Jenny during the last series of The Famous Five – that’s her standing by it in our photograph – and Southern TV have arranged to have it delivered to the winner’s home.
But that’s not all. To another four Famous Five fans we’re offering the watches worn by the stars of the series. There’s Dick’s (Gary Russell) 19-jewel Sekonda watch, Anne’s (Jenny Thanisch) red-strap Timex, George’s (Michelle Gallagher) time-and-date Timex, and Julian’s (Marcus Harris) time-and-date Timex. One of these will be sent to each of the four runners-up in the competition.
Remember – the bicycle and the watches were used by the actors and actresses on The Famous Five series – so there’s every chance that you’ve already seen our prizes on the TV screen! But do bear in mind that they’re not brand-new, not after all that frantic Famous Five action!
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This is the bike used by Jenny Thanisch (Anne) in the TV series, which we’re offering as a prize.