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As a producer at Weston-super-Mare’s Sunshine Hospital Radio, I am always on
the lookout for interesting events to cover or people to interview. With
the planned release of all the 1978/79 Southern TV Famous Five episodes on
DVD, it seemed the perfect moment to find out more and relive some of my
lost youth by speaking with Marcus Harris, also known as Julian from the 70s
series.
| Please be aware, that most offers in the internet, especially ebay, are bootlegs. "Southern Star" as holder of the TV-rights and "Reel Corporation Australia Pty Ltd." take action against sellers and buyers to dry up all illegal activities with the '78 TV series. |
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The DVD edition by REEL The REEL version is an English DVD release of the `78 TV series, which accidentially reached the Australian market in 2005. Due to an administrative confusion error "PRIMETIME" sent the English mastercopies to the Australian DVD production company REEL - instead of the version produced in 1996- and REEL then released them with the cover and label of the 1996 version. This set was officially available in Australia (see left picture column).When they realized their mistake, already too many copies had been sold. Remaining copies they had in their stores were taken back and destroyed. This makes the DVD 4 Disk set the only official "inofficial" DVD release and therefore an enormous rarity. Later a DVD 3Disk Set with slightly changed cover and the additional imprint "Revised edition" was released by REEL (see right picture column). Especially the last picture on the left hand side marks the rarity of this release: On the DVD, only including the 1978 series, there is also "Five on a Treasure Island", from the 1996 version. |
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The VHS edition by ILC Group Ltd On November 8th, 1999, "Southern Star" licensed a VHS Video edition by the English media company "ILC Group Ltd", containing the sequences of the 1978/79 version, which were sold in Great Britain until November 1st, 2003. On the back of the cover of the VHS tapes you can find the imprint Licensed from "Southern Star". "Southern Star until today is the owner of the rights concerning the mastertapes of the series. "Chorion" on the other hand has no rights whatsoever of the old series, unlike all presumptions. (See: Special page "Broadcasting rights") ILC Group Ltd The Props Building Pinewood Studios Pinewood Road Iver Heath Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH Great Britain From the point in time, when the media world announced that all rights concerning film and TV - productions went over to "Chorion" in 2003, no new distributions of licenses took place from the side of "Southern Star" and also " ILC Group Ltd" closed the production and selling of the VHS tapes. |
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The VHS edition by CITEL Video In the late 90-ies the French video-company "Citel VIDEO" launched the series officially. It is at the moment the only European legal release after the last broadcast by SuperRTL and is therefore a rarity as well. Also interesting are the cast&credits in French. The English song was taken over 1:1, only the cast& credits were inserted in French. This version on VHS is hardly available. Even fans in France are searching for these tapes. And still there is yet more demand for the old version than the new. The separate sequences sometimes have diverging titles in comparison to the books, what makes it difficult to relate them to a certain story. It is a box made from cardboard containing the sequences (see picture). "Citel-VHS- Primetime", which is the cover to the box (3VHS). It is released in SECAM and can only be displayed on SECAM video players, because this is the most frequented formant throughout France. That is also the reason why there are only seldom screenshots available in the German speaking area. The other pictures are the cover-presentation of the box, its front, right side as well as its back and left side. |
| Expert opinions taken from TV-periodicals
"Successful entertainment with uncramped actors. An Enid
Blyton movie on the highest level."
"Strong kids against the nasty guys of this world - solid entertainment with many possibilities of identification." "Good dialogues and believable actors guarantee suspense." "After the youth books of the English author Enid Blyton. Realized as an English-German co-production at the original scenes of action in Exmoor and Somerset." "An intelligent series, convincing with its love for detail." "Measured suspense and attentive dramaturgy" "A series with completely normal children and no oversubscribed film-kids." |
Who would like to see this series again?
It's easy:
Click on www.wunschliste.de
(assure that the entry "Fünf Freunde [The Famous Five] GB,1977" is checked)
and confirm your vote by clicking on the button "Alle markierten Serien wählen".
Meanwhile the Famous Five managed to achieve the first place in the ranking.
SUPER RTL or some other TV-company will hopefully repeat
the broadcast of the series. |
 TV-Hits - the most loved children's-series
In connection with the Programme "TV-hits, the most loved
children's-series", the TV-broadcasting company RTL entrusted the polling
institute FORSA with an opinion poll. The result: The "Famous Five"-series of
1978 ranged place 16 of the 25 most popular TV-programmes for children.
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