Swallows and Amazons Forever!

Swallows and Amazons Forever! is a 1984 BBC children's television series based on two children's novels from the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome: Coot Club (1934) (four episodes), and The Big Six (1940) (four episodes). Despite the title, the Swallows and the Amazons children from Ransome's other books do not appear.

Swallows and Amazons Forever!
Title Card
GenreChildren's
Written byArthur Ransome (books)
Michael Robson (script)
Directed byAndrew Morgan
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Production locationNorfolk Broads
Release
Original networkBBC Two
Original release14 March (1984-03-14) –
2 May 1984 (1984-05-02)

The setting is the Norfolk Broads in the 1930s, partly near the village of Horning. The main characters are visitors Dick and Dorothea (Dot) Callum and locals Tom Dudgeon, the twins Nell and Bess, three boatbuilders’ sons, Joe, Bill and Pete – the Death and Glories – and adults Mrs Barrable, Dr Dudgeon (father of Tom) and Frank Farland (father of the twins).

Coot Club sees Dick and Dot learning to sail, whilst dealing with five obnoxious adults in the Margoletta motor cruiser, who are called the Hullabaloos by the children. The Big Six is a detective story in which the Death and Glories are accused of setting boats adrift.[1]

A Puffin paperback with the same title was published in 1983; it is a condensation of Coot Club (omitting the postscript) and The Big Six (omitting 7 chapters). It was reissued as a Red Fox paperback in 1993 with the title Swallows and Amazons for Ever!

It was intended that Swallows and Amazons Forever! should have continued with adaptions of all the books in the series, and Swallowdale and The Picts and the Martyrs were to have been next. Casting and scouting for locations began, but the cost of filming on National Trust property in the Lake District was too expensive, so the series was cancelled.[2]

Episodes

The series was first broadcast on BBC Two on Wednesdays in 1984.[3]
It was repeated as two compilations on Friday 28 March and Sunday 30 March 1986.[4][5]

Episode Date Time
Coot Club - Episode 1 Wednesday 14 March 1984 7.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 2 Wednesday 21 March 1984 7.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 3 Wednesday 28 March 1984 7.10-7.35pm
Coot Club - Episode 4 Wednesday 4 April 1984 7.00-7.25pm
The Big Six - Episode 1 Wednesday 11 April 1984 7.05-7.30pm
The Big Six - Episode 2 Wednesday 18 April 1984 7.15-7.40pm
The Big Six - Episode 3 Wednesday 25 April 1984 7.15-7.40pm
The Big Six - Episode 4 Wednesday 2 May 1984 7.10-7.35pm

Characters
Richard Walton as Dick Callum
Caroline Downer as Dorothea Callum
Henry Dimbleby as Tom Dudgeon
Claire Matthews as Bess Farland
Sarah Matthews as Nell Farland
Nicholas Walpole as Joe
Mark Page as Bill
Jake Coppard as Pete
Rosemary Leach as Mrs Barrable
John Woodvine as Mr Tedder the Policeman
Colin Baker as Dr Dudgeon
Andrew Burt as Frank Farland
Simon Hawes as George Owden
some minor characters
Julian Fellowes as Jerry a Hullabaloo
Patrick Troughton as Harry Bangate the Eel Man
Sam Kelly as the Owner of the Cachalot

References
  1. Hardyment, Christina (1984). Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk (1988 ed.). Jonathan Cape. p. 144.
  2. "What viewers thought of the BBC serial Swallows and Amazons Forever".
  3. "BBC Genome".
  4. "BBC Genome".
  5. "BBC Genome".


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