Look and Read: Dark Towers
Dark Towers is a unit of the BBC schools TV series Look and Read from the 1980s, covering Language and Reading for primary school pupils.
This page about the Look and Read story Dark Towers is not yet finished.
But you can still read my old web pages about the story at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine on this link:
Look and Read.myby.co.uk - Dark Towers
An excellent and much-loved programme with a story that's comic, atmospheric and occasionally very scary ("Who comes to the Tall Knight's folly?") involving a young girl called Tracy who chases her dog into the gardens of a strange old house, Dark Towers. She meets the residents, Lord Dark and his son Edward, and becomes involved in a race to find the hidden treasure of Dark Towers. This race also involves three self-styled antique experts who're really searching for the treasure, and the house's two ghosts - the recently deceased Friendly Ghost and the more scary Tall Knight.
Wordy did the in-between bits from a children's library with the help of the librarian, Jenny Jackson, and many of the educational songs involved three more ghosts: Ghostly, Ghastly and Ghoulish.
Episodes
Quick episode list
# | Title | Broadcast |
---|---|---|
1. | Dark Towers in Danger! | 22 Sep 1981 |
2. | The Man in the Picture | 29 Sep 1981 |
3. | The Old Legend | 6 Oct 1981 |
4. | The Clue in the Book | 13 Oct 1981 |
5. | The Old Coach House | 20 Oct 1981 |
6. | The Tall Knight's Folly | 3 Nov 1981 |
7. | The Dark Tree | 10 Nov 1981 |
8. | Beware of the Bird! | 17 Nov 1981 |
9. | Who Can Help? | 24 Nov 1981 |
10. | The Last Laugh | 1 Dec 1981 |
Episode descriptions from the Radio Times.
Num | Title | Broadcast | |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Dark Towers in Danger! | 22 Sep 1981 | |
Tracy and her dog Towser meet the owners of Dark Towers, a strange old house, and receive a mysterious, ghostly message. | |||
2. | The Man in the Picture | 29 Sep 1981 | |
Is there something suspicious about the two 'experts' looking over the contents of Dark Towers? Then Tracy and Edward meet a friendly ghost! | |||
3. | The Old Legend | 6 Oct 1981 | |
The Friendly Ghost gives a warning and tells of the legend of Dark Towers. He gives the first clue to the whereabouts of the Tall Knight's treasure. | |||
4. | The Clue in the Book | 13 Oct 1981 | |
The first clue on the trail of the Golden Book of the Tall Knight leads to a worm-eaten rhyme and a hunt for old wheels. | |||
5. | The Old Coach House | 20 Oct 1981 | |
Tracy solves the clue, but finds out that Benger and Bunce are crooks and overhears their plans. | |||
6. | The Tall Knight's Folly | 3 Nov 1981 | |
Tracy is 'framed' by Benger and Bunce. Edward enlists the help of the Friendly Ghost and finally meets Tall Knight. | |||
7. | The Dark Tree | 10 Nov 1981 | |
8. | Beware of the Bird! | 17 Nov 1981 | |
The studded chest is found... but where is the treasure? Benger and Bunce turn nasty but the Tall Knight comes to Tracy's rescue. | |||
9. | Who Can Help? | 24 Nov 1981 | |
The secret hiding place of the Golden Book is discovered - by the three villains - so the Friendly Ghost decides to summon up the Tall Knight. | |||
10. | The Last Laugh | 1 Dec 1981 | |
Will the Tall knight arrive in time to save his treasure and the house? Who will have the last laugh? |
Credits
Narrated by | Sean Barrett |
Starring | David Collings as Lord Dark and the Friendly Ghost Juliet Waley as Tracy Brown |
Singers | Derek Griffiths Julie Stevens |
Written by | Andrew Davies |
Producer | Sue Weeks |
Juliet Waley was accidentally credited as "Juliet Way" in the credits to episode 4. Nobody knows why this little mistake was made (I have asked!). Normally the exact same credits roller would be re-filmed from one episode to another, unless they needed to make (manual) changes to it. Presumably in this case somebody got a bit distracted while they were doing the letraset and then never noticed the error.
Who was in which episodes:
C A S T D E T A I L S starring EPISODES ---------------------- SEAN BARRETT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 HARRY JONES 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 DAVID COLLINGS 1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10 JULIET HAMMOND HILL 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 PETER MAYHEW 6 7 8 10 GARY RUSSELL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SUSAN KODICEK 8 9 10 JULIET WALEY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DENISE COFFEY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CHARLES COLLINGWOOD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 KATIE HEBB 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DEREK GRIFFITHS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 and Flak 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Broadcasts
Here is a list of all of the broadcasts of this story on the BBC. Unless your teachers managed to get the video recorder to work, this is when you would have seen it in school. See the Schedules section for precise dates and times.
- Summer 2003, CBBC
- Autumn 2003, CBBC
- Spring 2004, CBBC
- Summer 2004, CBBC
- Autumn 2004, CBBC
- Spring 2005, CBBC
- Summer 2005, CBBC
- Spring 2006, CBBC
- Spring 2007, CBBC
Links
- Dark Towers on Wikipedia
- Dark Towers on the Internet Movie Database
- British Film Institute Collections for Dark Towers
More
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