The Witches and the Grinnygog (1983)

A miniseries based on the children's book of the same name (1981) by Dorothy Edwards. I've not read the book. I had, however, watched the series back in the 80s when it was first screened on British TV. Once the actual Grinnygog appeared onscreen the memories of that time came flooding back to me - almost literally, I felt like I'd been hit by a driving wave of forgotten salad days.

The Grinnygog is a horned, cheeky-faced stone statue about the size of an average garden gnome. The little guy doesn't actually do very much besides look cool, but the majority of the important events that subsequently occur in the lives of the main protagonists happen as a result of his sudden appearance. Without seeming to do so directly, he influences and twists the threads of fate so that the correct people are in the correct place at the correct time.

The witches appear later, and for a while their motivations are a mystery to the children that the story centres around most and, by extension, to the viewers.

There are five kids in all, four of whom are working together to create a museum of local history, a place where the town's past can be viewed and appreciated by everyone regardless of age. Their research not only educates them in the obvious manner but also proves useful in other ways.

It's both a fascinating and enjoyable exercise for me to look back at children's television from yesteryear and note how often the makers of the shows tried to scare the crap out of us and feed us compelling tales of Britain's pagan past.

TWatG doesn't tread the scary route but does take the other, and it does it in such a way that neither condescends nor elevates the importance of one individual belief system over the other. I feel that's an important point to stress because being a children's show means its target audience is typically more suggestible than viewers in some other genres, and kids should always respectfully be allowed the freedom to form their own opinion about such matters.

6 episodes, approx 25 minutes each.

3 of the wayside faith out of 5

TWIN PEAKS: SEASON TWO [1990-1991]

You're dead, Laura,
but your problems keep hanging around!
It's almost like they didn't bury you deep enough!

During it's 8-episode first season run, Mark Frost & David Lynch's bizarre prime-time soap opera murder mystery, Twin Peaks, became a tornado of a world-wide phenomenon, leaving it's second season with a lot to live up to.  

After the season one finale hilariously threw every possible clichéd cliff-hanger ending in the book at the viewer, the second year jumps right in the thick of things in true Peaks fashion that proves it wasn't just a flash in the pan.  The quality of the show is maintained for the next 7 episodes or so, until the television network forced Lynch & Frost, much to their dismay, to reveal who Laura Palmer's killer was fearing that audiences were growing impatient.  And with that a disgruntled Lynch more or less left the series and quite frankly, without him, it's astonishing to see the very apparent nosedive in quality within a single episode.  

From there the viewer is punished with 8 episodes of some embarrassingly bad writing that is not unlike the trashy soap operas the series set out to satirize.  A gaggle of new directors sloppily handled these episodes, all whom didn't seem to understand that Peaks used to be perfect blend of  quirky silliness, ominous darkness and the mind-boggling bizarre and instead brought them together like oil & water.  

Thankfully, after a brief hiatus, the writers got their shit together and the series became a faint reflection of what it once was.  Alas, the damage had been done and the task of picking up the shattered pieces isn't a completely successful one but it's light years better than the crap before it.  Sadly, the ratings plummeted something fierce and as quick as the series shot to popularity it was given the axe, leaving the viewer with an highly effective and disturbing cliff-hanger that still haunts me to this very day.

As a dedicated fan of the series, it's difficult to recommend due to a larger portion of the second season is just plain bad but it's also hard to properly criticize it because there's so many great things going on when it's firing on all cylinders.

3½ doppelgängers out of 5

The Box of Delights (1984)

TBoD is much-loved by many people. I suspect that some part of the warm feelings that accompany thoughts of the series is to do with similar feelings toward the holiday season in which it's always shown; i.e. the lead up to Christmas. I'm not implying that to love TBoD you need also to love Christmas, but there's a definite correlation there. As such, while I very much enjoy what it does on a technical level, the 'seasonal magic' is merely perfunctory for me.

I apologise if it seems like I'm treading on someone's childhood when I say that the story was frequently uneven, losing ground in the middle section before pulling it back for an exciting ending that was itself followed by what I'd consider a clichéd cop out if it wasn't for the slight ambiguity that lingers as the credits roll.

The story revolves around eleven-year-old schoolboy Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield), travelling home for the holidays. His adventure begins before he's even stepped off the train, and it moves to the next level when he bumps into a bearded Patrick Troughton (both pictured above), an encounter that changes the course of his winter break. The box, more like a box of tricks than one of delights, is sought by a number of unscrupulous people who'll do almost anything to retrieve it. Kay and his friends must do their best to help keep it from their lupine hands.

The young actors are all fine, but the danger level never reaches the heights that were needed to keep me fully engaged with their plight. But I admit that I sometimes find it difficult to relate to privileged rich kids.

It will likely appeal to fans of the BBC's more well-publicised adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988), which it predates by four years. (The original novel by John Masefield also predates Lewis' Narnia books. The Box of Delights was published in 1935, whereas The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe didn't appear until 1950. I've not read Masefield's book.)

The 'technical' aspects I mentioned above are used to enable the magical properties of the box to be realised. The effects are a mixture of practical, chroma key, suit actors and hand drawn animation. The latter was my favourite - the scenes of animals running, flying, etc, through various environments are beautiful.

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each (I really liked the episode titles).

3 hobsessions out of 5

Family (1994)

A four-episode miniseries set in Dublin, Ireland, written by author Roddy Doyle and directed by filmmaker Michael Winterbottom. I've read a couple of Roddy's novels and watched the films based on The Barrytown Trilogy. I enjoyed them all. None of the films were big budget ventures, so I had no reason to suspect that a TV production would be any less engaging or personal. Sure enough, it wasn't, the working class Spencer family were just as well-written and presented as Roddy's movie characters. In fact, it was an exceptional TV drama.

Four of the six Spencers have an episode named after them, within which they're the main focus even though, with the exception of the two youngest, all members play an important role each time. Episodes in the order presented:

Charlo: The father. A typical day involves reaching for a cigarette before he's even opened his eyes in the morning, followed by afternoon petty theft, boozing and being condescending to his wife and kids at meal times. It may sound like he's one-note, but there's more to Charlo than I've room to say, almost all of it selfish.

John Paul: A thirteen-year-old son who worships his shit-bag father despite often witnessing the terrible things he does. School is a chore, if he even goes. Loves football, drinking and smoking. In short, a portrait of a troubled youth.

Nicola: A daughter, the eldest of the four kids. She hates her father and has difficulty respecting her mother Paula because of the shit she takes from Charlo.

Paula: The mother. Paula's situation is the most complex. She's guilty of many sins, the majority of which are actions not taken as opposed to ones that are, but she's a mother and she's the best hope the family has of ever finding peace, if only she can pull herself together in time and stay strong thereafter.

It's primarily a hard-hitting drama but makes room for comedy too, oftentimes triggered by brash actions and/or relatable embarrassment.

With regards the principal cast, I don't know enough of their work to judge if they can be as convincing across a wider spectrum, but they were all excellent here.

4 episodes, approx 45 minutes each.

4 vodkas before breakfast out of 5

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: The Light Samurai's Surprise Transformation (2009)

This can be viewed after Act 24 and their movie.

Kamen Rider Agito Special: A New Transformation (2001)

This was aired between episodes 35 and 36 and you’ll want to watch it then, too, as this conveys all of the emotional significance behind Agito’s final form. The debut of it in the show itself (in episode 37) assumes you’ve seen this as there’s not much in the way of specific explanation. It's worth noting that G3 Mild appears here.

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs Beet Buster vs J (2012)