Oops, a bit more 70s TV. This 1977 series belongs to that subgenre of horror/science fiction stories (which includes John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos, Ramsey Campbell’s The Hungry Moon, and the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Daemons) in which a village is isolated by a magical barrier, so that some evil/alien force can gather its strength before moving on to take over the rest of the world. With Children of the Stones, the evil force is, oddly enough, happiness; those villagers affected greet each other with a “Happy Day”, know what each other is thinking, and tend to be inordinately good at maths. But of course the reason this happiness is evil is that it’s one man’s idea of happiness, imposed on its subjects without their consent.
It’s the end of this 7-part series that really makes it a children’s serial. This isn’t a criticism; it’s just that you need to have a certain amount of awestruck credulity (or childlike sense of wonder) to accept the final explanation for what’s going on. The bowl-shaped rock beneath the village is a transmitter for pure evil? So that it can be sent towards a black hole? Right.
I’m not ruining the story by revealing this, because Children of the Stones is best accepted as you’d accept a weird dream — for its sense of mystery and menace, not its logic. This is particularly true for the way the story comes to an end, because I really have no idea what happened there. Something to do with time. All very odd. But before that you have plenty of the sort of thrills and weird chills any devotee of 70s horror TV and film will love: a mysterious stone circle, an old painting depicting an ancient ritual being held there, a mad lord-of-the-manor type with an oddly purposeful interest in astrophysics, a boy with burgeoning psychic visionary powers…
For me, the best part of the series was the relationship between the two main characters, the father and son who arrive as outsiders in the village. There’s something very affecting about the way they get on with each other, how naturally they work together, and the trust they have in each other, that takes their characters that little step beyond the usual sort of stock relationships encountered in this type of story.
And here’s a nice little YouTube clip of Stewart Lee using Children of the Stones and The Changes (reviewed on a previous Mewsings) to discuss how the representation of teenagers on TV has changed from the 70s.
I bought this series a few months back, based on vivid memories of watching it as a kid. I thought it stood up pretty well, for the reasons you say – the father-son relationship, the air of menace. Plus the way the villagers metamorphisised: a very simple effect, but terrifying. As a series it’s a very good example of how to produce something highly effective on what I’m guessing was a miniscule budget. That said I couldn’t make head or tail of the ending at the time, and still can’t.
Never saw ‘The Changes’, but I read at least two of the books – ‘the Weather-Monger’ and ‘The Devil’s Children’. I used to read a lot of Dickinson. Him, Westall, and John Rowe Townsend, although re-reading them, I find Robert Westall stands the test of time best.
The only reason I know about this is because of a second date I had with a guy who was enthused about this show and so we ended up watching it together. It was just my type of thing anyway, so I was equally thrilled. He even had ‘The Midwich Cuckoos’ at his bedside which I’m now watching at the moment many, many months later. That was probably one of the best discoveries that could ever come out of a date, and I am grateful that I know about this show and Wyndham’s book because of that guy. 🙂