Enid Blyton wrote 21 'Famous Five' novels between 1942 and 1963. "Enid Blyton," writer Robert Dessaix acknowledged, "shaped me in a way no other writer or book ever did."
In 1977, Southern Colour Production adapted 18 of the novels but in contemporary late 1970s setting for the ITV network. In all, 26 of approximately 25-minute episodes went on air in 1978 and 1979.
At the time, the British-German co-production was the most expensive children's television series ever produced because the episodes were shot on location and on film.
The Famous Five comprised George (short for Georgina), Julian, Anne, Dick and Timmy the dog. Ben Woodgate was the trainer of the border collie Toddy (or Tim in 'Famous Five').
John Ryder did the titles; Anne Fielden was responsible for casting and James Gatward executive produced. Rob Andrews provided music to be arranged and conducted by Tony King. Les Spurr wrote different lyrics for the beginning title and the end title. "Wherever there's adventure to be found, just a clue or a secret message bring the Famous Five around; whenever there's a mystery to be solved … We are the Famous Five …
Whatever awaits behind closed doors, strange noises in the cellar or the sound of creaky floors, we never let a mystery pass us by, just leave a clue and leave the rest to the Famous Five - Julian, Dick and Anne, George and Timmy the dog."
In a radio conversation with Andrew Read in 2011, Marcus Harris recounted, "It was just amazing, there were somewhere in the region of 4000 children that initially went up for the audition so to have been one of the four that was lucky enough to actually come through and have, what was an amazing adventure, not quite the same as the adventures that we had on-screen but a fabulous adventure for four children.
"From as soon as I could read I was reading 'Famous Five' books and when I heard I had an audition for a part in the 'Famous Five' it was like a dream come true … When I was told that I’d got the part my agent took me to one side and very seriously said to me, 'You do realize this is gonna change your life, don’t you?'. And as a thirteen-year-old you think, 'Yeah, bring it on! Who cares? This is great!'.
"And who would have thought that 33 years later (1978-2011) or whatever we'd be sitting here doing an interview about it or I'd be going to Germany to publicize the new DVD or you know, that sort of thing. It really did change lives and I think all four of us children recognized that … I was very lucky to go over to Berlin recently to do an interview with my voice double from German TV.
"So yes, we have released the new HD-DVDs in Germanic language and there are conversations about releasing in the UK and in Australia at the moment, which were two other very big markets of course for the 'Famous Five'. Now what’s interesting is the 'Famous Five' was produced by Southern Television almost immediately after 'Worzel Gummidge' which was our follow on, the series that sort of took our slots if you like, and took our crew thereafter.
"Almost after that finished, Southern TV started to go through its various metamorphosis that eventually became ITV. Somewhere along the way the rights got lost … But I'm so delighted that now 30 years on we’ve finally got a DVD box set of the 'Famous Five' … The 'Famous Five' was jointly funded by an organization in Germany hence Michele (Michele Gallagher as George), was half German, of course Michael Hinz was a German actor who played the part of Uncle Quentin and Rogers the gardener of course was also German. So we had right from the very start, it was a very sort of Germanic-English production.
"I guess the German-speaking countries just loved the 'Famous Five' but probably I would say on a par with the UK, Australia and you know it’s amazing, Indonesia, we’ve got an awful lot of fans who just loved the series who are out of Indonesia … Over the following two years of course we just lived together for most of the year. In a hotel in the first year and in a big old farm house in the second year and we were brothers and sisters.
"And we fought like brothers and sisters and we played like brothers and sisters and we lived like a family so you know, Gary (Russell) and I would have a squabble and then Michele and Gary would fall out and Jennifer (Thanisch) and I would and then we’d all come back together again and it was exactly like that, we lived like a family. I would say that Michele and Jennifer were very much a unit right from day one and they were always very very best of friends but the dynamics in the place were just those of a family, it was just fabulous, a great, great life with them."
"And we fought like brothers and sisters and we played like brothers and sisters and we lived like a family so you know, Gary (Russell) and I would have a squabble and then Michele and Gary would fall out and Jennifer (Thanisch) and I would and then we’d all come back together again and it was exactly like that, we lived like a family. I would say that Michele and Jennifer were very much a unit right from day one and they were always very very best of friends but the dynamics in the place were just those of a family, it was just fabulous, a great, great life with them."
Gary Russell grew up on 'Famous Five' and other Enid Blyton books remembered, "They found Jennifer Thanisch, playing Anne, very early on and cast me as Julian ... Then they found Marcus Harris who, frankly also looked the part and he became Julian ... and I became Dick - just as I wanted.
Michele Gallagher, as George, was a very late addition to the cast … The regular cast was then rounded out by the addition of Ben Woodgate's dog, Toddy playing Timmy.
"Ben had a good pedigree of dogs in films and TV, notably it was his two Rotweillers that terrified Billie Whitelaw in 'The Omen'.
Our first public appearance was at Battersea Park for a press call. This was the first time we had met Michele, and we all got on famously, as it were … Between seasons, we had no contact with each other - we had just one day at the start of June 1978 to become reacquainted (although probably more for Toddy's benefit than ours).
"Exbury was still our base but we were going further afield for locations ... On the Exbury estate was a farm house called Gatewood. Rather than stick us in a hotel, the producers had rented this farm house, complete with a cook, for the summer and we lived in it. We all had massive rooms each, it had two living rooms, loads of backstaircases and cubby holes and was a dream house for me.
"During the first season (1977-78), our chaperone had been a young schoolteacher called Delia. This year (1978-79), we had Jean, a lady in her late 50s who was so much fun. She loved kids, looked after us like a surrogate mum and we all loved her - one of the few times all four kids were in agreement was on how brilliant Gatewood was, how fab our cook, Olive, was and how nice Jean was. A great start really.
"All four of us had grown up considerably over the year, although physically, I had altered the most. I was beginning to look 14, but we had all matured a very great deal and for most of the summer, we all got on very well … The last time we met was in 1990. Marcus called me and Jennifer and said let's have lunch. Jenny had been in touch with Michele on and off."
"Exbury was still our base but we were going further afield for locations ... On the Exbury estate was a farm house called Gatewood. Rather than stick us in a hotel, the producers had rented this farm house, complete with a cook, for the summer and we lived in it. We all had massive rooms each, it had two living rooms, loads of backstaircases and cubby holes and was a dream house for me.
"During the first season (1977-78), our chaperone had been a young schoolteacher called Delia. This year (1978-79), we had Jean, a lady in her late 50s who was so much fun. She loved kids, looked after us like a surrogate mum and we all loved her - one of the few times all four kids were in agreement was on how brilliant Gatewood was, how fab our cook, Olive, was and how nice Jean was. A great start really.
"All four of us had grown up considerably over the year, although physically, I had altered the most. I was beginning to look 14, but we had all matured a very great deal and for most of the summer, we all got on very well … The last time we met was in 1990. Marcus called me and Jennifer and said let's have lunch. Jenny had been in touch with Michele on and off."
Of the late 1970s setting, Marcus Harris made the observation, "It was a very interesting angle at the time because it made it current and it meant that the kids that were watching could properly engage with what we're up to because we were riding the bikes of the day and you know and the cars of the day and all this sort of thing. Where I think there is a double win for that, that was completely unanticipated, is this whole mood for retro now (in 2011). The fact that this is a '70s series is as much loved by the viewers, it's retro '70s which wasn't at the time but retro '70s is big, a lot of people enjoy it because they can see '70s cars and '70s bikes and that sort of thing so yeah, it's a double win I think, an unintended positive consequence."
