The Owl Service

This fantasy drama based on Alan Garner’s acclaimed novel certainly broke the mould with regards to its unique and bold production values - using unusual editing techniques to create a sense of the supernatural. Now fully restored and available on Blu-ray for the first time, this 8-part mini-series from 1969 will transport the viewer into the intriguing world of three adolescents who fall under the spell of an ancient Welsh myth…

Set in rural Wales at the tail end of the Sixties, young Alison Bradley (Gillian Hills) and her mother Margaret (whom we never get to see throughout the series) arrive in a quaint house in an isolated valley for a summer holiday. With them are Margaret’s new husband Clive (Edwin Richfield) and his son Roger (Francis Wallis). The summer holiday is meant to bring the new ‘family’ closer together, in particular Roger who feels reserved towards his stepmother although he seems to get on well enough with his stepsister Alison. We know from the outset that the family history is a complex one because after the death of Alison’s father the house was transferred to her. In turn, Alison’s late father had inherited the house from his cousin Bertram, who died in a motorbike accident.

Other than the Bradley’s there’s only the mysterious Huw Halfbacon (Raymond Llewellyn) – handyman and gardener who is the last remaining servant of the household and its thanks to him that the family (and we) will gradually learn more and more about the strange history of the valley. Cook Nancy (Dorothy Edwards) is a bitter old woman who only agrees to stay on in the household after Clive offers her a more generous pay whilst her son Gwyn (Michael Holden), who only arrived at the valley after his Mum agreed to return, strangely seems to know an awful lot about the local history, if only because his Mum has told him stories. What Nancy did not tell him is that the eccentric Huw (whom the Bradleys consider to be a bit mad) has some history with her…

One afternoon while Alison and Gwyn, whom she has befriended, chat away in her room they hear strange scratching noises coming from the attic. At first assuming it might be mice or worse, rats, they decide to investigate and are surprised to find no vermin but a strange looking set of patterned dinner plates that intrigues Alison from the moment she sets eyes on them. When Gwyn picks up one of the plates he almost crashes through the ceiling while at the same time Roger, although sunbathing by a large stone near the river, is certain he has spotted a strange object flying through the air coming towards him. Entranced by the dinner plates, Alison begins to trace the strange pattern which she sees as the face of owls. When she folds the traced paper she discovers they are indeed owls. Later on, after Gwyn mentions the discovery of the plates to his mother, Nancy storms into Alison’s bedroom irritated and enraged and demands she return the plates to her without explaining why. When Alison initially refuses and eventually hands Nancy one of the plates, the plate has turned white and the pattern vanished…

Over the following days, Alison’s behaviour grows stranger and stranger and she seems to become obsessed with the plates and the owls. When Clive, Roger and Gwn play a stint of billiards in the billiard room another unusual occurrence leaves everyone baffled: this time round one of the wooden panels on the wall starts splintering and fall away to reveal a painting of Blodeuwedd, an mythical Welsh woman created of flowers who betrayed her husband Lleu with her lover Gronw, a hunter warrior who is killed by Lleu’s spear after he found out that Blodeuwedd induced her lover to kill him. Lleu then turned his wife into an owl as a punishment for having been unfaithful. Even Gronwn’s ‘shield’ which was made of stone, could not protect him after Lleu’s spear went through it. After this event, the ‘mad’ gardener Huw reveals to Gwyn that he, Alison and Roger are in danger of unwittingly re-enacting this strange story, just as Huw and two others re-enacted it before… but who were the two others?

Soon tensions rise high within the Bradley household, not helped by the fact that Huw seems to know more than he lets on and Roger is growing somewhat jealous that Alison seems to prefer the company of the uncouth and ‘uneducated’ Gwyn over his own company. Things take a sinister turn when Roger, a hobby photographer, takes a photo through the hole of the so-called Gronw stone and is certain he spots two apparitions after developing the photos in the darkroom…
To give any more details away would spoil it for all those as yet not acquainted with the story and rest assured, it gets weirder with each episode!

Gillian Hills (who nine years prior played the title role in the teen exploitation flick ‘Beat Girl’) is utterly convincing as a young adolescent seemingly possessed by a pattern of owls she traced from a dinner plate, while Michael Holden, who died aged only 33 when he was attacked (seemingly without any motive) in a hotel bar in London’s Mayfair, is perfect casting as the likable Gwyn who has a hard time with his increasingly deranged mother and feels no guilt stealing bread and ciggies from his master. Best though is Raymond Llewellyn as the utterly barmy gardener Huw Halfbacon who holds the secret to what is about to unfold…
Director Peter Plummer (who would go on to direct the equally unsettling 1971 mystery series THE INTRUDER) proved that he had a remarkable gift for directing young actors and getting the best out of them.

Please note this release is exclusive to Network-on-Air and can only be ordered directly via www.networkonair.com ! The release also features a Limited O-card and Special Features including: Archive interviews with Alan Garner from 1968 and 1980; Commentaries; Image gallery plus Limited Edition booklet.