The Flaxton Boys - Complete Series

This fondly remembered historical children’s drama – taking place over four generations – has it all: action, adventure, a hidden treasure, dastardly villains, ghostly apparitions and even spies! Produced by Yorkshire Television and originally broadcast between 1969 and 1973, all 52 episodes have just been released as an 8-disc DVD set, courtesy of Network on Air.

Without doubt, many of those who were youngsters when THE FLAXTON BOYS was broadcast will wish to snap up this box set for nostalgia’s sake. The series encompasses four different time periods: Series 1 is set in 1854, series 2 is set in 1890, series 3 is set in 1928 and series 4 takes place in 1945 and 1946. Obviously, the Flaxton Boys (always aged around 12 or 13) in question are played by four sets of different actors.

SERIES 1 (1854): Lucy Flaxton (Penelope Lee) and her young son Jonathan (David Smith) find themselves the inheritors of Flaxton Hall (in reality Ripley Castle - just outside of Harrogate) near the fictitious North Riding village of Carliston. This inheritance came down from an ancestor of Lucy's husband Captain Andrew (Peter Clay) who has been posted missing in the Crimean War. The house is in need of a little repair and the chimney is in a bit of a state - enter poor Archie Weekes (Peter Firth), the chimney sweep's assistant whose sad existence is about to change forever. The working-class Archie is illiterate and is cruelly misused by his master… no wonder he goes AWOL. Never mind, the kindly Lucy buys him off the nasty old sweep and Jonathan has a new playmate. Pretty soon, it's all aboard for no end of adventures, or so it would seem but wait, it isn't going to be that easy. There are rumours that old Flaxton had hidden a treasure there. Enter the evil Sir Peregrine Stilgoe (Richard Gale, having a field day), the owner of nearby Stilgoe Lodge who, together with his slimy sidekick Slight (Gerry Cowan, who also narrates the entire series) leaves no stone unturned in his efforts to find the treasure (preferably before the Flaxton family does). Just as well the rather gullible but ever so well meaning Lucy has her trusty old factotum Nathan (Mr. Pickwick himself - James Hayter) as well as sharp as a whip Flora (Molly Urquhart) at hand - a mysterious and knowing housekeeper who seemingly crept up from nowhere - otherwise she'd be no match for Stilgoe and Slight. The only clue as to the treasures’ whereabouts are the first eight lines of Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’… and what’s with the peeping eyes behind a portrait? Well, perhaps Captain Andrew can provide some answers upon his eagerly awaited return.

SERIES 2 moves on thirty-six years and here we find old Andrew Flaxton (Moultrie Kelsall) Iiving virtually alone at Flaxton Hall save for staff and his grandson David (Philip Maskery). His son Jonathan has been missing for some time. The venerable Archie Weekes, now a middle-aged man (Hugh Cross) arrives with his wife Sarah (Lila Kaye) and son Peter (Dai Bradley) to help him look after the estate. Of course, Peter will become David's best friend and we now have two new 'Flaxton boys'. The lads are very keen to discover what is in Jonathan's locked room, feeling this may give them a vital clue as to what has happened to the missing man. Archie and Sara are pretty busy at the Hall and the boys are befriended by Barnaby Sweet (Victor Winding), a local chap who is very much his own man. This is just as well, as Sir Peregrine's heir Sir Tarquin (also played by Richard Gale) is now the owner of Stilgoe Lodge. If you thought his father was a nasty piece of work just wait until you meet this bugger! AND if this isn't bad enough, a character calling himself Jacklin Flaxton (yes, it's Gerry Cowan again) arrives at Flaxton Hall, claiming to be a long lost relative and as Jonathan is missing... he should be the rightful heir. It doesn't take a genius to work out he's a wrong'un. Sir Tarquin is informed that there are huge coal deposits under the land and Flaxton Hall is smack bang in the middle. Therefore, Sir T soon acquires a partner in crime (namely Jacklin) and once again the villainous duo will be doing everything they can to obtain Flaxton Hall whilst the search for Jonathan goes on. Thanks to a script by Jeremy Burnham we also get a Jack the Ripper scare and what looks like a local Tong war between two feuding Chinese gangs - providing a part for screenwriter Don Houghton's real life wife Pik-Sen Lim (here playing Su Lin). Mention should also be made of Gloria Tors (wife of producer Robert D. Cardona) who features as the evil Vanessa Marden – a lass whose scheming villainy puts Sir Tarquin and Jacklin in the shade! Gloria Tors also wrote many vital episodes. Series 2 was mostly written by Don Houghton and it does have a surprise ending.

SERIES 3 makes a considerable jump to 1928 and we see the hall being occupied by Lady Jane Flaxton (Veronica Hurst), the widowed wife of David Flaxton who was killed in the First World War. She has a son called Jonathan (Alan Guy) and the little chap is heading back to Flaxton Hall from his boarding school in London, together with his best pal William Pickford (John Ash). Here then are the latest Flaxton boys and both look forward to spending the summer holidays together - needless to say it turns out to be one they will never forget. After the breathtaking derring do of the second series, here we find ourselves almost in the realm of slapstick comedy! And fans of Richard Gale and Gerry Cowan will not be disappointed as the dastardly duo are still very much still on board - but playing different characters. Gale is now Lady Flaxton's estate manager Miles Osborne - can he be trusted? What do you think? By this time Stilgoe Lodge has fallen into a dilapidated ruin and the local vicar (Nicholas Pennell) thinks it a good idea to turn it into an orphanage. Lady Flaxton wholeheartedly concurs. For some reason, Osborne does not… and just what is his attraction to the somewhat grotesque but unwittingly hilarious Roger Grafton (Gerry Cowan at his best here)? The truth of the matter is he and Miles are using Stilgoe Lodge to print counterfeit money and fake cheque books. Some pair of crooks they are - taking the cake for ineptitude! In one scene they are left drooping from a tree branch after a botched attempt at stealing a glider plane. There is, however, a much nastier scheme being conducted by powerful local businessman Mr. Jackson (John Ringham), which also poses a dire threat to Flaxton Hall. Nevertheless there are laughs aplenty (watch out for a hilarious appearance by Sheila Keith) and oh, a certain Mr. Benjamin Sweet (Barnaby's son, also played by Victor Winding) is at hand to see to any difficulties that might arise. Together with the Flaxton boys no obstacle proves too difficult, not even rumours of an apparent ghost… All’s well that ends well and Benjamin gets to marry his sweetheart, local shopkeeper Mary Porter (Heather Page).

SERIES 4 is set immediately after WW2 and has a very different feel than the preceding three. It is primarily about what life was like after the war ended. Many watching in 1973 would have been only too familiar with what we see here but now it may serve as a bit of an eye opener. Flaxton Hall has/had been requisitioned by the British army and many of the children who had been evacuated are being returned to the main cities where they originally came from. One boy, Terry Bishop (Philip Baldwin) however, has no desire to leave Flaxton Hall and does a bunk. This is because nothing has been heard of his real parents and for all poor Terry knows, they could well be dead. Help is at hand when Terry is befriended by young Matthew Flaxton (Andrew Packett) who explains the situation to his mother Elizabeth (Julia Jones). Her husband Jonathan, a captain in the British Army, has yet to return from his duties in Italy. Meanwhile, Benjamin Sweet, who has been made estate manager at the end of Series 2, returns from the war and no time is wasted before he and the Flaxton boys are in the thick of it again when a German spy poses as a British pilot who has just crash-landed (later on, we encounter a ‘good’ German to balance things out). Then, Benjamin and the boys jump to the aid of local Jim Cooper who apparently had his pig taken away from him by representatives of the government due to his failure to obtain a permit. Whaddya know, the government representatives are little more than thieves and Cooper’s pig is not the only theft, bringing the boys into almighty danger. Strangely enough, Benjamin, who got married in Series 2, now has a daughter who visits him during a school vacation, but what became of Mrs. Sweet? There isn’t as much as a mention of her. To compensate for this oversight, we are treated once more to Sheila Keith in another riotous appearance and speaking of riotous: the late Murray Melvin provides all the chuckles as thieving upper-crust twit Gerald Meder - an ott character who (literally!) brings the house down! In this final instalment, the two Flaxton boys are more fleshed out in character than in the previous three series and it’s a shame that the enchanting series came to an end – who knows what the Flaxton boys in the 1950s or 1960’s would have been up to.