Look and Read - Dark Towers


	DARK TOWERS STORY DETAILS

DARK TOWERS

• Index
> Introduction
> Episode Listings
> Cast and Crew
> Theme Tune (download!)
> Video Clips (download!)
> Characters
> Notes
> Links
> Picture Gallery
• The Making Of...
• Trivia Quiz
• Story Guide
> Episode One
> Episode Two
> Episode Three
> Episode Four
> Episode Five
> Episode Six
> Episode Seven
> Episode Eight
> Episode Nine
> Episode Ten
• Song Book
> Song Book Page Two
> Song Book Page Three
> Song Book Page Four
> Song Book Page Five

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ON TV:	Not scheduled at the moment, but it will be repeated again in the next year - watch this space
ON VIDEO:	Not available on video or DVD, you'll have to tape it off TV yourself
> More information on the official BBC Schools Programme Guide

Introduction

An excellent and much-loved programme with a story that's comic, atmospheric and occasionally very scary ("Who comes to the Tall Knight's folly?") involving a young girl called Tracy who chases her dog into the gardens of a strange old house, Dark Towers. She meets the residents, Lord Dark and his son Edward, and becomes involved in a race to find the hidden treasure of Dark Towers. This race also involves three self-styled antique experts who're really searching for the treasure, and the house's two ghosts - the recently deceased Friendly Ghost and the more scary Tall Knight. Wordy did the in-between bits from a children's library with the help of the librarian, Jenny Jackson, and many of the educational songs involved three more ghosts: Ghostly, Ghastly and Ghoulish.

EXTRA: The Making Of Dark Towers including where it was made (erm, sort of...)
EXTRA: Take the Dark Towers trivia quiz online
EXTRA: Download the Dark Towers story book

Episode Listings

For an in-depth look at the plot and learning bits of Dark Towers, illustrated with hundreds of screen grabs, check out the Story Guide.
1.	Dark Towers in Danger!
	Tracy and her dog Towser meet the owners of Dark Towers, a strange old house, and receive a mysterious, ghostly message.
2.	The Man in the Picture
	Is there something suspicious about the two 'experts' looking over the contents of Dark Towers? Then Tracy and Edward meet a friendly ghost!
3.	The Old Legend
	The Friendly Ghost gives a warning and tells of the legend of Dark Towers. He gives the first clue to the whereabouts of the Tall Knight's treasure.
4.	The Clue in the Book
	The first clue on the trail of the Golden Book of the Tall Knight leads to a worm-eaten rhyme and a hunt for old wheels.
5.	The Old Coach House
	Tracy solves the clue, but finds out that Benger and Bunce are crooks and overhears their plans.
6.	The Tall Knight's Folly
	Tracy is 'framed' by Benger and Bunce. Edward enlists the help of the Friendly Ghost and finally meets Tall Knight.
7.	The Dark Tree
8.	Beware of the Bird!
	The studded chest is found... but where is the treasure? Benger and Bunce turn nasty but the Tall Knight comes to Tracy's rescue.
9.	Who Can Help?
	The secret hiding place of the Golden Book is discovered - by the three villains - so the Friendly Ghost decides to summon up the Tall Knight.
10.	The Last Laugh
	Will the Tall knight arrive in time to save his treasure and the house? Who will have the last laugh?

Cast and Crew

Written by Producer	Andrew Davies Sue Weeks

Narrated by Starring Singers	Sean Barrett Christopher Biggins as Mr Benger Harry Jones as Mr Bunce David Collings as Lord Dark and the Friendly Ghost Juliet Hammond Hill as Miss Hawk Peter Mayhew as the Tall Knight Gary Russell as Lord Edward Dark Susan Kodicek as the Little Ghost (Black Theatre of London) Juliet Waley as Tracy Brown Denise Coffey as Jenny Jackson Charles Collingwood as Wordy Katie Hebb as puppeteer and Flak as Towser Derek Griffiths Julie Stevens
For details of who was in which episode, see the table below.

Theme Tune

The Dark Towers theme tune, as sung by Derek Griffiths. For the Dark Towers educational songs, visit the Song Book.

Come with me,
Yes come with me
To Dark Towers.

Who can tell
What we shall see
In Dark Towers?

Dust and cobwebs everywhere,
Footsteps on the winding stair,
Mystery is in the air
In Dark Towers.

In the garden, in the hall,
Through the arch, behind the wall,
Come and listen to the call
Of Dark Towers.

music by Roger Limb, sung by Derek Griffiths
MP3 file: 44 seconds, 345 kb

> CLICK HERE for the Downloads section, including this and several other theme tunes.

Video Clips

©BBC

• Clip 1 - The legend of Dark Towers
The friendly ghost tells Tracy and Edward the legend of Dark Towers. Usefully, neither he or the kids have any idea what it means. "Beware of two B's buzzing together..."
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 43 seconds @ 30kbps = 162kb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 43 seconds @ 34kbps = 184kb

• Clip 2 - Benger and Bunce turn nasty
Up until now Benger and Bunce have at least tried to seem like nice blokes. When Edward and Tracy finally unlock the chest in the tower, Benger, Bunce and Miss Hawk pounce. Annoyed to find the chest empty, Benger orders that the kids are dealt with - but the Tall Knight comes to the rescue. "Take that kid and dump her!"
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 87 seconds @ 30kbps = 327kb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 87 seconds @ 34kbps = 375kb

• Clip 3 - The last laugh
As the story reaches a climax, the baddies have got their hands on the hidden treasure - the Golden Book of the Tall Knight. As they start squabbling amongst themselves, the Tall Knight steps in to ensure that the treasure remains at Dark Towers. "I wish I was back in my little shop!"
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

	Download WMV file 128 seconds @ 30kbps = 480kb
	Download RM file (or click here to stream it) 128 seconds @ 34kbps = 550kb

• You can watch another clip from Dark Towers - as Edward first encounters the Tall Knight - on BBCi's Look and Read website. Click here for the page, which includes a streaming RealVideo (59 seconds @ 133.6kbps = 491kb). "Who comes to the Tall Knight's folly?"
> What happens next? Read about it in the Story Guide.

> CLICK HERE for more video clips from Look And Read stories.

Characters

	Tracy Brown (Juliet Waley) A girl who follows her dog into the gardens of Dark Towers, befriends Edward Dark and helps him search for the house's hidden treasure.
	Lord Edward Dark (Gary Russell) A young aristocrat who whiles away his time reading books in the garden of Dark Towers. He meets Tracy one day and shows her round the house. Together the pair meet the ghosts and search for the treasure - though Edward is a little slower than Tracy.
	Lord Dark (David Collings) Edward's father, Lord Dark is an artist working on a statue of the Tall Knight. Unfortunately that's all the work he's doing, so the Darks are poor and their house is falling apart.
	Mr Benger (Christopher Biggins) *BADDIE* One of a pair of crooks who've told Lord Dark that they'll help sell some of Dark Towers' valuables to raise cash. They're really planning to steal all the valuables and set the house on fire.
	Mr Bunce (Harry Jones) *BADDIE* Mr Benger's business partner and criminal associate. Mr Bunce is the quiet one who does all the dirty work while Mr Benger does the talking.
	Miss Hawk (Juliet Hammond Hill) *BADDIE* A book expert called in by Benger and Bunce. She's heard about the hidden treasure of Dark Towers and wants to get it for herself.
	The Friendly Ghost (David Collings) One of Edward's ancestors who haunts the red bedroom and tries to help the kids save Dark Towers by telling them bits of old riddles he's heard.
	The Tall Knight (Peter Mayhew) A proper, scary ghost who's spent hundreds of years trying to rescue his treasure, a golden book, from Dark Towers. He can't come inside the house to get it, but helps the kids and scares the baddies.
	Towser (Flak) Tracy's badly behaved dog and only friend. He runs away from her when he wants, and goes to the toilet where he wants.

Notes

The first time Look And Read had ever been recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Episode 8 of Dark Towers was nominated for the Flame of Knowledge (Schools Programmes) BAFTA award in 1981. It didn't win - former Look And Read producer Andrée Molyneux won the award for an unrelated programme. The BAFTAs, attended by the story's writer Andrew Davies and producer Sue Weeks, were televised live that year, but the schools awards were carefully scheduled for during a commercial break - TV viewers don't want to be bothered with boring nonsense like schools programmes.

A reading for 7- to 9-year-olds based on a humorous ghost story in ten episodes. - BBC publicity synopsis.

Here is a list of all of the broadcasts of this story on the BBC. Unless your teachers managed to get the video recorder to work, this is when you would have seen it in school. See the Air Dates section for precise dates and times.
Autumn 1981, BBC1
Autumn 1983, BBC2
Autumn 1985, BBC2
Autumn 1987, BBC2
Summer 2003, CBBC
Autumn 2003, CBBC
Spring 2004, CBBC
Summer 2004, CBBC
Autumn 2004, CBBC
Spring 2005, CBBC
Summer 2005, CBBC
Spring 2006, CBBC

This table shows who appeared in each of the individual episodes:

   C A S T   D E T A I L S

starring                     EPISODES
                     ----------------------
SEAN BARRETT          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS     2 3   5 6 7 8 9 10
HARRY JONES             2 3   5 6 7 8 9 10
DAVID COLLINGS        1 2 3 4   6   8 9 10
JULIET HAMMOND HILL       3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
PETER MAYHEW                    6 7 8   10
GARY RUSSELL          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
SUSAN KODICEK                       8 9 10
JULIET WALEY*         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
DENISE COFFEY         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CHARLES COLLINGWOOD   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
KATIE HEBB            1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
DEREK GRIFFITHS       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
and Flak              1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

* - accidentally credited as Juliet Way in episode 4. Nobody knows why this little mistake was made; normally the exact same credits roller would be re-filmed from one episode to another, unless they needed to make (manual) changes to it. Presumably in this case somebody got a bit distracted while they were doing the letraset and then never noticed the error.

Links

• For extensive coverage of the Dark Towers story AND in-between bits, heavily illustrated with screen grabs, check out the Story Guide at this site. It also has a full Song Book with lyrics and grabs of the animations.
/stories/towers/guide.html

• The BBC Cult site has a clip from the end of Episode 6 with the first appearance of the Tall Knight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/lookandread/v5.shtml (embedded RealVideo)

• A lovely example of young children's work in response to Dark Towers, a selection of describing words inspired by the atmosphere of the story and a clear description of how it came about.
http://www.garretthall.wigan.sch.uk/y2_literacy.htm

• Gary Russell, who played Edward, had a website, which includes a single photo of him in Dark Towers. The site has now expired, so this is the latest Internet Archive version. You have to select the text to read it, because it's white on a white background, and you can't see the Dark Towers pic anyway because it's not been archived.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020208022730/http://www.gary.dircon.co.uk/gaz.htm

• Ian Trembirth's Look and Read site has plenty of Dark Towers pictures and some extracts from the pupils' book on the series, plus lyrics from a couple of songs.
http://www.trembirth.demon.co.uk/lookread/ (frameset)

> CLICK HERE for more general links about Look And Read and schools TV.

Picture Gallery


Towser was looking at a picture and barking. The room went cold. Very cold. Then the picture started to shake.	And then they were in the big room with two strange men. 'How nice! Benger and Bunce at your service. I am Mr Benger. This is Mr Bunce.'	'I wish Tracy were here,' Edward said to himself. 'I'm sure she's not a thief. She could help me.'

> See every Look & Read book cover in the Trivia section

> Get complete books, including this one, from the Downloads section

Edward heard a deep voice. 'Who comes to the Tall Knight's Folly?' He looked up. A tall shape towered over him, surrounded by darkness.

In the Old Tower, Miss Hawk snatched the golden book from Benger. 'I must have it,' she said. They tried to stop her, but they only ran into each other.

The pupil's pamphlet. CLICK HERE for an even bigger scan of the cover, signed by the author! [296kb]


Dark Towers resources	BBC cue clock

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