Carrie's War

What the excellent review already on this site has missed, is the one joke I remember from this series, which was picked up on by the young boy, who found it hilarious that there was a Mrs. Gotobed in Druid's Bottom.

Beyond this, the performance of the male lead, Mr. Evans, is certainly one of the most memorable aspects of this show. In the days before television drama decided that every difficult relationship between a child and an adult was centred on sexual abuse, this show very cleverly showed how a stern and strict adult could be absolutely terrifying to a child.

Oh it was so long ago! I must have watched this series as a child in the early eighties, and now discover it was made as early as 1974.

But the memories are vivid, and reinforced by the book - which I feel is amongst the finest written for children - and which the film, as I recall it, recreated beautifully.

Carrie, 12, and her little brother Nick, 9, are evacuated from London early in the War to spend a year about as far removed from their previous lives as could be - a small Welsh mining town in the shadow of a huge slag-pile and shot through with strict non-conformist piety. They are billeted with the fearsome old Councillor Evans, and his kind but put-upon timorous younger sister - Auntie Lou.

All this is evoked in flashback as Carrie returns to the valley more than thirty years later, and tells the story to her own children. They have just lost their father and Carrie's friendship with Albert, another, slightly older evacuee, gains poignancy from what we see and she doesn't - at least at the time. These subtle depths are what make all the best children's writing and drama so appropriate for adults as well - and the film should appeal to a wide age range. Younger children will identify with Nick in seeing Mr Evans as a frightening, hateful - though almost comic - ogre. Older or more sensitive ones will see a lonely old man to whom life has been hard - as Carrie learns to do.

I don't think the harsh realities and unexpected compensations of evacuation have ever been better captured. You may have trouble catching this series - I don't know when it was last repeated and there is no video. But the book is widely available, and Nina Bawden's novel is her masterpiece.

As a five-year-old, I was introduced to Nina Bawden's novel by means of this serialisation. Thirty years on, I continue to revel in watching it on video and consider it far superior to the 2004 remake.

Essentially, the story concerns the evacuation in the Second World War of two London children, twelve-year-old Carrie Willow and her ten-year-old brother, Nick, to a mining village in South Wales. However, the war provides little more than a chronological setting. Of far more importance are the children's - particularly Carrie's - experiences and their interaction with the different people they encounter, in a place far away, physically and culturally, from home.

Carrie and Nick are billeted at a grocer's shop, with the formidable Mr. Evans and his oppressed sister, Auntie Lou. Their friend Albert Sandwich is staying at Druid's Bottom, a large country house owned by the Evanses' sister Mrs. Gotobed, looked after by wise country woman Hepzibah Green and the simpleton Mr. Johnny. Gradually, the children adapt to and begin to enjoy their new lives in Wales. However, just before they leave, Carrie performs a deed which she comes to believe has had the most terrible consequences. Only thirty years later, as a widow with two children, is she able to return to South Wales to confront her past.

Juliet Waley is a thoughtful, mature Carrie whilst Andrew Tinney is cheeky and humorous as Nick. Tim Coward conveys effectively the teenage awkwardness of Albert. (Interestingly, none of the children pursued a career in acting, although Juliet Waley was in 'Angels'. Andrew Tinney was a prominent member of the Young Conservatives in the 1980s). Avril Elgar is suitably cowed as Auntie Lou, in contrast to the worldliness of her sister Mrs. Gotobed, as played by Patsy Smart. Matthew Guinness plays the difficult role of Mr. Johnny with charm and innocence whilst Sean Arnold (later head master Mr. Llewellyn in 'Grange Hill') is suitably bumptious as Frederick Evans.

However, for me, the series is 'made' by the performances of Aubrey Richards as Mr. Evans and Rosalie Crutchley as Hepzibah. The role of Mr. Evans, the hard, mean, narrow, Puritanical, Chapel devotee with a surprisingly tender side, is played to perfection by Mr. Richards. He evokes every emotion from the viewer from contempt to tremendous pity. The final scene between him and Carrie at the house is quite heartbreaking. Miss Crutchley combines most effectively the motherliness and mystery of Hepzibah Green, the very shrewd country woman. Perhaps this is best shown when she entrances the children and Mr. Johnny with her tale of the fair during her girlhood in Somerset.

The 1974 'Carrie's War' television series is a masterpiece. It conveys superbly the contrasting characters and the atmosphere of mystery of Nina Bawden's story. It is much more Welsh in its characterisations and settings than the 2004 remake.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find. I purchased the video about eight years ago but it no longer seems to be available. Keep looking - it is worth it, to see this superlative piece of television.

I remember seeing this on television; from the date I must have been about 8. I read the book after seeing it on TV.

I recall the 'nasty ogre' character who made the children walk on the 'drugget' (a new word I learnt) - a sort of sheet down the middle of the stairs - to save wear on the stair carpet. I think I was a bit shocked that people weren't always nice to the evacuees who they were billeted with.

I can't recall the entire story now, but I remember something about Carrie dropping a blackened skull down a well. Carrie was the 'stronger' character and was protective towards her brother. There was also a simple character (who would now be described as having 'learning difficulties') called Mr Johnny.