Flambards

You could be forgiven for thinking that Flambards is the everyday story of an angry, wheelchair-bound Bruce Forsyth look-a-like. In fact this 13-part Yorkshire TV drama was based on a trilogy of novels by K.M.Peyton, set in the years leading up to World War I. The orphan Christina is sent to live with her Uncle Russell in a decrepit stately home. She grows to love his youngest son William, who nurses a passion for aircraft and dreams of building his own plane. Their love ends in tragedy, but Christina ultimately finds a happy ending at the rambling Flambards. Edward Judd played the glowering uncle, while Christine McKenna and Alan Parnaby were Christina and William. David Fanshawe created the memorable theme tune for John O'Neale to whistle. Four episodes were directed by the legendary Lawrence Gordon Clark.