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Carrie’s War

UBIQUITOUS SCHOOL reading homework, here condensed into more agreeable half hour portions, charting exploits (or lack of them) of titular evacuee and brother Nick forced to move from Adolf-menaced London to old woman-menaced Welsh hamlet called (is someone laughing at the back?) Druid’s Bottom. Lots of grizzled and grim pensioners abound. One is called Mrs Gotobed. Another is Mr Sandwich. Children frustrated by vaguely sinister rules like only using the stairs once a day for fear of wearing out the carpet. Threat of something other-worldly never far away. Old skull knocking around suggest at least one present is a witch. Not a lot happened, but at the time it was the most expensive kids drama the Beeb had ever done and pretty much set the bar for everything that followed.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. THX 1139

    September 2, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    I saw this on its later repeats, but I did read it in school (or it was read to us, anyway) and the TV version was really accurate and faithful, exactly how you’d imagine it. Maybe because of the rock solid source material (those names were perfect). RIP Nina Bawden.

  2. Officer Dibble

    October 11, 2014 at 11:16 pm

    Don’t throw that skull down the well, Carrie….

  3. Will O'Cary

    November 24, 2014 at 8:15 am

    I think the account above (“UBIQUITOUS SCHOOL reading homework…”) was written on the school bus the morning after half-watching the programme while doing homework! 🙂 It’s a cynical write-up which misses the point of a sensitive and atmospheric dramatisation of an original and well-crafted book – and incidentally, there is no pensioner called Mr Sandwich, but a young boy called Albert Sandwich. If you’re looking for “action” and special effects, or slapstick humour, OK, you’ll be disappointed. But you’ll go a long way before you find a children’s drama which deals so effectively with people, their characters, their feelings and frailties, and the unfolding interactions between them. When I saw the original transmission in 1974, at the age of 13, the ending seemed tragic, that a friendship had been lost because of a stupid misunderstanding. When I saw the repeat nearly 10 years later (starting 26/10/83), I appreciated that Carrie having been widowed and Albert never having married set them up for a reunion, and that the possibility of a future relationship was very much pointed to! It’s a programme which has stayed with me.

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