Psycho's Movie Reviews #173: MOONDIAL (1987)

Moondial is a British television six-part serial made for children by the BBC and transmitted in 1988, with a repeat in 1990. It was written by Helen Cresswell, who also wrote the 1987 novel on which the series was based.

Plot

The story deals with a young girl, Minty (Siri Neal), staying with her aunt after her mother is injured in a car accident. Minty spends much of her time wandering around the grounds of a nearby mansion, and is drawn to a moondial that enables her to travel back in time, where she becomes involved with two children, Tom (Tony Sands), who lives in the Victorian era, and Sarah (Helena Avellano), who seems to live in "the previous century" to that, and must save them from their own unhappy lives.

Production

Regarded as a nostalgic favourite by followers of 1980s BBC children's drama, Moondial employs extensive location filming (in the grounds of Belton House in Lincolnshire) and fantastical, dreamlike imagery.

The series was produced by Paul Stone and directed by Colin Cant. Other cast members include Valerie Lush as Minty's aunt Mary, Arthur Hewlett as the elderly, mysterious Mr. World and Jacqueline Pearce in the dual role of the vicious Miss Vole (who seems to have lived in the 18th Century) and the present-day ghost hunter Miss Raven.

The series was released on video in 1990, and reissued in 1995, but only in a shortened "movie edit". This was released on DVD in 2000, but has long since been deleted. The full episodic version was released in 2009 by Reader's Digest and later re-released on DVD by Second Sight in May 2015.

My Review

This Six part children's was just brilliant. Minty is a rather sulky teenager sent to live with her aunt following her fathers death. She finds a beautiful garden in at the local manor house and there is a sundial in the centre of the garden. Minty has strange mental powers and when she touches the dial she becomes dizzy! when she recovers she finds she has been transported through time to the turn of the century. Here she finds the manor house filled with maids and servants and lords and ladies. But there is a girl who is trapped in the house as she has a disfiguring birthmark which is seen as a devils mark! Minty with the help of the servant tom must rescue the girl before she becomes part of a sacrifice.

For anyone who remembers watching it at the time, MOONDIAL was one of THE top Children's BBC dramas of the 1980s. Written by novelist Helen Cresswell from her own novel, this merely cements her reputation as the best children's writer of her era; anyone who enjoys her work should also check out her fine Edith Nesbit adaptations such as FIVE CHILDREN AND IT. Anyway, MOONDIAL was filmed up the road from me and I had the good fortune to visit Belton House itself during the late 1980s and yes, it is as spooky as it appears in this show, particularly the queen's bedroom. MOONDIAL tells a visual story in which Minty, the intensely likeable protagonist, retreats into a fantasy world due to family trauma and ends up helping out two restless children whose unhappy spirits are linked to the house. Fine performances from the youthful cast, an excellent score, and lots of haunting visuals help to make this a thoroughly engaging production. 8.8/10