The Challenge (Follyfoot)
Young stable owner Dora must decide if she wants to race a prized horse.
Teen drama Follyfoot, based on the equestrian novels by Monica Dickens, was a glossy international co-production between Yorkshire Television and the German company TV München. Shot entirely on location and on film, it was a treat for fans of horses and teen romance. The budget was high enough to attract notable actors and directors, and this 1973 episode from the third and final series was directed by famed cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff.
The plot of this episode, 'The Challenge', is fairly convoluted, and squeezing it into a 25-minute slot on children's television leaves the conclusion feeling a bit rushed. Heroine Dora (Gillian Maddocks) runs the stable Follyfoot, and finds herself tempted to enter one of her customer's horses in a race organised by her shady neighbour Sam Lockwood (Frederick Treves).
There's a lot of drama from the race, including potential sabotage and horse rustling, but for many viewers the real drama was in the romance. Dora strikes up a relationship with Lockwood's conflicted son Chip (Nigel Crewe), creating tensions with her employee and with Steve (Steve Hodson), who harbours feelings for her.
As is typical with Follyfoot, the bucolic setting of horses and countryside is often entwined with contemporary youth culture, such as the dance Chip and Dora attend where the DJ plays Joan Jett's 'Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)'
CHILDRENS/DRAMA. Unscrupulous Sam Lockwood challenges Dora to a cross country
race.
Tags
Kid's TV
Our relationship with the small screen starts early in life, opening our square eyes to a heady mix of drama and comedy; fantasy and fact.
Dedicated children’s programming has been part of the television mix from its earliest years, growing from short intervals “For The Children” after WWII, to a plethora of standalone channels today. The start of the BBC’s long-running “Watch With Mother” series in 1953 set much of the template for pre-school television, blending puppets, song and animation, with the implicit expectation that mum - assumed to be a housewife - would supervise.
Catering for older children, meanwhile, sought to balance the kinds of programmes children want to watch with those their parents want them to see. Eventually a fuller menu of drama, comedy, factual and magazine programmes for children - in other words, versions of 'grown-up' programmes for 'small people' - came to fill the schedules of weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
Sadly, the segregation of children’s television to its own satellite, cable and digital channels has made its much less likely for adults to experience the frequent delights of kids’ TV. But our collection welcomes all ages! (Though please note that some programmes maybe flagged as unsuitable for young children.)
48 videos in this collection
1
2
Diane's Panda Party [28/09/72]
3
Animal Kwackers [09/10/75]
4
Witches' Brew [28/12/72]
5
Origami [09/04/70]
6
Mr. Trimble [21/02/73]
7
Gathercole Bunch
8
The Distant Voice
9
The Challenge
10
Play It Again, Stewpot [25/07/74]
11
Play It Again, Stewpot [05/09/74]
12
A Handful of Songs [27/05/77]
13
Saturday Scene Road Show [11/05/75]
14
Big and Bigger
15
Mickey the Demon Barber
16
Kevin Goes to the Library
17
Ragdolly Anna and the Bacon
18
Britain in the Year 2000
19
Delilah
20
Zzzap! [19/02/93]
21
Granny's Kitchen [26/05/77]
22
Heavens Above [23/02/81]
23
Moving In
24
Nature Trail [16/05/83]
25
Our Show [29/10/77]
26
Peter Ustinov Tells Stories from Hans Andersen
27
Quest of Eagles Episode 1 Sailor
28
Sunny Side Up [28/04/82]
29
The Children's Royal Variety Performance
30
There's Nobody There
31
Think Tank [18/08/81]
32
Two Good Turns
33
William Clears the Slums
34
Gus Hunnybun
35
One Day in the Life of Television
36
Gus Honeybun Animation
37
Gus Honeybun around Plymouth
38
Modern Music
39
Calendar Kids
40
Sus
41
School Around the Corner
42
Tots TV [19/03/93]
43
The Raggy Dolls [10/11/92]
44
Skoosh Summer Special [14/07/98]
45
Zig Zag (Prog 11)
46
Stookie [15/09/85]
47
Brushes
48