 The Owl Service successfully manages to be a faithful and almost perfect adaptation of the source material. When people talk about classic must-read children's fiction or TV, Alan Garner's The Owl Service is invariably always one of the first books to be mentioned. This classic book, a retelling of an ancient Welsh myth first found in the Mabinogion, will always have a place in the hearts of those who have read it. Classic is a badge often given to books that don't quite deserve it, but The Owl Service deserves more than it. During the winter of 1969–1970, Granada TV serialised this classic novel on a Sunday evening; do you remember those days when Sunday evening was a thing of joy for fans of quality family drama? It became a sort of event TV and a show that would go down in the history books as one of the finest fantasy shows of all time. Now Network has released The Owl Service in a brand new BluRay format so that we can watch it in glorious new clarity. Here is an elementary plot summary for those who aren't familiar with the premise of the story. Alison and her step-brother Roger are on holiday with the rest of their family in a remote Welsh cottage. When she discovers a strange floral dinner service in the cottage attic that mysteriously transforms into owls when the design is traced, they unleash an ancient Welsh legend that threatens to engulf their lives and everyone else in the Welsh valley. You are left with eight episodes of some of the finest children's TV ever committed to film. It's not easy viewing, even revisiting after reading the source material; these episodes are deliberately constructed to leave the viewer feeling uneasy and unsure about what is happing, from glorious uses of jump cuts and the almost casual dropping of tiny breadcrumb cues to what is going on, leading to one of the weirdest final episodes of any TV series ever, The Owl Service successfully manages to be a faithful and almost perfect adaptation of the source material.  It is incredible to think that even after 50 years, the central themes of this adaptation are still being talked about, from the class divide to the divide between the English and the Welsh. The Owl Service feels just as fresh now as it did then Much like the previously reviewed The Intruder, The Owl Service is reluctant to provide all of the answers as to what you have just watched. In fact, it is even more secretive than The Intruder. It may require a rewatch or two to understand everything that happened, or it might just be the perfect example of ambiguous storytelling. A show of this calibre demands a great set of extras. Network hasn't skimped on these either; this new release features two beautiful interviews with Alan Garner from 1968 and 1980, along with a couple of fun commentaries with writer/broadcaster Tim Worthington. There is also an image gallery and a limited edition booklet written by Stephen McKay, Chris Lynch and master critic Kim Newman. THE OWL SERVICE (1969) – REMASTERED IN HD |
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