''The Glitterball'' is a 1977

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

made by Mark Forstater Productions for the

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

. It was directed by Harley Cokeliss, credited under his birth name of Harley Cokliss. The film was screened at the 2010

Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

as part of a retrospective of 16 "rarely seen" British films made between 1967 and 1979, "rediscovered" after a year of detective work by event staff. In 1979,

Methuen Publishing Methuen Publishing Ltd is an English publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen (1856–1924) and began publishing in London in 1892. Initially Methuen mainly published non-fiction academic works, eventually diversifying to ...

released the children's novel by the same name, written by screenwriters Howard Thompson and Harley Cokliss. .

Plot

Two boys befriend a stranded alien in the shape of a little silver ball and help it to return home.

Cast

*Ben Buckton as Max Fielding *

Keith Jayne Keith Jayne (born 10 December 1960) is a British actor, known for playing the title role in the 1981 television adaptation ''Stig of the Dump''. A slow growth rate, due to a pituitary gland problem, made Keith a target of bullies at grammar ...

as Pete *

Ron Pember Ronald Henry Pember (11 April 1934 – 8 March 2022) was an English actor, stage director and dramatist. In a career stretching over thirty years, he was a character actor in British television productions in the 1970s – 1980s, usually in bi ...

as George "Filthy" Potter *

Marjorie Yates Marjorie Yates (born 13 April 1941) is a British actress best known for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 drama '' Shameless''. Yates was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, and studied at the Bournville College of Art. An early TV ...

as Mrs. Fielding * Barry Jackson as Sergeant Fielding *Andrew Bradford as Corporal *

Derek Deadman Derek Deadman (11 March 1940 – 22 November 2014) was an English character actor who appeared in numerous British films and television series for 38 years. Family Born in Fulham, Derek Deadman was one of the three sons of George and Edith Dead ...

as Ice Cream Man *

Leslie Schofield Leslie Schofield (born 12 December 1938) is an English actor who is most famous in the UK for his role as Jeff Healy in the soap opera ''EastEnders'', whom he played from 1997 to 2000. His character was famous for unsuccessfully proposing to P ...

as Radar Operator *

Linda Robson Linda Patricia Mary Dunford ( Robson; born 13 March 1958) is an English actress and television presenter. She is best known for playing Tracey Stubbs in the sitcom '' Birds of a Feather'' (1989–1998, 2014–2020) and her appearances as a weekl ...

as Checkout Operator

Awards and nominations

* 1982, nominated for

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to Fantasy film, fantasy/Science fiction film, science fiction/Horror film, horror-oriented commercial fe ...

'International Fantasy Film Award' for 'Best film' for Harley Cokeliss.

References

External links

* * . Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries). 1977 films 1970s science fiction films British children's films Children's Film Foundation Films directed by Harley Cokeliss 1970s children's films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{1970s-sf-film-stub