''The Secret Garden'' is a 1975 British television adaptation of

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

's 1911 novel of the same name. Adapted, produced and directed by

Dorothea Brooking Dorothea Brooking (née Smith Wright; 7 December 1916 – 23 March 1999) was an English children's television producer and director. She also contributed to works for television, mainly early in her career, and in other capacities. Life and ...

, it was first broadcast on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in seven 30-minute episodes. This is the only BBC adaptation known to exist in its entirety. The 1952 adaptation is missing all eight episodes and the 1960 adaptation is missing three of its eight episodes.

Plot

The series begins with Mary Lennox (played by Sarah Hollis Andrews) being abandoned by residents of a house due to fears of

Cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

, and found by some soldiers. She is sent to Misselthwaite Manor where her uncle lives. She befriends his maids and meets a boy named Dickon. One night she hears crying and leaves her room to investigate - she meets Colin her cousin. Colin is bedridden and thinks he is a

hunchback Kyphosis is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can result fr ...

, but learns he isn't. He begins to go outside, spending time with Dickon and Mary in the gardens. Mary finds a key and finds a hidden door as well, and learns that behind the wall is a secret garden that her uncle's wife had worked on every day until she died, so he hid the key and the door. Colin learns to walk and Mary's uncle learns of this and the series ends with her uncle and Colin walking with each other.

Episode list

Theme music

The soundtrack features a solo oboe playing "

The Watermill ''The Watermill'' is a piece of music that was published by Ronald Binge in 1958. Elements from it had been used in the score of the British comedy film ''Our Girl Friday'', released in 1953, and it was later used as the theme music for a BBC ...

" by

Ronald Binge Ronald Binge (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979) was a British composer and arranger of light music. He arranged many of Mantovani's most famous pieces before composing his own music, which included ''Elizabethan Serenade'' and '' Sailing By''.A ...

Reception

The drama was nominated for a

British Academy Television Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

in 1976 in the drama/entertainment category, and in 1979 it was nominated in the children's entertainment series category at the 1979 Daytime Emmy Awards.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Garden (1975), The 1970s British children's television series 1975 British television series debuts 1975 British television series endings BBC television dramas BBC children's television shows Films based on The Secret Garden Television series about orphans