The Georgian House is a British children's historical fantasy television series produced by HTV in Bristol and first screened on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

in 1976. The series consisted of seven episodes.

Plot

The story concerned two students, Dan and Abbie, who arrive at a reconstructed

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

House in Bristol, which is open for guided tours. They work there as tour guides along with the caretaker. While there, they discover an African wood carving which takes hold of the teenagers and transports them back 200 years to a time when the house was owned by the Leadbetter family. They are accepted as part of the household as Abbie is seen as a visiting cousin and Dan is a bullied

houseboy A houseboy (alternatively spelled as ''houseboi'') was a term which referred to a typically male domestic worker or personal assistant who performed cleaning and other forms of personal chores. The term has a record of being used in the British ...

. While there, they meet a young

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

slave, Ngo who is owned by the Leadbetters. Abbie is desperate to set him free, but Dan is keen to get back to their own time. They discover that Ngo is the only one who can help them get back and they work together. Abbie and Dan succeed in setting Ngo free and they make it back to their own time.

Cast

The two teenage leads were played by

Spencer Banks Spencer Banks (born 1954 in Chesterfield) is a British television actor. He was mainly active in the 1970s, when he tended to play a geeky adolescent in glasses. He starred in two significant programmes: the popular children's science fiction s ...

, who had made his name earlier in the decade as Simon in the science-fiction series, ''

Timeslip ''Timeslip'' is a British children's science fiction television series made by ATV for the ITV network and broadcast between 1970 and 1971. It was first broadcast on Friday evenings at around 5:10-5:15pm in the ATV region with the other ITV r ...

'', while Abbie was played by the unknown

Adrienne Byrne Adrienne is the French feminine form of the male name Adrien. Its meaning is literally "from the city Hadria." * Adrienne Albert (born 1941), composer * Adrienne Ames (1907–1947), American actress * Adrienne Armstrong (born 1969), wife of G ...

. Well known actor Jack Watson played the Caretaker. Playing the slave boy Ngo, child actor

Brinsley Forde Brinsley Forde MBE (born 16 October 1953) is a British singer and actor of Guyanese parentage who is best known as the founder member of the reggae band Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series '' Here Come the Double D ...

was cast. Forde later became more famous as a member of 1980s reggae-pop group, Aswad. Characters from the 18th-century were: Peter Scofield (Leadbetter), Constance Chapman (Mistress Anne),

Janine Duvitski Janine Duvitski (born Christine Janine Drzewicki; 28 June 1952) is a British actress, known for her roles in the BBC television sitcom series '' Waiting for God'', ''One Foot in the Grave'' and ''Benidorm''. Duvitski first came to national atte ...

(Ariadne), Monica Lavers (Maid), Anne Blake (Madame Lavarre), Stephen Holton (Footman), Dudley Jones (Hezekiah Allsop), and

Anna Quayle Anne Veronica Maria Quayle (6 October 1932 – 16 August 2019), known professionally as Anna Quayle, was an English actress. In 1963, she received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the original product ...

(Miss Humphreys) .

Episodes

# "New Recruits" (2/1/76) # "We'll Never Get Back" (9/1/76) # "Treachery" (16/1/76) # "A Dose of Sulphur Water" (23/1/76) # "Duwamba" (30/1/76) # "Trapped" (6/2/76) # "Look to Your Future" (13/2/76)

Availability

Today, only three episodes of the series exist in the HTV archive. These are episodes 1, 3 and 7, with the remaining four believed to have been wiped. Despite this, archive TV specialists Network DVD released the three remaining episodes on a single DVD on 24 May 2010. PDF files of the scripts represented the 'lost' episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 allowing the narrative to be understood.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Georgian House, The 1976 British television series debuts 1976 British television series endings 1970s British children's television series British children's science fiction television series British time travel television series ITV children's television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Harlech Television (HTV) English-language television shows