Into the Labyrinth (TV series)
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''Into the Labyrinth'' is a British children's
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
.Google Books
/ref> It was produced by HTV for the
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network between 1980 and 1982, the first series was not broadcast until May 1981. Three series, each consisting of seven 25-minute episodes, were produced and directed by
Peter Graham Scott Peter Graham Scott (27 October 1923 – 5 August 2007) was an English television producer, television and film producer, television director, film director, Film editing, film editor and screenwriter. He was one of the producers and directors wh ...
. The series was created by Scott along with Bob Baker, who had previously written several stories for ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''. The first series only was later shown in the United States as part of " The Third Eye" science fiction series on
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. It was also broadcast on ABC TV in Australia, TVE in Spain,
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and
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as part of ''
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'' in Ireland,
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and
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in Basque Country,
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in Malaysia and both RTV and
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in Hong Kong. The series also reran on British satellite television and aired on
The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...
as part of one of its wrapper programmes ''Roustabout''.


Synopsis

The series was based around a struggle between two timeless, feuding sorcerers - the noble Rothgo (
Ron Moody Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in ''Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Globe ...
) and the evil Belor (
Pamela Salem Pamela Fortunee Salem (born 22 January 1944) is a British film and television actress of Anglo-Indian descent. She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama i ...
). Each aimed to obtain possession of the Nidus, a magical object of limitless power. The Nidus actually belonged to Rothgo, but it was stolen by Belor who used her own magic to send it through time and space so that Rothgo would not be able to find it. Without the power of the Nidus, Rothgo would ultimately die. The first series followed a group of modern-day children (Phil, Helen and Terry) who find Rothgo, almost lifeless, in a labyrinthine cave. Rothgo sends the children through different periods of time to search for the Nidus, which is disguised as a different object in each time period and can only be seen in reflection. The children arrive at various points of history (the French Revolution, Ancient Greece, English Civil War, etc.), in which they find an earlier version of Rothgo himself, playing a character from each period. Together they search for the Nidus, but their attempts are constantly thwarted by Belor who also appears in each time period disguised as a character herself. Just as the children are about to retrieve the Nidus, Belor uses her magic to hurl it further through time (using her magical incantation "I deny you the Nidus!" as a bolt of lightning emanates from her fingertips). Belor cannot actually touch the Nidus whilst Rothgo still lives, and so she can only hope to deny him possession of the artefact until he eventually dies. At the end of the first series, the children locate the Nidus (now in the shape of a sword) and finally manage to outwit Belor and return the Nidus to Rothgo, who offered to share its power with Belor. She refused and was reduced to a lifeless skull. In the second series, Belor rises again from death with her own power source, the Albedo, with which she hopes to destroy Rothgo and take possession of the Nidus. However, during their battle, the two power sources collide leaving the Albedo destroyed and the Nidus split into five segments which scatter throughout time and space. As before, Rothgo enlists the help of Phil, Terry and Helen to retrieve the fragments which are again disguised as objects and can only be seen in reflection. However, this time there are two factors in their favour—Rothgo's other incarnations in time can recognize the children immediately and Rothgo himself is capable of claiming the Nidus fragments before Belor can send them into another time period (using his magical incantation "I claim the Nidus!"). Their efforts are yet again hampered by Belor, until the final episode of the second series, when the children manage to reconstitute the Nidus. However, this time they are unable to escape Belor and so Phil hurls the Nidus into a bottomless pool of water. Bereft of both the Nidus and the Albedo, Belor reverts into a lifeless skull once again. Fortunately however, Rothgo explains that even though the Nidus is no longer in his sole possession, it was thrown into the Waters of Time where he (and anyone else seeking enlightenment) can tap into its power whenever he desires to sustain his immortality and travel freely through time once again. In the third and final series, only Phil returned to assist a new sorcerer, Lazlo (played by Chris Harris). Lazlo's source of power was the Scarabeus, a magical amulet that fitted onto a bracelet he wore. Now no longer able to possess the Nidus (which was lost at the end of the previous series), Belor, who has somehow cheated death yet again, attempts to steal Lazlo's Scarabeus by once again hiding it from him in different, fictional time periods. Lazlo and Phil try to trace the Scarabeus using the bracelet, but they are constantly thwarted by Belor until the final episode when they are victorious and Lazlo vanquishes her.


Behind the scenes

Some of the Labyrinth scenes were shot on location in the
Cheddar Gorge Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years ...
caves. These provided the opening and closing scenes of season one, and footage used as CSO backdrops. Most of the historical escapades were studio based around the same cave sets, which were redressed for each time period. The opening and closing book ends for seasons two and three were shot at
Stanton Drew Stanton Drew is a small village and civil parish within the affluent Chew Valley in Somerset, England, lying north of the Mendip Hills, south of Bristol in the area of the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority. Just outside the vil ...
stone circle and Glastonbury Tor, respectively. Several scriptwriters for the series had previously worked on ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'', including co-creator Bob Baker, Robert Holmes,
Anthony Read Anthony Read (21 April 1935 – 21 November 2015) was an English television producer, screenwriter, script editor and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, which included a period as a script ...
and
John Lucarotti John Vincent Lucarotti (20 May 1926 – 20 November 1994) was a British-Canadian screenwriter and author who worked on '' The Avengers'', ''The Troubleshooters'' and ''Doctor Who'' in the 1960s. Early life Born into an Army family in Alde ...
. The operatic voice that sings the haunting theme of ''Into the Labyrinth'' is Lynda Richardson, who also sings the main melody line of theme to the 1970s fantasy series ''
Children of the Stones ''Children of the Stones'' is a British television fantasy drama serial for children, produced by HTV in 1976 and broadcast on the United Kingdom's ITV network in January and February 1977. The serial was produced by Peter Graham Scott, with Pa ...
''. Patrick Dromgoole was the executive producer and
Sidney Sager Sidney Sager (17 May 1917 – 3 December 2002) was an English composer, conductor and trombonist, best known for his music for television and radio. Biography Early life Born into a Jewish family in London's East End, he joined the Britis ...
wrote the music for both of these series. The three child actors continued acting as adults. Simon Beal now acts under the stage name Charlie Caine, and had a small role in ''
Bridget Jones's Diary ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies (writer), Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding. A co-production of the United Kingdom, United States and France, it is ...
''. Lisa Turner had a lead role in the UK drama '' Bad Girls'', while Simon Henderson played
Eddie Hunter Eddie Hunter may refer to: * Eddie Hunter (footballer, born 1928) (1928–2002), Scottish footballer (Falkirk FC) * Eddie Hunter (footballer, born 1943), Scottish footballer and manager (Queen's Park) * Eddie Hunter (baseball) (1905–1967), Major ...
in ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...
''. Pamela Salem based the laugh she used for Belor on the laugh of Ted Rhodes, who was the script editor for the BBC's '' All Creatures Great and Small'' television series. Salem appeared in several episodes as Zoe Bennett.''All Memories Great & Small'', Oliver Crocker (2016; MIWK)


Novelisations

The first and second series were novelised by Peter Graham Scott, titled ''Into The Labyrinth'' and ''Return To The Labyrinth'' respectively.


Home media

The first series was released on VHS (on two cassettes) in the late 1980s. Network released the entire series as a three disc
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
boxset in the UK on 14 July 2008. It was encoded for Region 2 and includes photo galleries as extra features.


Cast

*Rothgo (Series 1 & 2, 1981):
Ron Moody Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in ''Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Globe ...
*Belor (Series 1 - 3, 1981–82):
Pamela Salem Pamela Fortunee Salem (born 22 January 1944) is a British film and television actress of Anglo-Indian descent. She was born in Bombay, India, and educated at Heidelberg University in Germany and later at the Central School of Speech and Drama i ...
*Phil (Series 1 - 3, 1981–82): Simon Beal *Helen (Series 1 & 2, 1981): Lisa Turner *Terry (Series 1 & 2, 1981): Simon Henderson *Lazlo (Series 3, 1982): Chris Harris *Bram (Series 3, 1982):
Howard Goorney Howard Jacob Goorney (11 May 1921 – 29 March 2007) was a British actor who starred in such programmes as ''Only Fools and Horses''. He was one of the founder members of Joan Littlewood's 'Theatre Workshop', and wrote ''The Theatre Workshop Story ...


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, 0081877 ITV children's television shows British children's science fiction television series Television series by ITV Studios British time travel television series 1980s British children's television series 1981 British television series debuts 1982 British television series endings Television shows produced by Harlech Television (HTV) English-language television shows Television shows set in Somerset Nickelodeon original programming Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Television about magic Witchcraft in television Wizards in television