''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, 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 ...

, 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" by Ronald Binge.

Reception

The drama was nominated for a British Academy Television Award 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