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Catweazle - Box Set with Series 1 & 2 [1970]


RRP: £49.99
Our Price: £10.89 (subject to change)

Catweazle come back and hang out with me!
Review date: 2008-04-08 Rating: 8 out of 10

I have to knock one star off this review as series 2 of Catweazle although highly entertaining is not quite as good as series 1. Series 1 has wonderful chemistry between Geoffrey Bayldon as Catweazle and Robin Davies as Carrot and thankfully the writing supports this relationship as they spend most of their time together. Carrot is a likeable character and you really feel for him at the end of the series when Catweazle leaves him. The subsidiary characters of farm hand Sam and Carrot's Dad are also wonderfully sketched and beautifully played. Sam is dumb but you like him and Carrot's dad is a bit harsh but not really and you like him too. Geoffrey Bayldon himself creates one of the best children's characters of all time - heck he's one of the best characters of all time full stop. Funny, charismatic, mystical, infuriating but never less than believable - you really could believe Catweazle had just time travelled from Norman times. Crucially the series also works and endures because it is not patronising to its young audience. No Dick and Dom shouty banalities here.

Sadly in the second series Catweazle leaves Carrot and Sam and Carrot's Dad and their ramshackle farm for good and he has a whole new group of people to interact with in a large stately home. In the second series we have some great performances from old stalwarts such as Elspeth Gray and Petter Butterworth and there are as many if not more comic moments than in the first series. However there is a glaring weakness in series 2 namely Cedric, who is the boy Catweazle meets and who isn't a patch on Carrot in terms of likeability. The poor kid goes around in very ill fitting clothes and looks like the love child of Ben Stiller and Woody Allen if you can imagine such a horrible thing. He also cannot act at all well. I don't know if the producers knew he was a dud but Catweazle spends most of series 2 on his own without Cedric. When Catweazle leaves for a second time you are left not caring about Cedric so much and that is a shame.

The open ended finale of series 2 also disappoints - what exactly does become of Catweazle?

But on the whole these 2 series are so wonderfully representative of the genius of writer Richard Carpenter and of a golden summer and a bygone age - would that they could make children's TV, or any TV, half as good as this now.

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Reviews


'A Return To Innocent Kids Entertainment'
Review date: 2007-03-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

Geoffrey Bayldon is one of my most loved actors. As Catweazle and particularly, The Crowman in 'Worzel Gummidge' (I was born in 1965) his performances bring back to me memories of the happy childhood I had.
Watching these programmes again I've found, is just as magical an experience as an adult as it was as a child. With so much violence and hatred in the world these days and so many of kids favourite programmes full of violence and fighting (Power Rangers, Transformers etc) it is so lovely to sit and watch something that is gentle and reliant on nothing but a great storyline and a kids immagination. Geoffrey is beyond brilliant as the out of time inept magician and his reactions when confronted by modern technology like electric light are so real and incredibly funny. This DVD box set is also a must for fans with a computer because included here on cdrom are files of the Catweazle annuals from the early 70's plus loads of other interesting extras like original scripts and covers from magazines at the time such as 'Look In' all of which, bring memories flooding back if you are my age. Every episode ever made is here and you will enjoy watching this again as much as your kids will enjoy watching it for the first time. Return to innocence..BUY THIS!

catweasle
Review date: 2006-03-30 Rating: 10 out of 10

What can i say " Brilliant....Brilliant"
This is a timeless classic and my children really enjoyed it.
I would recommend this to anybody.
it appealed to me all those years ago and now the kids of this generation too, not a lot of series can do that.

Time Traveller I never forgot
Review date: 2006-01-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

From the opening shots of a verdant England in full summer my whole childhood came back. I lived in places like the location. It was wonderful. As a kid I watched the series 'live' on TV - no repeats, no time to linger. Now I've seen Catweazle again I'm impressed it is as good as I remembered. Okay, Catweazle is a bit overblown as a theatrical character but its quite understandable if you are 900 years out of time, an inept magician and wanted by the Normans. Catweazle doesn't offer high drama, production qualities, nor acting. The DVD doesn't have subtitles and very limited playing options - it is straight out of 1969/70. Lovely. You might say it has mild moments of peril (to the characters, that is!)but from its pedigree you know it won't have any bad language, behaviour or tackle any contentious issues head-on. It was and is just entertaining. Catweazle is a very charming, easy-paced and endearing piece of TV history that you might want to watch with your own kids (and let's all start calling our mobile phones a 'telling bone').

And it is definitely not Wurzle Gummage... which was something else altogether.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Gwen Nelson
Neil McCarthy
Elspet Gray
Gary F. Warren
Robin Davies

Creators:
Robin Davies (Primary Contributor)
Gary F. Warren (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626230043
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2005-10-03
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 650 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1974-04-28
Language: English (Original Language)

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