Review Catweazle (1970)

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Series One
Regular cast;
Geoffrey Bayldon.....Catweazle
Robin Davies.........Carrot
Bud Tingwell........George Bennett
Neil McCarthy......Sam Woodyard
1. Sun In A Bottle
Catweazle, eccentric magician /wizard, escapes from pursuing Norman soldiers by jumping into a lake and ends up in 1970 England at Hexwood Farm.
Befriended by Edward "Carrot" Bennett, son of farm owner George Bennett, Catweazle discovers "electrickery" describing a light bulb as the sun in a bottle. He hopes Carrot will teach him " the magic of this new age"
2. Castle Saburac
Catweazle runs into the farmhouse after being spooked by a welding torch and Carrot hides him away from his father, farmhand Sam ( Neil McCarthy) and the housekeeper.
Carrot gives him a bath to remove the smell of him but the housekeeper bursts in on them. Catweazle finds a place to live, an abandoned army water tank in the woods. A large metal structure accessed by a ladder, like a mini fort christened Castle Saburac.
3. Curse of Rapkyn
Carrot wonders if his father's financial troubles are a result of a curse on the farm, he and Catweazle go to local museum and find an old book that reveals a contemporary of Catweazle, named Rapkyn has indeed cursed the farm which was built on a witches coven meeting place. The hunt is on for hidden cursed stones.
With Peter Sallis
4. The Witching Hour
Bossy battleaxe Susan Bonnington is ingratiating herself with Carrot's father.
Carrot engages Catweazle to get rid of her with magic.
But he's made a mistake, his father is buttering her up to push forward his plans to expand the farm and she's on the council. Can he stop Catweazle's curse striking her down?
5. The Eye of Time
Catweazle learns about betting on horses and accurately predicts winners. Catweazle meets a gypsy in a shop next to the bookmakers and uncovers a scam.
Meantime, Carrot is discovered by his father hanging around bookies.
With Hattie Jacques
6. Magic Face
An American photographer accidentally captures Catweazle on film , and visiting Hexwood farm asks Carrot to find this mystery man and ask if he'll pose for pictures.
Catweazle believes his soul has been stolen and must be a slave to photographer Mrs Derringer and ends up in her house . Carrot tries to rescue him.
7. The Telling Bone
Catweazle discovers the magic of the telephone, or "telling bone". He is befriended by the vicar of a nearby village who tries to find out where he's come from and who his family is and where he lives. Talk of Norman invaders, time travel, demons , convinces the vicar Catweazle is dangerous especially when he pulls a toad out of his pocket, his pet Touchwood.
more..........
 

Doctor Omega

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Series 1 continued
8. The Power of Adamcos

Catweazle flees the woods in terror, he believes the spirits of the telling bone have brought Norman soldiers to the 20th century to kill him!
But no,... It's the locals in fancy dress for the historical pageant. However Catweazle has dropped his witch-knife, Adamcos, and must recover it or " the blood will drain from me . I will be doomed"
The knife ends up in an antique shop and Carrot helps to recover it.
9. The Demi Devil
A pet monkey is missing from a local Colonel's house.,and Catweazle falls out with Carrot and threatens to blast him with his magic, and casts a spell. When the missing monkey turns up in Catweazle's Castle Saburac ,the obvious misunderstanding occurs. Catweazle pleads with the Colonel to end the monkey's misery and turn him back into Carrot!
10. House of the sorcerer
Sam quits his farm job after arguing with Carrot's father , and gets a job with a nutty professor type nature watcher who has a caravan in the woods. Catweazle is already aware of this naturalist after spotting him tape recording his minion, the toad Touchwood. Listening at the door of the caravan Catweazle hears a screeching scream. Its a recording of a screech owl but Catweazle runs away screaming
" murder! murder!! Sam has been murdered by the demon"
more......
 

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11. The Flying Broomsticks
Catweazle has stolen at least 50 birch brooms in a mad attempt to fly like a bird, by riding them while jumping through fire. The police have found these discarded burnt brooms and believe a satanic coven is operating. Sam gets the blame after admitting accidentally burning a broom while burning trash in the woods. Carrot rages at Catweazle that it's his fault that Sam is in trouble and after Carrot bribes him with a harmonica Catweazle agrees to rescue Sam from the police station.
12. The Wisdom of Solomon
A really nasty new housekeeper and her son moves into the farm. Carrot is now back at school and Mrs Skinner is reluctantly hired. Carrot and the son Arthur don't get on. Catweazle offers a potion that if Carrot can get them to drink, will reveal their black hearts. Arthur has tittle-tattled on Carrot to his dad about the water tank hideout Castle Saburac, Catweazle is not discovered but is now homeless.
13. The Trickery Lantern
Last episode of series 1.
Catweazle has reasoned that water propelled him from the past, and so it can return him home. After stealing a lantern that Carrot had bought for a birthday present for his father, thinking the Normans will fear it Catweazle wades into the lake for the journey home.
A tremendously poignant ending as Carrot realises his friendship with Catweazle is coming to an end. Surely it was all rubbish? Catweazle can't just vanish.
Carrot ? " it's impossible"
Catweazle" a foolish word thy doubter, thy disbelieving dreg!"

Series 2 to follow.....
 

Doctor Omega

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Series 2

Regular cast;
Geoffrey Bayldon ........Catweazle
Gary Warren.....Cedric
Moray Watson...Lord Collingford
Elspeth Gray....Lady Collingford
Peter Butterworth.....Groome
Gwen Nelson.....Mrs Gowdie
1. The Magic Riddle
For a second time Catweazle escapes the dreaded Normans and ends up in 1971 England, this time in the grounds of King's Farthing, a stately home occupied by Lord and Lady Collingford , their retainers Groome the handyman and Mrs Gowdie the cook.
Cedric, their son returns from a term at boarding school, and is very different from Carrot.
Cedric, a studious clever boy who spent last term composing an opera!
Catweazle follows Cedric into the large stately home and into the boy's bedroom.
Cedric unknown by the family has access to a priest hole via a hidden compartment in his room and is stunned when Catweazle follows him in.
Cedric's great grandfather was a occult follower and Cedric is trying to decipher a riddle written in hieroglyphs on a blackboard that his great grandfather wrote.
Catweazle can read it;
" twelve are they that circle round,
if power you seek they must be found,
look for where the thirteenth lies,
mount aloft the one that flies"
Catweazle states that in order to fly like a bird, you must seek out the twelve zodiac signs gather them and find the thirteenth, and he wants Cedric to help him.
Cedric thinks he is potty and bundle him out of the mansion, but turns a blind eye to Catweazle stealing an ornamental rams head( Aries) on his way out.
The quest begins.
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2. Duck Halt
Catweazle casts the runes to find his new home, and ends up in an abandoned railway station called Duck Halt on an abandoned line.
Cedric and Catweazle enjoy an afternoon's country walk when they spy a pub sign " The Bull", being removed by the pub owners and handed to a hardware seller, loaded in a back of a van and driven off. Catweazle is determined to get the (Taurus) sign.
3. The Heavenly Twins
It's Cedric's birthday and the magician The Great Verdanti is hired for the big party.
Catweazle meets him in the woods at the pond fishing.
Verdanti turns up for the party and is surprised that Catweazle is there and ropes him in as an assistant. Hilarity ensues as Catweazle has no concept of stage magic as different to his occult magic.
With Paul Eddington.
4. The Sign of the Crab
Tearful Ted, career burglar has broken into King's Farthing and steals Lord Collingford's croquet trophies .
Mrs Gowdie tells the police off a suspicious looking tramp hanging around previously. This was Ted in disguise, but suspicions fall on Catweazle, especially as Ted has stashed his ill gotten gains at Duck Halt.
5. The Black Wheels
Catweazle regularly collects trash that he finds "wondrous" and comes across vintage vinyl records. He's no idea what they are ,but sees Cedric playing one and thinks they contain lost voices of people with laryngitis.
When Groome the handyman loses his voice , unfortunate as part of his job is to conduct tourist guided tours of King' Farthing, Catweazle plays doctor trying to get Groome to eat crushed up records to get a new voice!! Hilarious.
More.....
 

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6. The Wogle Stone
Property developers and building contractors move onto King's Farthing land and start digging. Catweazle's curiosity almost gets him killed as a mechanical digger almost topples on top of him.
A deeply superstitious developer wants to build a whole new development on part of Lord Collingford's land but his Lordship won't sell up
Catweazle turns to magic to frighten the superstitious developer away with talk of cursed stones and doom to those dare to pull down his beloved Duck Halt.
7. The Enchanted King
Lady Collingford is due to unveil a statue created by local celebrity sculptor played brilliantly by Graham Crowden.
Gobbling ,the sculptor, runs up against Catweazle who thinks his statues are people turned into stone , including an English King , who needs Catweazle to set him free. Utter chaos as the unveiling turns farcical as Catweazle wrecks it . Probably the most simplistically funny slapstick episode. You thought Crowden over acts in Dr Who , you ain't seen nothing until you see his performance in this.
8. The Familiar Spirit
Distress for our medieval hero as Touchwood, his toad is ill and seems at death's door.
Cedric suggests they seek help from the nearby village and see the renown zoologist Professor Habbleman, a real strange Germanic character with a twin brother. This episode sees Catweazle perplexed by identical twins as Habbleman says that Touchwood is an extinct toad and must have him for his studies. Another very funny gem.
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9. The Ghost Hunters
Catweazle's nocturnal prowling around King's Farthing has gone unnoticed but not unheard, Lady Collingford has hired a couple of ghost hunters to track down any spirits. Cedric wants Catweazle to track down the lost treasure of the Collingfords, but to be careful of the ghost hunters.
Catweazle is delighted, ghosts know the whereabouts of hidden gold. The hunters, who are conmen , fleecing the Colingfords with a phony hunting operation using electronic gadgetry meet their match when they face Catweazle. They think he's a ghost and he thinks they are!
10. The Walking Trees
Military manoeuvres are taking place in the woods and war games. Lord Collingford's blue demon team are taking on The Colonel's green demons.
When some soldiers disguised as trees are seen by Catweazle walking he is absolutely ecstatic;
" trees will walk when The Philosophers Stone be found"
Catweazle, the military and hand grenades don't mix.
With Tony Selby
 

Doctor Omega

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11. Battle of the Giants
A rather rude, risqué episode full of double entendres.
Groome " my marrow is beautiful Mavis, I suppose you're not interested in my marrow"
" My marrow is six feet long"
Lady Collingford to Mrs Gowdie
" It doesn't look six feet long"
" men always exaggerate m'lady"
It's a marrow growing competition between Groome, His Lordship and Cedric, with a magic potion prepared by Catweazle having an extraordinary effect on marrows
12. The Magic Circle
Catweazle has found all twelve signs of the zodiac,placed in a circle at Duck Halt. But what of the thirteenth?
Catweazle confronts Groome by the moat and falls into the water. But he bounces back out, bone dry!
Groome tells his story and Lord Collingford immediately calls in a psychiatrist.
" I don't need a psychiatrist! He jumped in bounced back bone dry!!!?"
Dr Benjamin Renwick tracks Catweazle down to Duck Halt for a sort of psycho therapy session, ending with the good doctor running away .
" give me the thirteenth sign and we shall fly"
13. The Thirteenth Sign
Final episode; spoiler protected.
Disaster as the Collingfords have to sell up, they are bankrupt.
Cedric is almost in tears , Mrs Gowdie is in tears. If only the lost treasure can be found. It has something to do with the hieroglyphic riddle that Catweazle translated at the start. Cedric has a pocket telescope and is showing Catweazle how it works in the grounds of the estate. He points it at the clock tower and sees something odd. The roman numeral twelve is NOT twelve , it's xiii, 13!
" twelve are they that circle round" it wasn't the zodiac signs but the clock numbers on the tower.
" look for where the thirteenth lies" it lies! It's pretending to be twelve
" mount aloft the one who flies" The weather vane, old father time, time flies!
" The treasure Catweazle ot must be up there in the spire, in the loft"
The treasure is found ,King's Farthing saved, but no thirteenth sign for a crestfallen Catweazle
" the quest is over Touchwood. Magic is gibberish and I have the heartache"
But one last twist awaits Catweazle, which is.........?
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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Geoffrey Bayldon died 10 May 2017, at the age of 93.

He was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK. He enjoyed an extensively long career in acting, which included many different roles in productions on film, stage and TV. On film, he appeared in DRACULA (1958), A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958), THE LONGEST DAY (1962), 55 DAYS AT PEKING (1963), KING RAT (1965), TO SIR, WITH LOVE (1967), WHERE THE SPIES ARE (1966), CASINO ROYALE (1967), ASSIGNMENT K (1968), INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU (1968), FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969), THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN DEADLY SINS (1971), BORN TO BOOGIE (1972), THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1976), STEPTOE AND SON RIDE AGAIN (1973), PORRIDGE (1979), ASTERIX IN AMERICA (1994), ASTERIX & OBELIX TAKE ON CAESAR (1999), LOOKING FOR VICTORIA (2003) and LADIES IN LAVENDER (2004), amongst many other films.

It was on TV, however, where he was best known. He made innumerable appearances on a wide range of TV series, including SWORD OF FREEDOM (1957), THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1957), MAN FROM INTERPOL (1960), THE AVENGERS (1961), Z-CARS (1963), THE SAINT (1964), GHOST SQUAD (1964), DANGER MAN (1965), JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN (1969), SPECIAL BRANCH (1969), CATWEAZLE (1970), VAN DER VALK (1972), THE ADVENTURES OF BLACK BEAUTY (1972), ARMCHAIR THEATRE (1973), CROWN COURT (1975), THE TOMORROW PEOPLE (1976), SPACE: 1999 (1976), THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET (1977), THE FAMOUS FIVE (1978), ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (1978), WORZEL GUMMIDGE (1979), DOCTOR WHO (1979), TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED (1980), BERGERAC (1981), RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY (1987), STAR COPS (1987), THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1988), CAMPION (1990), CASUALTY (1991), LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE (1995), WYCLIFFE (1995), WATCH (1995), PIE IN THE SKY (1995), THE NEW ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1997), HEARTBEAT (1998), PEAK PRACTICE (1998), MIDSOMER MURDERS (2000), WAKING THE DEAD (2004), NEW TRICKS (2007) and MY FAMILY (2010).

However, he will always be remembered for portraying the time travelling wizard, CATWEAZLE. He accepted the role after declining offers to become both the first and second Doctors in the long-running BBC science fiction television series DOCTOR WHO. Later, he also became well-known for playing the Crowman in WORZEL GUMMIDGE and Magic Grandad in WATCH. He also eventually played an alternative first Doctor in two audio plays based on DOCTOR WHO. They were both produced by Big Finish Productions and were part of the audio series known as DOCTOR WHO UNBOUND. They were AULD MORTALITY (2003) and A STORM OF ANGELS (2005).
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Thanks again to Michaellevenson for the following info. re: famous guest stars in the show....

FAMOUS GUEST STARS IN CATWEAZLE:

Peter Sallis ( series 1 ep 3)
Hattie Jacques (1-5)
Brian Wilde ( 1-7 )
Peter Butterworth ( 1-9 ) (2 1-13)
John Junkin (1-11)
Paul Eddington (2-3 )
Ronald Lacey (2-4)
Kenneth Cope (2-6)
Tony Selby (2-10)
Neil McCarthy (1 1-13)
Graham Crowden (2-7)
Patricia Hayes (1-12)
 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
geoff-and-robin.jpg


Robin Davies was born on January 16, 1954 in Tywyn, Merionethshire, North Wales, UK as Robert Richard Davies. He was an actor, known for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Spearhead (1978) and The Lifeboat (1994). He was married to Venetia Vivian. He died on February 22, 2010 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.


Trained for acting at the Aida Foster Stage School and began his career while a child in a children's film series entitled "The Magnificent 6 and 1/2" in the late 1960s.
He is survived by his wife, Venetia Vivian, and their three children including one son and two daughters.
On stage, he acted with the New Vic Theatre company in plays such as The Three Musketeers in 1985. Adding writing to his repertoire, he scripted a revival of the director Michael Bogdanov's production of "The Canterbury Tales" at the Garrick Theatre in 1994. Over his last 20 years, he regularly wrote and directed pantomimes at the City Varieties theatre in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.
He was a fluent Welsh speaker. From the age of 12 in 1966 to 1969, he trained at the Ada Foster Stage School, in London, England.
A proud Welshman, he was laid to rest on St. David's Day.
Dyed his hair red to play Edward "Carrot" Bennet in the first series of Catweazle (1970).
Trained as an actor at the Aida Foster Stage School, and went on to develop his skills as a writer and stage director.
Children India, Alice and Will.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
New book......



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http://www.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk/tis_magic_catweazle.htm


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Tis Magic! Our Memories of Catweazle
celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the series with forty brilliant essays in which writers explore how Catweazle has touched their lives. Extensively illustrated, it boasts a foreword by Harriet Whitehouse, daughter of Catweazle’s creator, and an afterword by Venetia Davies, wife of Robin Davies.



Carol Barnes, Gary Bowers, Symon Grant Brown, Graham Card, Vince Cox, Rick Davy,
Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Driscoll, Sue Duce, Andrew Eggs, J. Z. Ferguson, Nick Goodman,
Christian Graham, Stephen Hatcher, Alan Hayes, Robin Herne, Andy Howells, Simon A. Irvine,
Michael Kingsley, Valerie Krueger, Tony May, Simon Morris, Louise Penn, Paul Pert, Neil Robertson,
Lutine Ryan, Al Samujh, Sheena Samujh, Trevor Scott, Ken Shinn, Paul Simpson, Martin Strike,
Mark Tullett, Simon Wells, Ian Wheeler, Jason Whiton, Andrew Wooding and Doug Young
 

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
I HAVE COVERED ALL EPISODES SCENE BY SCENE ON TV REVIEWS FORUM, FOR DETAILS CLICK BELOW
 
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