Summary
A strange statue (the Grinnygog), which fell off the back of a truck carrying stones of an old church for relocation, is discovered by a woman on her way home from the store. The woman takes the statue home and gives it to her elderly father as a garden ornament.
The family who now has possession of the Grinnygog, in particular one small boy, begin to experience strange feelings of euphoria and a desire to participate in folk magic rituals. At the same time, a nervous, "other-worldly" child begins to be seen around the town and appears lost and frightened. Meanwhile, three eccentric older women arrive in the town and appear to be searching for something. They bring with them the "daughter" of one of the women, later revealed to be a mannequin, but which at one point appears to be walking by itself.
The story eventually reveals that the three women are witches from England's 17th century who escaped a witch-hunt by somehow slipping through time into the modern age. The Grinnygog, which was an image of the Horned God, had lain dormant until being removed from the church, when it summoned the witches to the present day. One of the witches is now looking for her daughter who was separated during a witch-burning held hundreds of years ago in the town. The daughter escaped by slipping through time, but only intermittently, and is now lost without her mother.
The presence of the witches, and their relationship to the Grinnygog, is eventually worked out by a group of children who investigate their town's local history and discover that the town must make amends for the ancient injustice of witch-burning. One clue is revealed through an old manuscript written by a town elder who apparently witnessed the witch-burning and wrote an account of the event in a journal: however, he died before revealing the final clue about the escaped witches. Another clue is the arrival of an African witch doctor, named Mr. Alabaster, who is seeking out the witches to help them. The story ends with the witches reunited with the daughter and taken away by Mr. Alabaster to someplace where they will be safe, along with the Grinnygog.
Una Stubbs was a British actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film Summer Holiday (1963) and later played Rita Rawlins in the BBC sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975) and In Sickness and in Health (1985–1992). Her other television roles include Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981) and Miss Bat in The Worst Witch (1998–2001). She also appeared as Sherlock Holmes's landlady Mrs. Hudson in the BAFTA-winning television series Sherlock (2010–2017).
Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. The character was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the classic 1939 film and the 2013 prequel adaptation.
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama television series, produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network, first broadcast between 7 April 1991 and 4 April 1993. The first six episodes of Series 1 and the first two of Series 2 are adaptations of the 1958 novel of the same name, and three of its four sequels, by H. E. Bates. The remaining episodes are original storylines based on the same format.
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz to Princess Ozma and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent Oz novels, it is the Nome King who is the principal villain; the Wicked Witch of the West is rarely even referred to again after her death in the first book.
A Country Practice is an Australian television soap opera/serial which was broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 22 November 1993, and subsequently on Network Ten from 13 April 1994 to 5 November 1994. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,088 episodes were produced.
Mombi is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's classic children's series of Oz Books. She is the most significant antagonist in the second Oz book The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), and is alluded to in other works. Mombi plays a very important role in the fictional history of Oz.
Sons and Daughters is an Australian Logie Award-winning soap opera/drama serial, broadcast by the Seven Network between January 1982 and December 1987 and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation. It was created by executive Reg Watson, and is distributed by Fremantle.
C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987. The series was a spin-off from The Gentle Touch, and saw Jill Gascoine reprise her role as Maggie Forbes, portrayed as having left the police force to join an all-female private detective agency called "Eyes", based in Kent, that is a front for a Home Office team called C.A.T.S.. C.A.T.S. Eyes was shown on Friday nights during the first series, before moving to a Saturday night slot for the second and third series. The series was a ratings success, regularly in the top twenty most-watched programmes each week of broadcast.
Winged monkeys are fictional characters that first appeared in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by the American author L. Frank Baum. They are described as jungle monkeys with bird-like feathered wings. They are playful, intelligent, and speak English. They are initially under the control of the Wicked Witch of the West, but are later controlled by the protagonist, Dorothy Gale. They lift Dorothy and fly her to two distant locations.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as Ozu no Mahōtsukai (オズの魔法使い), is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987. It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.
Strange Paradise is a Canadian occult-supernatural soap opera of 195 episodes, initially launched in syndication in the United States on September 8, 1969, and later broadcast on CBC Television from October 20, 1969, to July 22, 1970. The production was the brainchild of producer Steve Krantz, in an attempt to capitalize on the phenomenal success of ABC's daytime serial Dark Shadows in America. To develop the series, Krantz hired actor-writer Ian Martin and veteran TV and radio producer Jerry Layton, both of whom were given screen credit for the creation of Strange Paradise. With the CBC and American broadcasters Metromedia and Kaiser Broadcasting handling distribution and co-production, the series was filmed in Ottawa, Ontario, at CTV affiliate CJOH-TV and aired for 39 weeks, presenting three separate 13-week story arcs.
The Haunting of Cassie Palmer is a British television drama for children produced in 1981 by TVS for the ITV network and first broadcast on 26 February 1982. The series was based on a novel by Vivien Alcock. In the United States, it was aired on Nickelodeon as part of the series The Third Eye.
The Third Eye is an American anthology series on Nickelodeon. It consisted of several English-language science fiction serials from the United Kingdom and New Zealand. All of the program's featurettes focused on characters with psychic abilities.
Miles Anderson is a British stage and screen actor, born in the colony of Southern Rhodesia, who has appeared in television serials both in the United Kingdom, and North America. He appeared as Alistair the photographer in the film La La Land. In 2021 he played 'Lennox' in Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. He is commonly remembered in the UK for his role as Lieutenant Colonel Dan Fortune in ITV television show Soldier Soldier that aired in 1991-92
Knights of God is a British science fiction children's television serial, produced by TVS and first broadcast on ITV in 1987. It was written by Richard Cooper, a writer who had previously worked in both children's and adult television drama. Set in the year 2020, it showed a Britain ruled by the Knights of God, a fascist and anti-Christian religious order that came to power during a brutal civil war twenty years previously. It starred George Winter as Gervase Owen Edwards, the Welsh son of a resistance leader, and John Woodvine as the Prior Mordrin, leader of the eponymous cult. Patrick Troughton played Arthur, the apparent leader of the English resistance, and Julian Fellowes played Mordrin's ambitious and ruthless second-in-command, Brother Hugo.
The Witches and the Grinnygog is a children's novel by the writer Dorothy Edwards, published in 1981 and shortlisted for that year's Whitbread Prize for a children's book.
No 73, later retitled 7T3, is a British 1980s children's TV show produced by TVS for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 2 January 1982 to 27 March 1988. The show had an ensemble cast amongst others, Sandi Toksvig, Neil Buchanan, Patrick Doyle, Andrea Arnold, Kim Goody and Kate Copstick.
The Silver Shoes are the magical shoes that appear in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as heroine Dorothy Gale's transport home. They are originally owned by the Wicked Witch of the East but passed to Dorothy when her house lands on the Witch. At the end of the story, Dorothy uses the shoes to transport herself back to her home in Kansas, but when she arrives at her destination finds the shoes have fallen off en route.
