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For two decades they patrolled the English seaside during school holidays, instilling fear into smugglers, kidnappers and spies, but in 1963 the Famous Five had their final adventure.
The fates of Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy, arguably the most formidable upper middle class crime-fighting squad assembled, have been open to speculation ever since.
But now the mystery is at last about to be laid to rest with a new television series. The characters are scheduled to return to the screen as middle-aged men and women in a drama authorised by Enid Blyton’s estate.
Chorion, which administers the author’s works, has commissioned Twofour, an independent television production company, to develop a series that would put Julian, his brother Dick, their sister Anne and their cousin Georgina in their 40s and 50s. Timmy, the canine fifth member of the Famous Five, has long since died, but his bloodline has survived and he would be represented by one of his descendents.
The group no longer spends its summer holidays drinking lashings of ginger beer or investigating suspicious foreigners. The members have gone their separate ways, but are forced to regroup when they are confronted with a new crime.
A source told The Times that one idea was that the group would reunite to solve the murder of a family friend. “They would all be in middle age, perhaps some of them would be going through midlife crises,” the source said.
“It will be interesting to see whether the characters have grown up to be like they were when they were children. Would George, the tomboyish one, now be glamorous and have lots of children? Would Anne, the sensible one, be dysfunctional?”
George, whom Blyton based on herself, has been the subject of speculation in the past. The character, who wore masculine clothes and cut her hair short so that strangers would mistake her for a boy, is often assumed to have been a lesbian. A BBC Radio 4 series in 1995 suggested that she became a nurse who while not a lesbian, never married.
Members of the Enid Blyton Society welcomed the idea provided that it was faithful to the original stories. Anita Bensoussane, a moderator on the society’s web forums, insisted that a grown-up George should not be overly feminine. She said: “A complete character reversal would be too contrived. But a few surprises would be fine as long as they seemed plausible. I’d love to see a grown-up George sitting on a rock on Kirrin Island, emotions playing over her face as she read a letter she’d received from one of her grown-up cousins.”
Other society members hoped that the murder victim would be Edgar Stick, a brattish child who taunted George with rude poems.
Several Blyton enthusiasts went online to urge the programme makers not to send up the stories.
“The biggest danger would be the whole thing turning into another Five Go Mad in Dorset. The 1982 Comic Strip parody of the Famous Five was hilarious, but do we want to see it repeated 25 years on?”
Five Go Mad in Dorset, which starred Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Adrian Edmondson, spoofed the series by showing the characters expressing sympathy with Nazi Germany and scoffing at immigrants, homosexuals and the welfare state.
A source close to the production suggested that she would seek actresses of the calibre of Imelda Staunton, who won a Bafta in 2005 for her performance in Vera Drake.
An animated version of the Famous Five set in modern times and featuring the offspring of the original characters is scheduled to air next year.
Mix of characters gives winning formula
— George (Georgina). The tomboy. Has short hair, a fiery temper and likes to argue with Julian. Her greatest thrill in life is being mistaken for a boy
— Dick. The joker. Teases George (who is the same age as him) for wanting to be a boy, and Anne for being feeble, but can be brave. Brother to Julian and Anne and cousin to George
— Julian. The leader. As the eldest, he is responsible but also very bossy. He can be pompous and sexist
— Anne. The wimp. The baby of the group, very girly. She brings a domesticated touch, doing the washing up while the others are out solving mysteries
— Timmy. The dog. An uncommonly cunning pet, Timmy is an affectionate, loyal mongrel whose ability to protect and assist makes him more than just the team mascot
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I cannot believe they are making a new cartoon about the famous five, stating that the regular famous five wasn't good enough!I for one love the Enid Blyton stories and did not really notice if there was a hint of racism and stuff. Enid Blyton wrote her books as england was in that time, Why do we have to change everything in our history to add in new ethnic groups that weren't around when the stories where being written?Im not racist and far enough if your writing new material but them in,but please do not mess with our history!
S Marsden, N.M Surrey, England
Hi my dad played Dick in the original stage production of The Famous Five. Having been picked by Ms Blyton and although I havn't asked him for his comments. I am sure that he would think it should be kept as authentic as possible.
Anonymous, London, England
The Famous Five were really of their time, I loved the books as well when I was 'that' age. I agree with Robin Bather, they should be consigned to the history and no attempt made to re-rcreate their characters in the 21st century.
Ewan O'Doherty, Dublin, Ireland
i had watched famous five all my life . i never got bored and i watched them over and over again. i got all the videos and books.
jenny tutt, beckenham kent, uk
hi my name is bernard law aged 35 and i was brought up with the famous five stories and it would be nice to see what happen to them .why dont they use the actors that stared in the famous five tv series.
bernard law, ballymena, co antrim
I loved the famous five as iI grew up. I think that its a great i dea to bring them back as adults, it would be nice though if they could be made around late 20s to early 40s as if they were any older then they would find it very diffcult to go running around rocks and climbing down cliffs. I hope that real people are used like in the old days and not just animated people. I think also maybe you could show the orginal locations as were shot before so that every thing will remind us and them that they had grown up there.
I cant wait for it to come out I hope that you will use real life people. I hope that you make some programmes for the five find outers and the secret seven as this will be very intresting aswell.
Richard Howard, cardiff, wales/ uk
Although I am only 18 I was brought up enjoying Enid Blyton books and the Famous Five has always been my favourite. My mom and nana all loved reading about the fives adventures and when I have children I will carry on the tradition. I think it is terrible that a modern cartoon of these timeless children stories is being brought out. These books have been good enough for millions of girls and boys over the years and they should be left alone.
Katie, York, UK
Having learned to read very early on, I rather dismissed Enid Blyton as too childish. I moved on through Biggles to Arthur Ransome's happy group - John, Nancy, Susan, Titty(!), Roger - with no parents around and long summer hols. I am rereading the Ransome stories and would love to see a British TV series featuring these competent, intelligent children rather than the Famous Five.
Meg Hunter, Northport, ME
A couple of years ago I looked up an old flame from back in the 1960s. What a disillusion.
That lithe sexy young thing had turned into a plump prim granny.
Let the past go. Leave the Famous Five in our memories where they can continue defending us from evil.
PS
In 40 years I haven't changed a bit. I continue to be a sexy young tiger.
Robin Bather, Metepec, Mexico
"Presumably they would hit middle-class middle-age sometime in the 1950's or 1960's and therefore appear singularly unsympathetic to modern audiences...."
...representimg as they do an era in which drive by shootings,
feral children using lethal weapons, casual violence, drunkenness and drug taking, on a massive scale, would be viewed as an improbable dystopian nightmare, as opposed to everyday reality.
Mark Lyndon, London, UK
What fun! Having grown up on The Famous Five, reading under the covers until well into the early hours on many occassions, I'm delighted to be getting a chance to relive a little childhood pleasure. George was of course, always the one to aspire to. Brave, no nonsense and quite obstinate - how I wish I had been her.
Cat, Cape Town,
Great idea! However my friend has just finished a book about the very subject and feels devastated 3 years work down the drain or is it? He had just finished the final draft and was about to send it to some publishers. What do you say producers, would you like to get in contact with him, his book is BRILLIANT!!!!
Eva Harvey, London, UK
It might be interesting if this lot were to meet up with Biggles and his colleagues, perhaps with a slimmed down Billy Bunter and erstwhile schoolfriends, together with William.
Just what they would make of some new-fangled notions would be the puzzle, though computer simulation should be able to create a plausible scenario.
There might even emerge material worthy of further study by government policy experts with a view to recreating some of the necessary parental role instruction to enable society to move forward into the century free of some of the nonsense of recent experimental baggage.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
A comic strip presents version would be nice as well.....
Perhaps with the input of Chris Morris?
Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK
Great stuff. Maybe they can track down Osama Bin Laden to a BandB in Cornwall.
adrian, Johannesburg, South Africa
Probably the worst thing you could do.
You should never go back and visit childhood memories as they loose the magic.
Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire
Presumably they would hit middle-class middle-age sometime in the 1950's or 1960's and therefore appear singularly unsympathetic to modern audiences.
And, given their capacity for getting into scrapes without thinking first, at least one of them must have lost at least one limb in the war....
Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK