User:TargetMaker/The children of hunter's moor

The Children Of Hunter's Moor was a six-part British produced television science-fiction/mystery serial drama produced for the satellite broadcaster The Children's Channel. Although broadcast in the autumn of 1991, production filming took place during the early months of 1991.

Based on an obscure children's mystery/horror novel by New Zealand born, UK-based author Patrick Hamilton under a pseudonym, the story was adapted for television and turned into six 25 minute episodes for a half-hour time-slot (with commercials).

Despite the novel being set in Cornwall and based on Norse Mythology, it was decided for the tv serialization to relocate the setting to the Yorkshire Moors.

Plot

The village of Tawnford on the Cornish moors is being visited by an archeological survey team headed by the rather blunt and elderly, Professor Toffman (Bernard Archard), who believes that the nearby mound of Pwn Tor is the final resting of a Nordic God, or at least the person who the mythological god originated. He has been accompanied to the village by his wife, the blind Helen (Muriel Pavlov), who despite her husband's disdain and his belief in science, is a psychic. She believes there will come a force of great evil with the opening of the mound by the survey team. She finds the local area to have sense of foreboding and aura to it that feels of an ancient evil lurking, waiting to break free. The area has been known for centuries for the appearance of strange apparitions and sounds out on the lonely, cold moorland.

To add to the trouble is the arrival of the sinister Kane (Don Henderson), who it is implied is a Neo-Nazi, who believes the mound to the resting place of an ancient weapon that can be used to control the worlds weather. The main cast are the children of Tawnford. The 5 children, Tom, Ben, Stephen, Claire and Kate are playing by the mound when the archeological team arrive and order them to "move away". After watching the team from a distance begin the dig but are being shooed away by the sinister Kane and his devout followers, they are determined to discover for themselves what is so special about the mound.

Ben and Claire visit the house where Professor Toffman and his wife, Helen, are staying to try and discover what is happening. They are cornered in the kitchen by Helen, who sensing the good nature of them proceeds to tell them of the visions she has seen of the destruction that will "befall the world if the mound is opened".

After a misunderstanding between Ben and the Professor, a chase ensues onto the moor. Ben is frightened by the professor and whilst looking over his shoulder to see of he is being followed by the professor, trips on a root and falls into a bog. Ben screams as the professor approaches, who proceeds to rescue him and explain that he had believed Ben and Claire had been the ones who had previously broken onto the professor's rented cottage and stolen paperwork relating to the dig.

With the misunderstanding cleared up, the professor takes the children to the dig where they discover that his assistants have discovered a door, buried by centuries of earth. When the seal of the ancient site is opened, it reveals a series of stone tunnels that lead into the hillside. The professor tells the children that they must not enter as it may not be safe. They disagree and a squabble takes place, whilst doing so the door closes trapping Tom, Kate and Stephen, along with the professor, inside the tomb, and Ben and Claire outside. The whole situation has been watched by Kane through binoculars, who seizes the chance and his men, armed with machine guns, occupy the dig. Kane forces the children to show him how to open the door, which after some resistance, they do. When the door opens, the children and the professor are not to be seen. They have wandered into the tunnels and found an inner sanctum, where a stone sarcophagus is placed on a plinth.

It is revealed that it is not a burial for the Norse historical figure that the professor believed he would find, it is, as Kane believed, an ancient weapon, that even predates the Vikings, who placed the weapon here to keep it away from the hands of mankind, hoping it would never be found.

Kane arrives at the inner sanctum with his mercenaries. They are surprised when Helen, who has sensed the danger that the children and her husband are in, and has appeared at the dig, where she proceeded to enter the tunnels. Her extra sensory perception guided her to the inner sanctum.

The professor struggles with Kane, and is shot by one of Kane's mercenaries. Kane and his men remove the lid of the sarcophagus, which releases the spirit trapped within. It merges with Helen, who is used be the spirit as a 'mouthpiece'. It reveals it's origins and decides that Kane should not be in control of such power as it holds. It allows the children to leave the tomb via another passage, which brings them and the badly bleeding professor onto the moors, at the section where the 'sightings' have taken place for centuries. The spirit (still in the form of Helen, with glowing eyes), decides that Kane and his men are not worthy of the spirits powers, neither is any of mankind. "Mankind cannot be trusted with his own future". The spirit self destructs, causing the tomb to be destroyed, bringing the weight of the moorland above down into the chamber, killing Kane and his men and destroying the tunnels leading to it. The tomb door reseals and the entrance is recovered with soil once again, as the hillside collapses, causing a mini-earthquake.

The children and professor look on as the hillside slides down, covering the tomb forever. The professor is distraught at losing his wife in the explosion. As the children try to stop him from trying to enter the tunnel, just as it is being covered over by tonnes of soil falling from the moors, Helen reappears by them in a ghostly glowing cloud, which swiftly disappears. She has returned, back to normal, and with her eyesight regained.

The children and the Toffmans walk towards the emergency services, who have appeared over the horizon and are heading towards the landslide that is encroaching upon the village.

Production

The serial was a first for British television. As well as being a major production for a British satellite production, it was a major feat for a children's drama, with extensive location filming and then start-of-the-art post-production visual effects.

It was an expensive production (for a children's drama) at £1.4 Million, with over £80,000 alone being used for computer-created effects.

The serial was expensive also, due to the extensive location filming, elaborate studio sets and the fact that an extended filming period was required due to the use of a large regular cast of child performer's in the main roles, hence the title of the show, thereby requiring more time for filming due to the small numbers of filing hours allowed each day by UK law.

The serial would be one of the last productions actor Bernard Archard would appear in, before retiring after a year's stint in long-running ITV soap Emmerdale, where his character Leonard Kempinski was killed of in the famous plane-crash storyline of 1993.

Veteran character actors Don Henderson and Muriel Pavlov also appeared in the main roles of Kane and Helen, respectively.

The children were mostly played by newcomers, including Shalian Adesafarian as Kate and Ben Thomas (not the same actor as the one who appeared in long-running U.S sitcom 'Roseanne', or as Pete Twist in 'Round The Twist').

Greg Chapman, playing the character of Ben, had appeared on British television since 1989. The character was recast during location from the original child actor, who had fallen ill and was not available. Greg Chapman would go on to appear on numerous productions, including many uncredited voice performances until 2006.

Although set in North Yorkshire location filming took place in Derbyshire, England. Fake roadsigns were used used, pointing to Richmond and Leyburn, both genuine towns in Yorkshire, but in reality not anywhere near the locations used in the production.

Besides location filming, a large amount of filming was conducted at Wembley Park Studios (later known as 'Fountain Studios'), in particular the tunnels and inner sanctum of the tomb, which was a large three-story construction with composite tunnels and the two entrances. Constructed largely from plaster over a wire and wood frame, it also had internal lights built into the sarcophagus to make it glow from inside, also aided by additional post-production work. Miniature work was also utilized for the destruction of the tomb and also the hillside, as it slowly slides down into the valley.

Post-Production effects work included the supernatural blast that appears when the tomb is opened, the glow of the sarcophagus, the possession of Helen, including the glowing eyes, the return of Helen on the moors, and shaking to to the picture during the destruction of the tomb.

The serial was recorded entirely (apart from miniature work on 16mm film) on videotape on Betacam SP.

Quantel, Harry and Cassandra devices were used for image manipulation.

The Children Of Hunter's Moor (British Tv Series 1991)

External links

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