Carrie's War (TV serial)

Plot

Set in Britain during World War Two, the story follows Carrie Willow, a girl of about ten, and her slightly younger brother Nick. They are evacuated from London to a rundown village in Wales during the Battle of Britain. The children are placed with Mr Samuel Evans, a fanatically religious and harsh shopkeeper, and his timid sister Auntie Lou, whom he dominates and bullies. Another evacuee, Albert, lives at a nearby country mansion called Druid's Bottom, run by Mrs Dilys Gotobed, the oldest Evans sister.

She is estranged from Mr Evans, penniless and terminally ill, and lives with her mentally disabled adult cousin Mr Johnny and the housekeeper Hepzibah Green. All the inhabitants of Druid's Bottom befriend Carrie and Nick. The series is a quiet, intimate story about relationships and change, with a vaguely supernatural theme: Hepzibah is reputed to be a wise woman, and a curse is rumored to hang over Druid's Bottom. Auntie Lou marries an American soldier and leaves over Mr Evans's objections.

Convinced Mr Evans stole the will, Carrie retaliates by stealing an old skull believed to control the curse; Druid's Bottom then burns down. Carrie later learns Mr Evans was innocent—there was no will. The Willow children go to live with family in Glasgow. In an epilogue thirty years later, adult Carrie returns with her two children to find Hepzibah and Mr Johnny still living at Druid's Bottom, now owned by Albert Sandwich.

Auntie Lou and her husband have lived in North Carolina since the war. Mr Evans, alone and unhappy, died shortly after Carrie and Nick left.

Production

Filmed by the BBC, the serial was shot mainly on location in Blaengarw, a rural Welsh village. Only two brief instances of Welsh appear: Mr Evans says grace in Episode 1, and the minister Mr Morgan speaks at Mrs Gotobed’s funeral in Episode 4. Railway scenes for Episodes 1 and 5 were captured on the Severn Valley Railway. Druid’s Bottom House was actually Bettiscombe Manor in Dorset, while the woodland path to Druid’s Bottom was filmed in woods at Rousdon, Devon. The five half-hour episodes first aired in January 1974. The child actors involved had very few other roles. The series is available on DVD and was mentioned in the 2015 BBC documentary From Andy Pandy To Zebedee.