King of the Castle (TV series)
A surreal fantasy serial about a boy transported to a twisted world.
King of the Castle is a British children's fantasy drama serial produced by HTV for ITV in 1977. The story follows a lonely boy named Roland Wright, who lives unhappily in a council flat with his father Ron and stepmother June. After fleeing from local bullies in a broken lift, Roland is transported to a bizarre fantasy world where the people and places are distorted versions of his real life.
The show was one of HTV's most ambitious projects, costing £300,000—a large sum for a children's programme. Producers spent nine months auditioning 200 actors for the role of Roland. Originally scheduled for a children's timeslot, ITV's Network Planning Committee deemed it "too scary" for children to watch alone, delaying its broadcast by four months. It eventually aired in a Sunday teatime slot intended for family viewing.
Philip Da Costa played Roland, with supporting roles from Talfryn Thomas, Fulton Mackay, Milton Johns, and Angela Richards. The seven episodes, each 30 minutes including advertisements, aired from 8 May to 19 June 1977. Episodes were directed by Peter Hammond, Terry Harding, and Leonard White. For the sword fight in Episode 5, John V. Clarke of the British Kendo Association served as fight adviser and received an on-screen credit.
The complete series was released on DVD by Network DVD on 8 June 2009, exclusively through their website. Because Episode 3 no longer survives in broadcast quality, the DVD version uses an off-air VHS recording.
The Guinness Book of Classic British TV noted the series as one of several prominent ITV telefantasy shows for younger viewers from this era. The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama described it as "clearly a highly intelligent and particularly sinister story... a one of a kind" that children's television has not matched since. In 2016, writer Bob Baker published a novelisation of the series through Fantom Publishing.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Fantasy / Drama / Children's
- Writer
- Bob Baker / Dave Martin
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Num Series
- 1
- Num Episodes
- 7
- List Episodes
- #Episode guide
- Runtime
- 30 minutes
- Company
- HTV West
- Channel
- ITV
- First Aired
- 1977-05-08
- Last Aired
- 1977-06-19
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
King of the Castle was one of HTV's most ambitious productions. HTV spent £300,000 on production (a large sum for a children's programme) and the producers spent nine months auditioning 200 actors to play the part of Roland. Originally, King of the Castle had been intended to air in the children's television slot. However, ITV's Network Planning Committee deemed the programme 'too scary' for children to watch alone. King of the Castle was delayed for four months. It was eventually broadcast in the 'Sunday teatime slot', for programmes for parents and children to watch together.
Philip Da Costa starred as Roland, while other prominent roles were played by Talfryn Thomas, Fulton Mackay, Milton Johns and Angela Richards. The series was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin. Episodes 1 and 2 were directed by Peter Hammond, Episodes 3, 5 & 7 by Terry Harding, and Episodes 4 & 6 by Leonard White. For the sword fight between Roland and the Warrior in Episode 5, John V. Clarke of the British Kendo Association was brought in to act as fight adviser — for which he received an on-screen credit on the closing titles.
Reader's Guide
King of the Castle is notable as a particularly ambitious and unusual children's television serial from the 1970s. Its high budget and lengthy casting process reflected HTV's commitment to the project, while its delayed broadcast due to being deemed 'too scary' for children alone marked it as a boundary-pushing programme. The series has been noted in reference works such as The Guinness Book of Classic British TV and The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama, the latter describing it as 'clearly a highly intelligent and particularly sinister story...King of the Castle is a one of a kind and children's television hasn't seen the like of it since.' The series was released on DVD by Network DVD on 8 June 2009, with Episode 3 sourced from an off-air VHS recording as it no longer exists in the archives in broadcast quality. A novelisation by Bob Baker was published in 2016 by Fantom Publishing.
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