THAMES TV is to spend £300,000 on four new children's television series in a new attempt to catch the young 'viewers of the future.' Mr Lewis Rudd, head of Thames TV's children's programmes said yesterday: 'There has been a tendency to treat children as the forgotten audience.
'But I believe that is now changing. I believe children's programmes are worth spending a lot of time and money on.'
Thames, the London weekday company, is keeping its successful Magpie
programme and bringing in four new series to join it. They are:
Ace of Wands, a 13-part thriller, starring Michael MacKenzie (sic) as
a super-sleuth helped by his friends, played by 21-year-old Judy Lowe (sic),
Tony Selby and Donald Layne-Smith.
Two D's And A Dog, a comedy series starring Denise Coffey and David Jason - and an old English sheepdog called Fido.
Wreckers At Dead Eye, a six-part film series involving 18th-century Cornish ship wrecking, and a new Sexton Blake series, starring Laurence Payne as the detective.
This article was accompanied by a photograph
of Judy Loe with the caption "JUDY LOWE Sleuth's friend".
Of the other two new shows mentioned Two D's And A Dog ran for six episodes
in July and August 1970; Wreckers At Dead Eye, for six episodes from
October to December the same year. The revival of the Sexton Blake series
was also to be short-lived. It had run for four previous seasons from 1967 to
1969 made by both Thames Television and their London weekday predecessors Associated
Rediffusion. Like Ace of Wands, seasons consisted of several multi-episode
stories. It would return for just one further six-episode serial: Sexton
Blake And The Puff Adder. Despite its longevity (sixty episodes) and success,
it fares poorly in the archives with only a one episode still in existence (and
that is missing its title sequence). Unusually, for a videotaped children's
series of that time, Two D's And A Dog still exists in its entirety,
as does Wreckers - although as the latter was made on 16mm film, that
is less surprising.