Sound & Vision: November 1987

Letter from “The Witch”

It’s not every day that Books for Keeps gets a letter from a witch – so we thought you’d like to read this one.

We understand from the BBC that the witch is right! Simon and the Witch started a thirteen episode series on 16th November. It appears on Mondays (at 4.45) and Tuesdays (4.20) and runs until December 29th (BBC 1).

Margaret Stuart Barry has written the storyline for the series based on her original characters. The latest book Simon and the Witch in School is based on the TV series.

Elizabeth Spriggs plays the witch, Jean Sims, Lady Fox Custard and Hugh Pollard is Simon. The series is produced by Angela Beeching.

The ‘woman wot drors the picshers’ for the books is Linda Birch.

Hardbacks:

The Witch VIP, 0 00 184955 7 £4.95

The Witch on Holiday, 0 00 184932 8, £5.25

Simon and the Witch in School, 0 00 184874 7, £4.95 (published on 19th October)

Paperbacks:

Simon and the Witch, 0 00 672064 I , £1.75

The Return of the Witch, 0 00 672063 3, £1.75

The Witch of Monopoly Manor, 0 00 671788 8, £ 1.75

The Witch on Holiday, 0 00 672300 4, £1.75

Aliens in the Family

Margaret Mahy’s gripping SF adventure has been adapted for television by Allan Baker. The six episode series runs until December 23rd and is screened on BBC I on Wednesdays. Grant Thatcher, shown here on the TV tie-in cover from Hippo (0 590 70557 1, £1.50) plays Bond, the strange fugitive boy befriended by Dora, Lewis and their step-sister Jake. Why is he so secretive? Why wont he be separated from his transistor? Find out in a story which is as much about belonging in families as it is about other worlds.

Aliens in the Family is directed by Christine Secombe and produced by Paul Stone.