Children of the Stones

Children of the Stones
Episodes:	7
Year:	1977
Country:	United Kingdom
Seasons:	1
Seasons Breakdown:	(1) 7
Category:	Science
Colour:	Yes
Format:	Serial
Company:	AN HTV PRODUCTION.
Creator:	JEREMY BURNHAM & TREVOR RAY
Run Time (mins):	30
Language:	English
Type of Show:	Live Action
Status:	Ended
Broadcaster:

Summary

The narrative concerns a village whose inhabitants are held in a state of psychic subjugation, apparently generated by the forces emanating from an extensive Neolithic stone circle. Scientist Adam Brake and his son Matthew arrive in the village of Milbury and quickly observe that the residents display an unnatural docility, greeting one another with the ritualised phrase “Happy Day.” Only a small number of outsiders remain unaffected, including the Brakes themselves and Dai, a half‑deranged wanderer who shelters within an ancient burial mound known as The Sanctuary.

Gradually, the other newcomers, Margaret, the museum curator, and her daughter Sandra; Dr Lyle and his son Kevin; and the farmer Browning with his son Jimmo, succumb to the same euphoric, compliant state. At the centre of this network of psychic influence stands the village squire, Professor Hendrick, an astronomer who previously identified Hendrick’s Nova, now collapsed into a black hole exerting immense gravitational power.

Adam soon realises that he and Matthew are the only remaining individuals not yet drawn under Hendrick’s control. Their attempt to escape the stone circle ends abruptly when their car crashes under mysterious circumstances. They regain consciousness in Hendrick’s residence, where they uncover the mechanism behind his domination: the alignment of the supernova remnant with the stone circle, which functions as a primitive energy conduit. The process requires exact timing, and by disrupting this alignment, Adam succeeds in breaking the psychic hold and restoring the villagers’ autonomy.

Cast

Hendrick IAIN CUTHBERTSON, Adam Brake GARETH THOMAS, Dai FREDDIE JONES, Maragret VERONICA STRONG, Matthew PETER DENIM, Sandra KATHERINE LEVY, Mrs. Crabtree RUTH DUNNING, Miss Clegg JUNE BARRIE,Bob IAN DONNOLLY, Kevin DARREN HATCH, Jimmo GRAY LOCK, Mrs. Warner PEGGY ANN WOOD, Dr. Lyle RICHARD MATTHEWS, Link JOHN WOODNUT.