Background and production
The series, which was filmed on the
Harewood family estate, was set at a home of rest for horses. Despite an apparent appeal limited to young girls with an equine interest,
Follyfoot was actually aimed squarely at the teenage market and often had challenging things to say about the treatment of horses and animals generally in British society. The ethos of
Follyfoot generally was to give another chance to both horses and people who had been rejected by the rest of society: the stance of the series was recognisably pro-animal, and characters who resembled the archetypes of the
Pullein-Thompson sisters et al. were overwhelmingly shown in a negative light. Continuity in the series was assured by the use of mostly one writer, Tony Essex (writing under the pen name Francis Stevens), but there were also contributions from
Rosemary Anne Sisson.
The series' theme song, "The Lightning Tree", written by Steven Francis (pen name of Francis Essex, the brother of Tony Essex) and sung by
The Settlers, is well-remembered, sometimes more so than the series itself. The song reached No. 36 in the UK charts.
[2] An album featuring music from the series was also released.
The main actors were
Gillian Blake as Dora,
Steve Hodson as Steve,
Christian Rodska as Ron Stryker,
Desmond Llewelyn as the Colonel and
Arthur English as Slugger. Several other famous people had minor roles, one being
Pam St Clement, the others being
Gretchen Franklin as the Colonel's housekeeper and
Kathy Staff in two separate bit parts. But what really characterised the series was its rotation of directors, many of whom have since become revered figures in the UK film industry, including
Stephen Frears,
Michael Aptedand even
Jack Cardiff who took time out from working overseas with
Kirk Douglas to direct two episodes of the series. Also, in the third series, most notably,
David Hemmings took the time to appear in one episode, "Uncle Joe" and also to direct two other episodes which took place before and after that episode: "The Bridge Builder" and the final episode, "Walk In the Wood".
The series proved to be very popular and was sold to many countries at the time of the original UK transmission. The first series won the Harlequin award for best production at the 1972
BAFTA Awards, while the second series episode, "The Debt", reached the top 20 in the weekly television ratings—a rarity for an afternoon-timeslot show.
[3][4] During production for the third series, it was intended that this would be the last, a film version of
Follyfoot was planned, but the idea was ultimately shelved.
[5] The children's magazine
Look-in featured a picture-strip of the series each week as well as regular features, while five
annuals were released in association with Yorkshire Television. These ran until 1976—long after the series had finished.
[6]
Follifoot (note the slightly different spelling) is a small village just three miles from
Harrogate, not far from the Yorkshire Television studios in
Leeds.
