I use to watch this when I was young but never fully appreciated it as much as I do now after watching it again more recently. I thought the acting and scripts were great if a little unrealistic with their happy endings at times (case in point - a convict gives up his freedom to save a boy even though he shows no empathy until that moment), and of course Judi Bowker and Stacy Dorning were both knockouts.
I have a long memory though and there was always one main gripe I had with the show. I am a stickler for continuity and I always remember how they never explained what happened to Vicky after the first season. We saw the introduction of her sister Jenny but simply no mention whatsoever of where her predecessor went to, not a letter from her, nor even a whisper from her father. It was as if she never existed. How hard would have been for the scriptwriters to have fixed that one little oversight?
Upon re-watching, the disappearance of at least one of the children in nearly every episode became apparent. Jenny was missing from nearly one fifth of the episodes which is high for a main star (Vicky only missed one in her season). Ned, even though he was living in Doctor Gordon's house, would be nowhere to be seen for weeks. It could be to do with the availability of the actors of course but still, I found it annoying. When one was gone, the others never even talked about them.
Finally, I cannot give this show a 10, because nothing, no horse show ever will compare to my beloved Follyfoot, my favourite horse show of all time, but for what it is and the decade it came from (who does series like this today of simple adventure and relative innocence?) The Adventures of Black Beauty comes a reasonable second.
I have a long memory though and there was always one main gripe I had with the show. I am a stickler for continuity and I always remember how they never explained what happened to Vicky after the first season. We saw the introduction of her sister Jenny but simply no mention whatsoever of where her predecessor went to, not a letter from her, nor even a whisper from her father. It was as if she never existed. How hard would have been for the scriptwriters to have fixed that one little oversight?
Upon re-watching, the disappearance of at least one of the children in nearly every episode became apparent. Jenny was missing from nearly one fifth of the episodes which is high for a main star (Vicky only missed one in her season). Ned, even though he was living in Doctor Gordon's house, would be nowhere to be seen for weeks. It could be to do with the availability of the actors of course but still, I found it annoying. When one was gone, the others never even talked about them.
Finally, I cannot give this show a 10, because nothing, no horse show ever will compare to my beloved Follyfoot, my favourite horse show of all time, but for what it is and the decade it came from (who does series like this today of simple adventure and relative innocence?) The Adventures of Black Beauty comes a reasonable second.