The Adventures of Black Beauty
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The Adventures of Black Beauty was a television drama series produced by London Weekend Television, shown on ITV in the United Kingdom and exported worldwide. Two series were produced, the first airing from autumn 1972 to spring 1973 and the second from autumn 1973 to spring 1974. Although it was mainly aimed at children, it was shown in the Sunday teatime "family" timeslot and gained a wide audience, becoming popular enough to make the general Top 20 ratings. It was repeated regularly, although often on a regional basis, for many years, its last full repeat run being on Sunday mornings from 1986 to 1988. It also aired in the United States on Nickelodeon in the 1980s.
The series was not an adaptation of the book by Anna Sewell, but a "continuation" featuring new characters created by Ted Willis, most prominently Dr James Gordon, played by William Lucas, and his children Vicky, played by Judi Bowker (who became Jenny, played by Stacy Dorning, in the second series) and Kevin, played by Roderick Shaw. Other writers included David Butler and Richard Carpenter, while directors included Charles Crichton and Peter Duffell. The series, which was filmed mainly at Stockers Farm, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, was widely acclaimed for its high production values and quality of writing and acting, and at times had remarkable "English gothic" overtones for a children's series. A number of video releases over the years were superseded by two DVD releases, featuring selected episodes from both series, in 2001.
The theme tune, "Galloping Home" by the London String Chorale, was released as a single and peaked at number 31 in the UK charts in the week of February 2, 1974. It was later used at the climax of the first series of I'm Alan Partridge, with Alan dreaming of running through a field as Black Beauty does in the series' title sequence. The theme tune was also feautured in the series Brainiac: Science Abuse.
