jyanendra This is one series that has the power to literally transport one in time back to his or her childhood of growing up with Enid Blyton books. The Famous Five along with other book series as the Five Find- Outers, the Secret Seven and others had the power to captivate the growing child's mind and deliver them into the arenas of adventures that are truly captivating and thrilling. It was therefore tremendously exciting for me to discover that the Famous Five made it into a television series towards the end of the seventies. Who can ever forget the fact that the actors in these adventures are children just like us living ordinary lives in rural England. Even though I was growing up in India at that time, somehow Blyton's mode of description enabled me to instantly relate to those kids and the adventures they fell into. I read almost all of Enid Blyton by the end of the early seventies. The Famous Five provided endless excitement and portray no-nonsense kids having excitement in the course of their daily lives. It is regrettable that today's kids mostly cannot relate to children half-a-century ago. And who can fault them? Times change. Today is the day of the iPad and the iPhone, fast food and an even faster life. We are living in an era where we are witnessing the transition of generations. Soon, many would not even know who Enid Blyton was. Except for old codgers like me who grew up with her great storybooks.

Rueiro I was 9 when I read my first Famous Five book, which I borrowed from a friend. It was the adventure of the scientist being held kidnapped in the old castle and the Five's troubles with the fairground people. From that day on I became an addict. Enid Blyton certainly had the knack for creating interesting stories with a great deal of suspense that kept you in tenterhooks. In a little over four years I managed to gather the entire collection of the FF books, 1980s hardback Spanish editions which I still own today. This series was first broadcast in Spain in 1978 -I was too young at that time but I remember it-, and then again in the summer-autumn of 1987, when I was 14 and had read all of the books. I loved it right away, although I found the contemporary settings with bottom-bell trousers, long-haired boys and the Ford Fiestas and Cortinas a little funny. Still, the kids' acting is all right, they had talent: George is the stubborn tomboy but quite likable, Anne (fortunately!) is a lot more mature than in the original stories, Julian is the same I-know-everything bossy type but still fine, and Dick (my favourite) is very much like in the books too, always in the background and under Julian's authority but yet he saves the day quite a few times. Michael Hinz makes an excellent Uncle Quentin, since he brings to the character some real-life maturity he has not in the books. I wonder why the screenwriters created the Rogers character instead of having Joan the cook, but I like him all right and his scenes are often comical since he is a bit of a fool. And then what a cast of guest actors to play the baddies: Ronald Fraser, Patrick Troughton, Brian Glover, the always posh James Villiers... You will never see a cast like this in a children's series nowadays.

kathyjp The 1978 Famous Five series has always been a favourite with me. I was only 12 at the time it began, but watched repeats of it during my teens. I always loved Michelle as George, but I've heard that she died some time ago. This is very sad if true! It is lovely to think we have this series to remember her by. I'm glad that the rest of the 'Five' in this show are still living and doing well. I have most of this series on DVD now and even though I'm well out of my youth, still play the show once in a while. I liked Quentin Kirrin in this series and his wife, they were great and Quentin was very much like his book self, eccentric, short-tempered,yet gentle and kind. Although, I wish we had seen a little of Julian, Dick and Anne's parents-they did occasionally come into the books, but I can't remember much of them in the series, at all-if you watch the 1996 series you do see them with their 3 children, a little. I wish more of Enid Blyton's books were produced for TV, children still love them and read them today. The 1996 series of 'Five' is also a very good one for those who enjoy this Blyton series.

Harpreet Singh The Famous Five were the first 'novels' I had picked up to read when I turned eight. Enid Blyton's Five brought a lot of adventure into my life and I couldn't wait to read all of them...and then this series was aired on our telly as reruns in the early '80's, every Sunday morning at 10:00 am. The first thing I still remember about this series is the song: We are the Famous Five, Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog.Michelle Gallager as George and Timmy are the two characters I really liked in the adaptation. Marcus Harris was also another child actor who I immediately liked...the story lines were well adapted, as far as I remember - from the perspective of a kid, these episodes were sensational. I watched parts of these shows on youtube again a while back and they still are full of memory. The food that the children eat, the places they have their adventures in, the characters that they portray are all wonderful and take one back to the time when we were children and would love to be a part of one of the Five's fabulous adventures!