Noah's Castle

Looking back at this dark kids tv drama first shown in 1980

In the late  Seventies Britain was in a sorry state. There was high unemployment, industrial unrest leading to shortages, high prices (even if inflation was “down” to 8%) and a continued feeling that something needed to be done. It was this backdrop that allowed Margaret Thatcher to win the general election the following year. Kids were not wholly protected from this strife either. Each day the teatime programme John Craven’s Newsround would offer a child friendly version of the news but one that did not shirk from telling the more serious stories. A more sombre portrait of how things might end up was also offered to kids in the tv drama Noah’s Castle. Adapted from the book by John Rowe Townsend it portrays a UK where hyperinflation is eating away at food supplies and jobs. Former military man Norman Mortimer believes he can see where this is headed so he buys an isolated house on the edge of town to move his family, filling the large basement with supplies despite hoarding being illegal.

 

Noah's Castle had first been published in 1975 and reflected the country's problems without sugar coating them. Its author John Roe Townsend was a writer credited with helping revive the genre of children’s literature using starker scenarios than the fantastical ones in which many kids writers wrapped social comment. He'd already penned three novels highlighting childhood poverty in a slum known as the `jungle`. Much of his work was influenced by working in Manchester and Yorkshire where he was born and several books were set in the same towns. His first novel Gumble’s Yard (which had some similar themes to Noah’s Castle) had been published in 1961. Another of his novels, The Intruder was also dramatized for television. For this production John McCarthy adapted the book and the serial was both produced and directed by Colin Nutley who though born in the UK spent a lot of his career directing in Sweden.

Many dystopian dramas aimed at younger audiences take place in a future quite removed from the present day; a place where some nuclear catastrophe or similar has taken away everything familiar or where kids are the only survivors. The thing about Noah’s Castle is its proximity to real life and events at the time the novel had been written and even when this adaptation was broadcast in 1980. From the start the production is sets a distinctive tone. Droning synthesiser music heralds images of street violence (not sure if these were specially filmed or taken from stock footage). In some ways the music prefigures the theme of the Terminator films of more than a decade later with which is shares a similar ambience. All of the filmed material in the series is superbly directed; shot in decaying urban locations and using surprisingly mobile camera tricks of the sort you’d expect these days. It probably had a low budget but makes the best use of these grim locations and everyday things. The wider overall situation is conveyed mostly through conversations or snippets of radio and TV broadcasts. Inevitably as with most tv productions of this era the interiors are mostly studio bound though these are extended sets that maintain the image of decline.

The main character of Mr Mortimer (we never find out his first name) is an intriguing one for any series, let alone one intended for a young audience. Unlikable, strict and single minded he runs the family like it is a military unit. There’s almost a comedic element to his stiff strictness; in another context he could be the straight faced lead of a sitcom. He is doing what he believes to be the right thing for his family even if some of them feel he is acting selfishly when they meet people with needs greater than theirs.

Mortimer however has no sympathy with those who have not made similar provision yet contradictorily opens his house to his former boss at the shoe shot where he works, Mr Gerald, whom he insists is treated like a hotel guest despite everything. This reveals him to be a man who still believes in the order of society even though Gerald no longer works at the shop and is hardly a friend. Mrs Mortimer initially falls into the Seventies drama cliché of downtrodden spouse who knows her husband is wrong but does her best to take care of the kids. She suffers in silence though the story ignores her more than it should. To modern eyes this seems a narrative weakness but gender equality in dramas of this era is rarer than it is today. Late in the series when she does finally speak up and act it's a moment to applaud.

Each of their offspring have differing views. Younger son Geoff obediently follows his father, happy to help him as well as picking up some of his self- centred rhetoric. The older brother Barry - whose character also narrates the story- is more open minded,  outspoken about the inequality. he sees beyond and inside the house. Though it appears younger sister Ellen gets little to do except pine for a dog she is the face of the austere times. When you think a young child her age should be carefree and chaotic, Ellen spends most of the serial looking sad and tired. The most interesting character is older daughter Nessie who is at the age when she wants to break free but is contained by everything that is going on. She keeps saying she will leave but remains partly out of loyalty to her siblings. I feel she might have been a better narrator for the story because she seems to have more perspective even than Barry.

Outside the Mortimers we also meet two characters who have different approaches to the crisis and who both have feelings for Nessie which fuels a certain rivalry.  Terry, who works in the Mortimer shoe shop, favours the equivalent of food banks giving supplies out for free but in a legal way. The more wayward Cliff goes for full anarchy mode raiding shops he believes are hiding supplies. Then there are gangs who take supplies from the likes of both of them personified by Vince Holloway. It is this push and pull rather than a complex narrative that creates the drama. 

I do puzzle a little over the casting just because each  of the main actors takes a different approach. David Neal plays Mortimer as a cold, almost ruthless man despite the fact he is trying to provide for his family. His buttoned up to burst persona takes a classical stage approach whereas Annette Ekblom as Nessie goes for naturalistic acting. Jack May, a man who somehow always seems spooky whatever he’s in, channels a sci-fi villain! As the boys Simon Gipps Kent as Barry seems like he just got back from public school whereas Marcus Francis's Geoff is more Grange Hill. The biggest surprise is the presence of comedian Mike Read in intimidating form as local wideboy Holloway. Despite these differences the cast works really well and perhaps they were chosen to offer contrasting approaches.

By focusing on the younger characters, the serial does make itself identifiable for the target audience. The downside of that is the adult characters can lean towards stereotypes with little nuance- so Mortimer himself never shows the warmth that must surely have existed for this to become such a large family. The arguments between Terry and Cliff boil down to different sides of the same problem and it feels like they are refusing to bury their comparatively small differences for the sake of drama. Even Mike Reid’s Holloway is a presence but never a character plus its unclear how he has obtained so much help for his own operation. He seems to be some sort of gang boss. The oddest person though is Gerald whose prolonged stay for his own comfort means he overlooks the obvious hoarding and  is also creepily suggestive towards Nessie. This sits uncomfortably now and I wonder if viewers at the time picked up on the subtext though actor Jack May is scary enough.

The narrative does skim over exactly how Mortimer manages to accumulate so much stock when everyone else is struggling; we keep seeing him come back with trucks filled with provisions. There are a few anomalies when it comes to shortages  as well - cigarettes for example seem in ample supply while public transport and schools appear to be running as normal. Anyone who wants one seems to have a vehicle of some kind when petrol is often one of the first things to run short or suffer huge price hikes in a crisis.  Yet there is an undercurrent of tension evident in most scenes in a scenario where ordinary products become rare. Just the presence of two tins of ham sets off ramifications that echo through the story. The depictions both of social unrest and the grind of queuing all stack up the misery. Notably one sequence shows people jostling for free food amongst them many pensioners and inserts like this are effective in bringing home the severity of the situation.

The story unfolds over several months, the worsening economic and political situation being relayed through news excerpts in the end credits as well as through radio and tv clips plus there's an opening narration by Barry for each episode. It’s a production with ambition, managing to utilise large numbers of extras especially late on. Episode five features a sequence where a mob burn out a food van and are then chased by police. The way it’s staged and shot gives it a realistic quality. Shots of soldiers on the streets call to mind Northern Ireland though I'm not sure if this was staged or real footage.

The serial eschews the usual optimistic ending that a lot of young adult stories choose in favour of a resignation and the suggestion that things will get much worse for the Mortimer family from here. All of their carefully stored supplies are taken and its not clear how they will cope now that their actions are out in the open. I suppose the slightly sweeter aspect of this ending is that at least the family are back together again after both Mrs Mortimer and Nessie had walked out. It is necessary for narrative reasons that Barry ends up standing with his father when everything is at risk even if it seems a rather speedy change of stance from that which he has expressed before. In these latter episodes that Simon Gipps Kent’s qualities as an actor shine through making us forget his rather upper class accent. With David Neal there are tiny moments where the harsh, steadfast character cracks allowing a little insight into how he is really feeling, something the production does not allow till almost the very end. I’m still intrigued by the way in which Mike Read manages to seem so menacing when using exactly the same tone as he did as the more genial comedian and tv host he was at the time.

One of the aspects that often separates kids tv drama from that made for adults is its less ambiguous characters. They are often either good or bad and even if they cross that divide into being bad they can be tempted back. Noah’s Castle dares the viewer of any age to pick a side. Nobody is totally right or wrong; for all their criticism of their father’s actions, the Mortimers eat well and have to hide their school sandwiches from other kids. Is Mr Mortimer doing the wrong thing for the right reasons? Plus when this story is finished the crisis clearly goes on so now they're secret is out what will they do?  Here, there are no easy answers.