Produced in 1984 and recently re-released in a special edition blu ray, the
BBC’s The Box of Delights adaptation is lauded as a classic and it’s
easy to see why. With an unprecedented for the time £1m plus budget the six-part
serial places John Masefield’s story in as many real surroundings as possible
with a minimum of tv studio and a maximum of location while depicting the more fantastical
elements largely using animation. It’s an approach that gives the production a
timeless look which, had it relied solely on blue screen effects of the day,
might appear more ragged to the modern eye. Noticeably where it does do that
those are the bits that have dated the most though the composition of many of
them still looks good. A serial that is fondly recalled by a generation, how
does it hold up forty years on?
