In 1984, the BBC produced one of the most memorable and ambitious children’s television programmes of all time.
Based on the novel by John Masefield, The Box of Delights was a tick-all-the-boxes psychedelic alchemy that combined captivating story, superb ensemble performance and special effects that transcended the clunky, pre-digital technology of the age to create something timeless and magnificent.
> Buy The Box of Delights on DVD on Amazon.
Exactly 30 years on from the original transmission, CultBox has been looking back at every episode of this groundbreaking and much-loved festive serial.
(If you’re a newcomer to The Box of Delights, it’s best you don’t read this article until you’ve seen all six episodes. There may be spoilers ahead.)
Synopsis: Kay rescues Cole Hawlings and they free the remaining prisoners from the cells beneath the theological college. When Abner Brown realises he had the Box of Delights under his hand and let it go, he floods the dungeons in a fury – but to no avail. The captives have escaped and his former cohorts Foxy-faced Charles, Chubby Joe and Sylvia Daisy Pouncer have fled with all his loot.
After successfully negotiating their way through ten foot snowdrifts conjured by the last of Abner’s devilry, Kay and his companions – including the captured clergymen and choirboys – make it to Tatchester Cathedral in time for the Christmas Eve service.
Frights: Abner’s demise starts as comic – he’s hit on the head by a bag of flour dropped from the flying car by Joe – but when he falls into the weir and slowly sinks below the water, it turns quite eerie.
Into the Mystic: Abner may have come across as more of a ranting idiot than a wily sorcerer in previous episodes, but there’s no doubting his magical powers here.
Inside a secret temple that looks like the best TARDIS the Master never had, and with the grudging assistance of a cephalic brass statue named Head, Abner calls up demonic beasts to prevent any other clergymen reaching Tatchester. Slave of the Night, Creature and Animus fly off to wreak mayhem – but not murder. As Head reminds him, Abner cannot take life. Presumably, this refers only to the orders given to the summoned fiends, as an inability to kill would render his mortal threats against Kay and Cole Hawlings utterly impotent.
Speaking of the Punch and Judy Man, Cole’s wizardry is also very much to the fore. Not only does he free the Waterfall Boy from Abner’s control using only his eyes and create a key to his own cell with another burst of ocular witchery, he also turns his hat into a boat that carries him, Kay, Caroline Louisa, Peter and the Bishop of Tatchester up the weir to freedom.
So much for the old magic not being much use against Abner’s new magic. It makes one wonder whether Cole actually allowed himself to be captured, safe in the knowledge that Kay was on hand to do the donkey work in the fight against evil, and used his incarceration as a chance to get a bit of much-needed rest.
It’s hardly noble behaviour, but then neither is pinching Arnold of Todi’s magic box in the first place. The moral complexity of the old showman is one of his most fascinating qualities – and it also emphasises that Kay Harker is the real hero of the story.
The Purple Pim: ‘Thank heavens,’ Peter gasps as he’s freed from his cell. ‘If that place isn’t the purple pim!’
The End: As the cathedral bells ring out for Christmas Day, Kay flies away through a sky that starts to spin into blackness. He opens his eyes to find himself on the train home from school, being awoken by Caroline Louisa.
‘Did you have a bad dream?’ she asks. ‘Oh no,’ he replies. ‘A wonderful one.’
An ‘it was all a dream’ ending is usually a massive cop-out, but The Box of Delights is saved by its ambiguity. As Kay leaves the railway station, he sees two familiar clergymen – one chubby, one foxy-faced – who smile and raise a hat to him.
His adventures could have been just a nightmare – the appearance of Joe and Charlie prompted by a chance meeting earlier on the journey, perhaps? – but perhaps they actually happened, with Kay putting time back on its correct path by righting Abner’s wrongs and then being returned (through the magic of Cole Hawlings and the Box?) to the beginning once all was well.
The uncertainty is never resolved, leaving the viewer to make up his or her mind, but as the snow swirls around the station and the closing music swells for the final time, it adds a final splash of mystery to this most intriguing and enchanting of drama serials, which continues to resonate with audiences three decades after its original transmission.
The years pass, Christmases come and go, but the magic in The Box of Delights remains as potent as ever. The wolves are still running.
> Buy The Box of Delights on DVD on Amazon.
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