Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas. I'm having a bit of a break at the moment while I try and ...
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas. I'm having a bit of a break at the moment while I try and sort out some things (perhaps Ciao will do the same!), but will hopefully be back in the new year.
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The first series of Australian children's sitcom "Round the Twist" was made in 1989, and hit British screens on the BBC in 1990.
I have many happy memories of watching this with my brother (I was 9, he was 20 - we both loved it!), and singing along to the classic theme tune (sung by Tamsin West who played the part of Linda). Having not seen the programme in years, I was eager to get my hands on the DVD, and relive my childhood!
Based upon books written by Paul Jennings (who also wrote the script for the shows), the sitcom is about the Twist family who move from the city to live in a lighthouse. The family consists of the father Tony Twist (Richard Moir), twins Pete (Sam Vanderberg) and Linda (Tamsin West), and the cheeky youngster Bronson (Rodney McLennan). Other important characters include the Gribble family (Mr Gribble has plans to get his hands on the lighthouse),
school-teacher Faye (who Tony has an interest in), and Nell the old lady who lives in the cottage next door and used to live in the lighthouse.
The family soon find that there is nothing ordinary about the lighthouse. Throughout the episodes there is mysterious music coming from a room at the top, lots of ghosts, and many strange occurrences - a baby growing in the cabbage patch, a video remote control with rewind and fast-forward buttons, magic lipstick, a scarecrow which comes to life and many more!
There are 13 episodes in the series each lasting 25 minutes, which makes the DVD excellent value for money. The episodes are as follows:
Episode 1 - Skeleton on the Dunny Episode 2 - Birdsdo Episode 3 - A Good Tip for Ghosts Episode 4- The Cabbage Patch Fib Episode 5- Spaghetti Pig Out Episode 6 - The Gum Leaf War Episode 7 - Santa Claws Episode 8 - Wunderpants Episode 9 - Lucky Lips Episode 10- Know All Episode 11 - The Copy Episode 12 - Without My Pants Episode 13 - Lighthouse Blues
My favourite episodes have to be Episodes 11 and 12. In "The Copy" (episode 11), the Twist children find a cloning machine in the lighthouse, which can clone anything (including people). However, while at first this seems to be an amazing machine with endless possibilities, things soon start to go wrong. In "Without my pants" (Episode 12), Pete Twist gets a bizarre problem (don't ask how - watch it to find out!) where he says "without my pants" at the end of every sentence. Ok it is childish, but it still has me rolling around laughing without my pants!
Although aimed at children, the humour suits all ages, perhaps Australian children's TV is just funnier than British kids TV? Perhaps though I am biased having seen it the first time round.
Three more series of Round The Twist were made. The second series in 1993 had different children as the three originals had grown up too much to play the parts. While I did like the second series at the time and the storylines were excellent (some in fact were better), I could not get over the cast change (and Bronson's hair colour change!), and besides my brother had left home so wasn't there to laugh/sing along with me! I haven't yet bought series 2 although I most probably will at some point when the price is right, and I am sure I will enjoy it.
As for the third and fourth series, I had never seen any of them until a few weeks ago when I caught one being repeated on the TV. Sadly it seems that the magic of the first series (and even series 2) has been lost. Maybe that is my age and not having seen them the first time around, maybe it is because the director and people behind the scenes were different.
Even if you didn't see Round the Twist when it was first on, if you have a quirky sense of humour I think you'll enjoy it, so it is well worth a look. I certainly see no reason why kids today wouldn't still love it, as it doesn't seem particularly dated to me. I think I bought it for £6.99 on Amazon, so it hardly broke the bank! Unfortunately there are no extras on the DVD. It would have been nice to have a film about what the original kids from Series 1 think of it now and what they are doing, although this can be found out through a bit of searching on the net.
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The complete first series available on DVD for the first time! First screened in 1990 ... more
Round The Twist soon became a much loved children's show when it was first aired on in the UK on the BBC. Adapted from the stories of Paul Jennings Round The Twist...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
This complete first series tells the tale, over 13 episodes, of Tony Twist, (The long ... more
suffering Dad), and his 3 children, 14 year old twins Pete and Linda, and 8 year old Bronson, who all move into an old lighthouse on the rugged Australian coast. Of c...
![Round The Twist - Series 1 [DVD] [1989]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/117879558.jpg "Round The Twist - Series 1 [DVD] [1989]")
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