| The Adventures of Black Beauty | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children Drama |
| Written by | Ted Willis (head writer) Richard Carpenter David Butler |
| Directed by | Charles Crichton Peter Duffell John Reardon |
| Starring | Judi Bowker William Lucas Stacy Dorning Roderick Shaw Charlotte Mitchell Michael Culver |
| Theme music composer | Denis King |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Paul Knight |
| Producer(s) | Sidney Cole |
| Location(s) | Hertfordshire, England |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | The Fremantle Corporation London Weekend Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Picture format | Colour |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | 17 September 1972 – 27 March 1974 |
The Adventures of Black Beauty is a British children's television drama series produced by London Weekend Television and shown by ITV in the United Kingdom between 1972 and 1974. It was distributed internationally by London Weekend International.
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Two seasons were produced, the first airing from September 1972 to March 1973 and the second from September 1973 to March 1974. Although it was mainly aimed at children, it was shown in the Sunday teatime family timeslot and gained a wide audience, becoming popular enough to make the general Top 20 ratings. It was repeated regularly, although often on a regional basis, for many years, its last full repeat run being on Sunday mornings from 1986 to 1988. It also aired in the United States on Nickelodeon in the 1980s and is currently shown on some affiliates of the Retro Television Network.
The series was not an adaptation of the book by Anna Sewell, but a "continuation" featuring new characters created by Ted Willis, most prominently Dr James Gordon, played by William Lucas, and his children Vicky, played by Judi Bowker (who became Jenny, played by Stacy Dorning, in the second series) and Kevin, played by Roderick Shaw. Other writers included David Butler and Richard Carpenter, while directors included Charles Crichton and Peter Duffell. The series, which was filmed mainly at Stockers Farm, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, was widely acclaimed for its high production values and quality of writing and acting, and at times had remarkable English gothic overtones for a children's series.
The theme tune, "Galloping Home", written by Denis King and performed by the London String Chorale, was released as a single and peaked at number 31 in the UK charts in the week of February 2, 1974. It was later used at the climax of the first series of I'm Alan Partridge, with Alan dreaming of running through a field as Black Beauty does in the series' title sequence. The theme tune was also featured in the series Brainiac: Science Abuse. It actually has lyrics by Dick Vosburgh as revealed by Denis King at a memorial concert for Dick Vosburgh in July 2007.
The series The New Adventures of Black Beauty (1990–91) was a continuation of the 1970s series.
The theme appears in Alan Partridge's party in I'm Alan Partridge.
A number of video releases over the years were superseded by two DVD releases, featuring selected episodes from both series, in 2001. The entire series has been released on DVD in Region 2 by Network DVD and in Region 1 by Image Entertainment.
| Season/Series | Ep# | Region 1 | Region 2 (UK) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Adventures of Black Beauty: Season 1 | 26 | May 5, 2009[1] | 3 September 2007[2] |
| The Adventures of Black Beauty: Season 2 | 26 | August 4, 2009[3] | 14 April 2008[4] |
| The Adventures of Black Beauty: The Complete Series | 52 | N/A | 5 October 2009[5] |