Hello!

[Silvia M]

Hi, it's wonderful to join this forum - even if I am a bit late... I'm writing from Australia. I used to watch the show on channel 9 after school was over for the day. Although I never got to own a pony, I loved the theme song and this show immensely. I hope to re watch some episodes through my adult eyes, but I'm guessing it's a timeless window to me.

[pete2013]

Hi, it's wonderful to join this forum - even if I am a bit late... I'm writing from Australia. I used to watch the show on channel 9 after school was over for the day. Although I never got to own a pony, I loved the theme song and this show immensely. I hope to re watch some episodes through my adult eyes, but I'm guessing it's a timeless window to me.

 

Most of us are ‘late’ insofar as - between the most recent TV showing of Follyfoot (in the UK - mid-late eighties, I think) and its next ‘appearance’ (ignoring the commercial VHS video of just three episodes) as the original web/fan-site in the early 2000s, there was essentially…nothing. 

Those fans without (early) audio-tape, (later) personal video tape or purchased ‘unofficial’ recordings had nothing but fading, yet very fond memories.  Twenty-five-years-plus is such a long time…

Since its emergence, the creators, contributors, administrators and members have made the Forum & its associated Fan-site THE resource for everything Follyfoot.

  to the Forum!

[Pen.]

Hi Silvia,
Welcome to the forum. It’s not as active as it once was but have a good browse around. I’m sure you’ll find lots of interest. Don’t forget to look at the website too.

Happy to have you here.

Pen. xx

 

[Lord Charles]

Hi Silvia! Great to see a new member here!
 
I have New Zealand nationality through my father but his mother's family was from Tasmania, and I have cousins in Melbourne and Surfer's Paradise! I went on a cruise from Sydney at the end of 2018 and visited my cousin in Melbourne, and also found the grave of my great-great-grandfather in Hobart!

[Silvia M]

Thanks Pete, Pen and Lord Charles for your warm welcome 

Yes this is an amazing forum full of lots of dedication to an awesome TV production.

Time flies - I remember here in suburban Adelaide in the mid 1970's looking out of my junior primary classroom window (dreaming) watching a curious act - it was of a horse being trained/ 'broken in'/schooled, on a long lead going round in a circle. I saw this in Follyfoot as well. The farm was the last in the area and all too soon gone - the land bought up by government to make a Busway - an O bahn (I say this with strange amusement as I have a German mother). I think progress is a very subjective thing.

Thanks again - let's hope to keep the memories alive for a next generation. 

[pete2013]

…I remember here in suburban Adelaide in the mid 1970's…looking out of my junior primary classroom window (dreaming) watching a curious act - it was of a horse being trained/ 'broken in'/schooled, on a long lead going round in a circle. I saw this in Follyfoot as well.

Silvia,

Follyfoot was first broadcast in the UK in June 1971 and was distributed internationally.  I have long wondered when it was screened elsewhere, having previously noted a comment that it appeared in Finland in about 1972.

I’d be interested to know if you can recall the date Follyfoot was first shown in Australia.   

[Silvia M]

Hi Pete,

I can't recall an exact date. I do remember it aired (in Adelaide) on Channel 9 in the afternoon around the 4.30pm timeslot. Follyfoot was embedded in an afternoon locally produced children's show called The Channel Niners (!). I also recall The Land of the Giants and the US show Lost in Space also aired at the timeslot. I have been reading another Aussie - possibly Sabrina - I think - mentioning that not all 39 episodes were shown here in Oz.
To be honest, I only recall seeing the show run once, most probably somewhere between 1977 - 1979. I don't remember seeing more than a handful of episodes, so I'm guessing it was season one.
It may have been repeated but I didn't see it again. I did also know about the books as I was a big reader and a very big horse book reader.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.
I'm not sure where to find archives for channel guides here in Oz, I'm thinking of looking in Trove  https://trove.nla.gov.au/ shortly. 

[Silvia M]

Hi Pete,

Hope you got my message. Among with the amazing Trove as a research site for Follyfoot info on Australian soil, I found this link for Classic TV guides, it's open on the search page for Follyfoot https://televisionau.com/?s=follyfoot

Interesting that the Canberra TV guides I saw on Trove weren't mentioned on the link aforementioned.

Here is the answer that I found on Trove as to when Follyfoot premiered on Australian TV:
"FOLLYFOOT" an
award-winning English
drama set on a farm for
rescued horses, has its
Australian premiere on
TCN9 on Sunday,
November 26, at 7.30
p.m.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51777138?searchTerm=follyfoot

from November 1972!
Now I know why I never saw this run of episodes  - I was not even at kindy yet 

[Lord Charles]

Hi Silvia

It sounds as if the episodes were broadcast in Australia about a year after they came out in the UK.

That's sad but interesting about the farm makng way for the busway. When I visited Australia in 2004 I went for a return trip on the Busway, just to see what it was like! I think it's good to give priority to public transport but I thought the busway itself was rather ugly with all the concrete - a traditional tramline like the one to Glenelg (which I also went on - to the beach!) - would have been much nicer!

[Silvia M]

Hi Lord Charles

Yes the O-bahn does add modern convenience but yes there is a lot of concrete for its tracks. Unless you grew up in the local area of Dernancourt/ Windsor Gardens, no one would know about the farm, the horses and the stables across the road from it.The lovely of clickety clack trams to Glenelg has also been upgraded since you were here. The route has new carriages and a new track - the carriage glides now instead of clackety wheels. Open windows have been disappearing from public transport since the mid 1980s and so it is with the new trams. The new carriages have driver operated heating/cooling instead, as in the modern buses (all nowadays). Good you had a ride on the lovely old tram! 

[pete2013]

Hi Pete,

Here is the answer that I found on Trove as to when Follyfoot premiered on Australian TV:
"FOLLYFOOT"…has its
Australian premiere on
TCN9 on Sunday,
November 26, at 7.30
p.m…November 1972!
Now I know why I never saw this run of episodes  - I was not even at kindy yet 

Silvia,

It’s always a thrill when there is a new discovery!

All I realistically hoped for was that you’d recall an approximate date based upon your memory of staring out of the classroom window and its association with Follyfoot. 

I’ve taken a look at “Trove” and noted the date Follyfoot was first televised.  1972 “feels” about right; a sufficiently quick sale of the programme by the producers, but sufficient time for other television broadcasters to gauge the quality of what they were purchasing.

When you guessed 1977-1979, I confess I had a “rub-my-chin moment”; for a successful and widely acclaimed TV programme, six years between premiering in the country of origin and doing so internationally, seemed a long time.

What you have unearthed not only:

1) Answers my question,
2) answers your unasked question about what you watched all those years ago and
3) adds to the accumulated knowledge of Follyfoot -

but also provides a news-clipping which will - hopefully - be added to the Website. 

Thank you very much for taking the time to follow-up on this!


Pete 

[Silvia M]

Hi Pete

I'm glad to help  There's definitely news clippings of Follyfoot's premiere and subsequent airings over the years in Australia - for any one that's interested to have a look 
This is the helpful side to the internet!