What made Catweazle Special to you?

I was only 7 when Catweazle first aired but by then I was already interested in anything with a fantasy element to it. The time travel aspect I liked, no doubt encouraged by several years of watching Dr Who.
But once you were drawn in there was little to stop you having a great time each week. I can still recall how unhappy I felt at the end of series 1. I didn't know there would be a series 2 so Catweazle wandering off into the lake back to his own time didn't really feel like closure and it was the same feeling I had at the end of Ace of Wands a couple of years later.
Very pleased when the show returned although like most people I missed Carrot and the rest of the regular cast. I did enjoy the new members of the cast but always missed Carrot and Co.
Thankfully at the time, although we lived in the Anglia area we had a primitive form of cable tv called Multisignals which brought us access to London ITV and BBC. Anyone around at the time will tell you that getting an extra ITV region really was like getting an extra channel. You'd see US imports and movies that might never reach your region and you could also be lucky with repeats.
I'm sure that Anglia and most other regions if not all of them aired Catweazle series 1 then series 2 a year later and that was it , never to return.
Just as Thames viewers benefited from Ace of Wands repeats the rest of the country never saw LWT viewers got to see repeats of Catweazle series 1 and 2 that I don't think anyone else saw (be interested to know if they did).
Unfortunately in summer 1973 we moved and access to Thames and LWT was gone and I only had Anglia. You only have to look at the Anglia listings for the 70's to see how inferior it was if you weren't interested in farming.
IIRC LWT aired some Catweazle again in the mid 70's but this time I could only look at the listings and sigh.
And that was it for Catweazle on ITV....
...but then in the mid 80's LWT showed the series yet again and once more I don't think anyone else had it. By that time I was in a circle of collectors who traded tapes of series which didn't get round to all regions. Most of the interest was in the ITC shows which made their way slowly round the regions although some shows didn't get aired everywhere which is where the trading came in. I found a guy in London who had recorded Catweazle and he loaned me his tapes to run off copies. However, I was at that age where some kids shows didn't have the same appeal they had 15 years earlier and despite several Catweazle episodes being too childish my interest in the show remained.
I kept those tapes until the Network VHS releases then eventually the dvd's.
The reunion featurette at the farm between Geoffrey Bayldon and Robin Davies was such a nice bonus.
So for me, Catweazle has been an ever present show with fond memories and watching the end of the final scene in series 1 I can still recall how sad I felt in 1970 as a 7 year old.

One thing: for the majority of the country Catweazle was a sunday teatime treat, as mentioned in the dvd booklet. But for the ITV region that covered the largest area, ATV it was lost to weekday afternoons in the usual kids tv slot when many were still at work. I wonder how many potential fans of the show missed out because of the ATV scheduling. They jealously guarded many slots for their own series. Sunday teatime was often filled on ATV by the ITC show Forest Rangers so not only Catweazle but The Flaxton Boys and time travel series Jamie also got aired on weekdays.

I'm glad that Network included PDF files of the Catweazle Annuals on the dvd's. I had them as a kid and they are a nostalgia fest but I don't want to buy them again.

I think most of the people who took part in the Catweazle dvd commentaries have since died so it's nice to be able to listen to them occasionally talk about the show. Now they're no longer here the commentaries are worth their weight in gold and it's a situation affecting so many other Network dvd releases too.
Gratifying also that all the people involved were able to find out that so many people still enjoyed their work from decades ago.

There's something soul-deep about this programme for me. Even watching a small excerpt has a powerful effect on me. I think there are a number of reasons: childhood nostalgia, as well as a different sort of nostalgia for that time period, unrelated to childhood as such - the late 1960s. when the world seemed a more straightforward and honourable place. But there's much more: real characters are part of it, performed perfectly, from Charles Tingwell's Farmer Bennett with all his mannerisms to Sam Woodyard and his innocence, to Peter Sallis's museum curator and many, many more. As well as, of course, the totally inimitable Geoffrey as Catweazle, a unique and remarkable characterisation to watch.

None of that really sums up how I feel, though. I think Richard Carpenter managed to involve me somehow in the magic bond between Catweazle and Carrot, between Catweazle and his new world, and between the main characters and their understanding of life. For me, it was all about the first series and its progression from humour to deep sadness, a sadness which reflected back on all the adventures and made them more real, more innocent, more powerful. I don't know - words don't do it justice, do they? The incidental music has become 'my theme', I walk around whistling it all the time, especially the last chords from the end of series one. I think I'm obsessed! But I'm thankful to be so fascinated by something so wonderful. Thanks for the club and the forum - I'll visit often!

Ha! My Catweazle-loving wife is also from Enfield.

What a lovely post Andrew. Looking forward to seeing you both again next week.

We live near Gustard Wood (Herts) and a 'bluebell wood'.

Sometimes when I go for a walk with our dog and our 18 years old daughter ( and son, if he's not 'resting' ) I remind them to keep an eye out for Catweazle.

The trees and paths - and there's a water tower to - look like his kind of place...

You never know ...

PS. I'm back on the forum - had to re-register.

There are a few things in life that instantly rekindle memories of a better time. Catweazle was probably the main one followed closely by Auf Widersehen Pet which itself was a superb programme. It's just the memories going back to when I watched the original series - happy days.

Catweazle was one of the limited selection of children's TV programmes which I watched. I was well aware that children were in a minority, and we had our own special programmes, but I wouldn't watch just any children’s TV programmes. I didn’t like Freewheelers, and I hated Blue Peter!

I remember being very annoyed once when coverage of The Budget running later than scheduled meant that week's episode of "The Brady Bunch" was cancelled. I was even more annoyed when they didn't even apologise for this, meaning that it was somehow beneath them to even acknowledge the existence of children's TV! The Budget was totally irrelevant to me back then, but I don't think it's ever become really relevant to me since then!

I hardly remember watching Pogle’s Wood, Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men, or The Herbs. I have more vivid memories of Batman, Hector’s House, Lost In Space, The Magic Roundabout, Land of The Giants, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, The Time Tunnel, Ace of Wands, The Monkees, Timeslip, The Tomorrow People, Magpie, and of course Doctor Who, which I’ve always watched apart from a short break at some point during Tom Baker’s era, although I watched the episodes I’d missed later on.

The children’s TV programmes were often or usually shown in the time period of about 16:25-18:00 on Mondays to Fridays, but at slightly different times on Saturdays and Sundays after Grandstand and World of Sport.

In spite of this, I often managed to watch and enjoy some so called adult TV shown after 18:00. These series included “And Mother Makes Three”, as well as the follow up “And Mother Makes Five” (both including Robin Davies from Catweazle), The Avengers, Budgie, and Doomwatch. At school we often had sessions where we gathered our chairs round in a circle, then took it in turns to tell everyone else about some amazing things we’d done. Two things I said were “Once I drank beer!”, as well as “Once I stayed up late to watch ‘The Man from UNCLE!’ ” This meant that whenever I made that comment, that series was shown too late for me to watch it, although I don’t remember what time it was shown. I do remember having a Man from UNCLE pistol, though. Eventually, my Mum took it with her, after the UNCLE sticker had come off, to her new home in Devon after the family home was sold and we went our separate ways. She said it was for self defence. She kept it by her front door. Someone once asked her “Is that a real one?”, then she replied “Oh yes!”

I’m not sure if the series “Please Sir!”, or its follow up “The Fenn Street Gang” counted as kids’ or adults’ TV.

It was obvious to me that Catweazle was a children’s TV programme. It was promoted by Look-In magazine, so that was another reason to watch it. I enjoyed it anyway. I think it was similar to both Doctor Who and Ace of Wands.