![]() The atmosphere is inevitably compromised by the budgetary requirement of shooting on video, as was common at the time, but the solid performances and intelligent script kept younger viewers enthralled when it was broadcast in the run up to Christmas 1988. They were steeped in Welsh mythology, obscure perhaps to anyone not raised with the stories, but HTV and director/producer Pennant Roberts – formerly a director on Blake’s 7 (1978-1981), whose star Gareth Thomas turns up in all three of the serials, and Doctor Who (1963-1989) – clearly saw something in Julia Jones’ sensitive adaptation of The Snow Spider and turned it into an unexpectedly impressive four part mini-series. ![]() The books were popular and well-regarded, the first in the series bagging Nimmo the Smarties Grand Prix in 1986 and the Tir na n-og from the Welsh Arts Council in 1987, but they seemed unlikely sources for TV drama. ![]() In 1988, HTV – the ITV regional station serving Wales – embarked on a project to dramatise the popular series of novels written by Jenny Nimmo, a sequence begun in 1986 with The Snow Spider and followed by Emlyn’s Moon in 1987 (published in the States as The Orchard of the Crescent Moon) and The Chestnut Soldier in 1989. ![]()
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