Alan Rothwell is the only man who can make Donald Pleasence seem cheery and affable. "Hello. Today's story will not be about ghosts...yet. But, rather, about the price of failure, children."
Good grief. I have not seen this particular episode of Picture Box since I was a child - this ones from 1988 so I must have been off school sick, I recall I was seriously ill with some sort of vomit bug back then.... I am 44 now. I remember this animated version the story....I never really liked Picture Box, its theme tune, that glass box revolving or Alan Rothwell....I just watched it as a child whenever I was ill, or not at Primary School in the mornings - I learnt more from my Mother than I did at my Primary School which was usually bring toys in, go to the park and lark about via a chartered double decker bus or 'reading books'....thankfully my Late Mother taught me how to read and write and watched programmes like this with me....thank you Mummy...RIP.
@@placidrenegadeSounds similar to our school tv. It had 2 hinged sides with a cloth 'canopy' to shield from the sun' reflection. The theme music always creeped me out a bit, but then found the presenter reassuring and calming!
I remember this as a kid in the 70s/80s. I never got how some were scared of the music, I rather liked it. Seeing Alan Rothwell and hearing his voice brings it all back - I just remember a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, telling a story. I think it was a great way to get children to think about the stories they are told and read between the lines.
I like the music but there is something melancholy about it. For me, it conjures up images of a long deserted playground, empty for decades and decaying, odd but that's what I always imagined when it played.
I got recently diagnosed as being autistic I'm now 40, I can remember always getting told off for putting my hands over my ears at school when we had to watch this programme, atleast in this day an age more is known about the condition
The whole show ran like some kind of state-sponsored experimental child conditioning initiative. First the music, soft and parentally comforting, yet with cautionary menacing undertones of existential dread, accompanied by the hypnotic image of the rotating box: objectively intriguing yet subjectively captivating (prison). Then comes Alan, the host, talking to his audience in an unsettling passive-aggressive, morally authoritative interrogative style, characteristically delivering a selection of material designed to promote obedience and present unfavourable consequences to any form of deviation from official parametric normality.
You just skilfully encapsulated how I felt watching and remembering the introduction of this PROGRAM. It's interesting as the Tiktok upload of the same, that made me come to RU-vid, has replies that describe the feeling of dread.
Picture box was the first schools TV programme I remember seeing in the late 60’s, when Alan Rothwell had brown hair, I loved the music and the little box.
I loved Picture Box as a kid, the series was made by my ITV region, Granada. I found the music fascinating and not scary at all.. The series was given a revamp in the late 80s with a new presenter replacing Alan Rothwell. Dramarama was the kids equivalent to Tales Of The Unexpected..
I very much loved this show and loved every moment of it. I am o glad I found it here. Thank you very much. Brings back many fond memories. Alan rothwell made me want to be a writer. Great voice and demeanor. Not creepy and I resent the comment.
I also used to watch this in school back in the early 80's. The way the presenter says, "Hello" at the beginning always freaked me out a bit. It was like he wanted to show me some puppies.
The TV trolley. The dark space under the stage. The disappearance and silence of the supervising teacher. The smell of other children’s shoes and the cork noticeboard. The enormous VCR. The children’s whistling hearing aid and the elusive ‘loop’. The darkly sinister library books. The walk home on your own at age seven. The crunch of snow under cheap and blister inducing shoes. Having tea in your school uniform and afternoon TV.
What could be more haunting than the combination of the weirdly drawn 1972 Sleepy Hollow cartoon narrated by horror icon John Carradine and the nightmarish Picture Box hosted by your favourite creepy school teacher, played by Alan Rothwell.
1:32 At last! Proof that we never had carved pumpkins in the 1970s in Britain. Now I can send this link to my nieces and nephews, in case they still don't believe me :)
I am haunted by one episode of Picture Box called The Man in the Moor. It terrified and absorbed me in equal measure. I'd love to see it as a grown up if anyone has it.
Ahhh, if only they'd do a tv series or another film of Sleepy Hollow, but without 90% CGI and just made it a real gritty spooky atmospheric story - now that would be great
Yes, I remember these school programs ! .. Funnily enough, I watched an episode of 'Gideons Way' from the 60's and who is starring in that episode??? .. A young 'Alan Rothwell' !! ...
I was about 8 when this was broadcast... As if the opening titles and theme weren't eerie enough, a dark story like The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow was even more haunting still! Loved the episode / story, though
I was just watching vintage Corrie episodes from the 1960's when I noticed David Barlow. There was something vaguely familiar about him so I looked up the actor's name. When I saw that he had presented many children's programs, including this one, I found this video. Talking about metaphorically finding the key to a door that had been lock for decades.... it all came back to me... the haunting qualities of the intro that made me feel distinctly uneasy as a child, but then the warm, reassuring manner and voice of Alan Rothwell. I had totally forgotten about this program until now.
@LeFouGallois its simple have you been living as a troglodyte? Im not saying you are a troglodyte but get with the programme! I will let you work it out monsieur
This brings back memories.. My mum used to party with Alan when I was in primary school,, wasn't aloud to tell people how I knew him when watching this with the class in school but me an my brother would get joke off the 'If only they really knew him' 😂😂😂
It’s all utterly haunting. I’m sure we were being conditioned into something. My mother blamed Thatcher taking our milk away. I blame it on this hypnotic and oddly sleep inducing ambience.
Great tv. But it scared me at the time. At this point we knew that children’s tv didn’t all Have to have psychotic cocaine induced smiles from the presenters, and happy endings.
@@danchaplin134 Structures Sonores played the music, Manege (with an accent on the first e) by Jacques Lasry. There are recordings of the full piece elsewhere on youtube.
