I thought I’d lost it! But, on clearing out our mother’s house, my sister found the cuttings book I kept whilst making the original movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in 1973.
It includes a plan of the London double-decker bus where we received rudimentary lessons on location. Three bunkbeds on the top floor were meant to be used so we could rest after lunch. Mum said she forced me to lie down everyday but I can only remember a couple of occasion, once when I was reluctant, once when I was freezing cold after a swimming scene.
We changed into our costumes at the top of that bus, enjoying warmth from a gas stove that leaked rather alarmingly on one day necessitating an evacuation.
The exterior looked liked a conventional Routemaster with added curtains.
Lesley Bennett’s photo of the double decker buses at Bank Ground Farm in 1973
Once sitting at my desk, I found my italic fountain pen and began keeping a diary. One version of the first seven days spent in Cumbria is pasted into the scrap book. I later re-wrote a slightly more detailed and interesting version in a couple of notebooks and wrote about how I got the part of Titty, and the filming from different perspectives.
These pages describe the day spent travelling to Ambleside and a couple of days spent getting to know each other along with Dame Virginia McKenna, who played the Swallows’ mother, the producer Richard Pilbrow, David Blagden who was in charge of the sailing and the film director Cluade Whatham.
Encouraged by my mother, we began pasting in newspaper cuttings.
The Times and the Guardian were at Havethwaite Railway Station to take photographs on the first day of filming. The BBC Radio 4 newsreader, Alan Smith, who grew up in Cumbria, was a film extra that day and can be spotted standing in train doorway with his brother. He wrote to me with his memories of the day.
I began adding photos from contact sheets that Albert Clarke, the film’s stills photographer, took of the cast and crew. I wrote about the opening locations here.
There are pages of dictation and a few sketches of the film props. I drew the yellow Austin ‘taxi’ we drove in at the station.
There were some cuttings that I hadn’t seen for years until until I opened the pages of this mislaid cuttings book. Others can be found on earlier posts.
I took pages of dictation, learning about the plants and geology of the Lake District, about Beatrix Potter and the National Trust, but it’s a wonder any schoolwork was accomplished at all. We spent so much time on set. I fell behind in French and Maths but gained respectable exam grades that summer, gaining 80% in Geography. Perhaps I wrote about glacial lakes.
You can read more about the adventures we had whilst filming ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in books detailed on this website.
Different editions of ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
There is now an audiobook on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ published by The Lutterworth Press and available on all online platforms including Audible.
Having won a Top Three Scripts award at the New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles, Sophie was asked about her screenwriting.
Can you tell us a little about how you got started?
I began writing for BBC Television at the age of twenty-two. It was a disaster. Instead of presenting a polished script, I produced a rough draft that I thought we could develop in the rehearsal room. Developed it was – by Nicholas Parsons, one of the stars. He rewrote his own soliloquy, taking all the credit and a substantial fee. I’ve welcomed harsh feedback from beta readers ever since.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming a writer? How did you overcome it? Can you share a story about that that other aspiring writers can learn from?
Instant success with my first book was challenging. My illustrated memoir FUNNILY ENOUGH was at number 1 in Humor on Amazon Kindle in the UK (after free copies had been downloading at the rate of 250 a minute) but I had self-published, and had no team support. Instead pressing the go-button with a PR firm and marketing team, I was weigh-laid by the small stuff. Writers need skilled networks in place, especially in the age of New Media.
Funnily Enough – the paperback has black & white illustrations
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I began my career in television by working with children. I could see the potential and it gave me a niche, but the hazards were numerous.
A teacher opened one scene for me by saying, ‘Some people believe the world is flat.’ A five-year-old called out, ‘No, but it’s not! It’s bumpy.’ The mistake was that we had too much camera judder – my cameraman had dissolved in hysterics. A lesson learned: I used a tripod when capturing the opinions of eleven-year-olds. The results were so amusing that they were repeatedly endlessly when Daytime TV was launched in the UK.
Sophie Neville directing a sequence with BBC cameraman Lorraine Smith
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I felt compelled to write A BOY CALLED FREDDIE when I discovered Freddie Mercury, escaped from the violent 1964 Zanzibar revolution at the age of seventeen. If a year older, the man who became an international rock idol would have been forced into slave labour on coconut plantations. As it was, his family fled to London where his talent flourished and found stardom. Born Farrokh Bulsara, he became known as Freddie at school. The story of how he chose the name Mercury involves NASA but is only revealed in my screenplay – right at the end. Freddie’s father, Bomi, was a Parsee who worked as a cashier at the law courts where my Great-uncle Ronnie served as Chief Justice. I’ve been able to draw on my cousin’s stories of life in the heady days before a convicted rapist from Uganda brought mayhem to the archipelago of tropical islands, forcing the Sultan to escape by sea, along with my aunts and a plucky English women who had set up free and fair elections a month before mass murder broke out akin the movie HOTEL RWANDA (2004).
I’m also developing THE MEETING HOUSE, an exceptional true story from WWII about an East African serviceman I met who was airlifted out of a POW camp in Japan by his boyhood friend just before America bombed Tokyo. They landed in Silesia in the snow, which he’d only seen previously on the peak of Kilimanjaro, where he was born.
Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?
Film fans love to hear about disasters that befell us while making the EMI movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ before the advent of CGI. I was persuaded to write THE MAKING of SWALLOWS and AMAZONS, now published by The Lutterworth Press.
Editions of ‘The Making of Swallows & Amazons (1974) by Sophie Neville’
Although it’s been screened on television more times than any other British movie, it remains a classic that some have never heard of. ‘Why are you here?’ I was asked at the 50th Anniversary screening.
‘I’m giving a couple of talks on how the film was made,’ I muttered.
‘How would you know how it was made?’
‘I was there.’ In almost every scene. ‘I worked on it.’
‘You couldn’t have been,’ the man insisted.
I could only take this as a compliment, but he looked aggrieved.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour in Cumbria
StudioCanal also thought I was an imposter as Dame Virginia McKenna had the star billing. Then the marketing executives watched the movie. When the DVD was launched they had me hosting Q&As at twelve cinemas and provided footage for all manner of TV programmes from CINEMANICS with David Wood the screenwriter to BBC BREAKFAST with my co-star Suzanna Hamilton.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour on BBC Breakfast
I’m currently working on an inspiring comic tale: BANANA MAN, THE TRUE STORY about Phil-the-Geek, a shy but good looking physicist, who increased the national consumption of bananas by 20% after exploiting a supermarket deal and making 8 pence on every bunch he bought – and gave away. His story hit international News headlines and won him the heart of a beautiful girl. I was her bridesmaid. Last week, their daughters have just graduated from Yale and Harvard, respectively. I intend to present the family with a fruit bowl.
Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer”? Please share a story or example for each.
Focus, forbearance and a five am start to the writing day are key, but I often come up with vital twists while soaking in the bath tub. I guess this is because my brain works best at periods of least resistance. The problem is that I end up groping for a notebook with wet hands.
Please share a story or example for each.
Personality, productivity, perseverance, patience, and a broken heart. We need to touch the audience with humor, in small ways that are easily identifiable. I have a scene in one novel about a man on the cusp of falling in love who loses his car keys in the heat of the day and is left feeling a fool in front of the girl he wants to impress. It’s based on the time I found my ignition keys with my feet. They had fallen into sand beneath the door of my car when I was driving through Botswana. The relief following this small miracle is etched deep in my soul.
In your opinion, were you a “natural born writer” or did you develop that aptitude later on? Can you explain what you mean?
I would describe myself as a ‘natural born story-teller’. Having a visual brain, I became a television director, attracted to Mike Leigh’s emerging art of improvisation on film. When on the converted BBC Drama Director’s Studio Course, I gave my actors the task of flirting whilst erecting a tent. It worked exceptionally well, except that they enjoyed the exercise so much it went on a little long. I should have provided them with earpieces to bring the story to a timely end.
We all need to hone the craft of writing. I had the amazing opportunity of assisting on drama serials such as ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Eastenders’. Looking back, I could have become a BBC script editor. Instead, I’ve spent the last twenty years attending Curtis Brown Creative novel writing courses and acquiring the art of writing about love under the Romantic Novelists Association’s New Writers’ Scheme. Entering writing competitions has proved an incentive and the wins help build my CV. The competition is such that we need to build a pedigree and provide consumer confidence.
Which literature do you draw inspiration from? Why?
I write true-life stories set in the 20th century, so draw on any memoirs or biographies I can find. I love amusing autobiographical novels, such as Fran Hill’s trilogy on life as a teenager in foster care. She is a master craftsman and a truly inspirational writer. I feed off her infectious humour poured out to the world on Substack.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Forced marriage needs to be recognized as conjugal slavery and made illegal worldwide. Female circumcision (FGM) needs to stop before more lives are lost to infection. I have no personal experience, but feel we must all speak out to support those unable to do so.
Chloe Williams has just written from Ontario in Canada, to say, “Some books entertain. Some enlighten. And some, like The Making of Swallows and Amazons and The Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons, manage to bottle something impossibly rare: the feeling of looking back through a child’s eyes and realizing it was all real; the lake, the sails, the laughter and somehow, you were part of it.”
“These aren’t just behind-the-scenes diaries. They’re sun-dappled time machines. Your voice, both in memory and in your original childhood notes, is a miracle of tone: witty, observant, buoyant, and deeply human.”
Of the original movie, she wrote: “What A Christmas Story is to snowglobes and childhood winters, Swallows and Amazons (1974) is to summers on the water and you’ve preserved that magic with charm, heart, and astonishing detail.
“What makes these books unforgettable isn’t just nostalgia. It’s how alive they are. We feel the smell of old sails and camera tape, the blur of location shoots, the uncertainty and excitement of being a child caught in a grown-up world of filmmaking yet utterly at home in it. We meet legends like Virginia McKenna not as distant stars, but as fellow travelers in the adventure. And it’s a joy.”
The Making of Swallows and Amazons seems to resonate with:
Readers of nostalgic memoirs that celebrate childhood, nature, and storytelling
Adults who are captivated by the lake-country magic of Arthur Ransome
Film lovers who cherish insider views of filmmaking
Educators and parents seeking real-life adventure stories for young readers
Fans of Call the Midwife, The Durrells, and 84, Charing Cross Road
“The joy and authenticity in your books mirror exactly why Swallows & Amazons (1974) still has such a hold on people’s hearts. The memoirs don’t just tell the story of making the film, they recreate it, letting readers smell the lake air and see the magic unfold through a child’s eyes.”
The new audiobook
I’m hoping the audiobook will also amuse readers. It’s now available on all the online platforms including Audible, where isis being offered for free on their membership trial.
Simon West as John Walker studying the chart before the voyage.
1. It’s good to begin a film with establishing shots that explain what is happening. This could be a chart, a poster, a yacht club, a moored boat or the landscape. Then tell the story, introducing the characters and different boats.
2. Once you begin filming boats the most important thing is to keep the horizon horizontal.
Simon West and Sophie Neville bring Swallow into the Secret Harbour on Wildcat Island
Alternatively, tilt your camera at a dramatically acute angle – but don’t use compromised shots like the one above.
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies – can you spot the safety officer?
3. When you pan – side to side – first plan and rehearse the shot with good opening and ending frames. Hold for a beat on these – it gives you a transition to the next shot in the same way as a comma or full stop.
Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Sten Grendon in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)
Pans look better if the shot moves from left to right, as that is how westeners read.
A pan works best if it’s ‘motivated’ ie follows action. Only pan from right to left if you are following a subject, then let it pass out of shot.
Avoid panning from left to right and back again. Don’t wave the camera around.
Simon West as Captain John sailing Swallow . Sten Grendon plays the Boy Roger
4. Avoid using the zoom unless it is motivated. Tilting the camera works better eg: open on a shot of a boat’s name and tilt up to find the skipper.
5. A general rule is: If the subject is stationary you can move the shot. If the subject is moving, keep the shot still.
6. Low angle shots are atmospheric – try filming at chair height, especially if you are tall.
Suzanna Hamilton as Susan with Sophie Neville as Titty busy writing the ship’s log
7. Close ups and detail are good, especially if there is some movement. eg: burgee flying in the wind.
A montage of close-ups works well to explain what is happening and explain a passage of time.
8. People do well in front of the camera if you give them something intricate to do or look at. Show what they are doing, possibly from a different angle.
9. You will need to film one boat from another. We were lashed to a camera boat to achieve these shots.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Simon West sailing Swallow in 1973
10. Make sure your lens is kept clean – or use water droplets for effect. Don’t let your camera get wet but capture the excitement.
Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton at the helm of Swallow with Stephen Grendon
Whilst clearing out my mother’s house recently we found a few letters written by my parents to my great aunt in June 1973. They report on the progress of making the original EMI movie of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ in the Lake District.
Stephen Grendon as the Boy Roger, Sophie Neville as Able-seaman Titty and Simon West playing Captain John Walker beside Derwentwater in 1973 ~ photo: Daphne Neville
My mother had been given headed writing paper designed for members of the production to use on location by Brian Doyle, who managed the film publicity.
It looks as if my father used his children’s felt pens.
It is interesting to learn how much my sisters earned as film extras when they appeared in the scenes shot at Rio (Bowness on Windermere).
Kit Seymour and Jane Grendon watch the filming on the jetty whilst Tamzin and Perry Neville eat ice creams with the one man in Cumbria willing to have a short-back-and-sides. You can just see the period cars parked in the background
They made £5 a day, which was the same amount as the green parrot. I calculated that those of us with leading parts, who he describes as ‘the 6 children’ earned £7.50 a day. This was probably because we were only meant to be on set for a couple of hours. As Dad mentions, I effectively worked twelve-hour days but seemed to be thriving.
Until reading this letter, I didn’t know that the movie (or ‘picture’ as Mum called it) was originally due to be released in time for the Christmas holidays. It was launched in ABC Cinemas but not until April. You can read about the film’s release and premiere at what was then the ABC in Shaftesbury Avenue on my website here.
“The smell is just the same.” Suzanna Hamilton began rowing me across Coniston Water from Bank Ground Farm, taking us back to childhood days.
“It sounds the same.” The colours, the landscape, the feeling of being out on the water was still magical.
Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville at Coniston Water in the Lake District
As girls, Suzanna and I had appeared as Mate Susan and Able seaman Titty in Richard Pilbrow’s original film of Swallows and Amazons, adapted by David Wood and released in cinemas on 4th April 1974. It starred Dame Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser but it was the two of us who were invited to return to the film locations in 2003 to be interviewed by Ben Fogle for an episode of the long-running BBC series Country File. Thanks to sunshiny weather and the support of Geraint and Helen Lewis, his report proved so successful that it was repeated on Country Tracks and featured in the series Big Screen Britain alongside iconic landscape movies such as The Dam Busters and Whistle Down the Wind.
We had been talking about swimming off Peel Island soon after we began filming Swallows and Amazons in the Lake District in May 1973. The director, Claude Whatham, was fresh from making a BAFTA nominated adaptation of Cider With Rosie when he cast Sten Grendon as young Laurie Lee, and the rock-and-roll movie That’ll Be The Day starring David Essex and Ringo Starr. Although happy out on the water, he knew little about boats. The producer, Richard Pilbrow, had insisted on finding children who could sail well rather than audition young actors and teach them to sail, and advertised the opportunity in sailing clubs. This was pivotal. Simon West (who played John), Kit Seymour (Nancy) and Lesley Bennett (Peggy) all had experience with a natural feeling for the wind and emanated confidence. They were only given a couple of days to get used to sailing the little boats used as Swallow and Amazon before filming began and yet their skill ended up making the film a classic.
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies
We had instruction from a sailing director in the form of a good looking actor called David Blagden. He’d recently crossed the Atlantic in a nineteen foot yacht called Willing Griffin but was unfamiliar with blustery Lakeland winds and did not know how to break down a script. Simon, aged eleven, ended up explaining to Claude how to get a decent shot. Suzanna took her lead from him and I clung to the gunwales, trying hard not to shiver in a costume designed by Emma Porteous that consisted of no more than a short yellow dress and enormous pair of navy blue gym knickers.
It was unusual for a movie to feature so many scenes set in two small boats. Mike Turk, whose family had been building boats since 1295, and Nick Newby of Nicol End Marine on Derwentwater, took up the challenge of constructing Claude a cross-shaped pontoon to act as a mobile camera mount so that our dialogue could be captured. This extraordinary vessel had two outboards but wasn’t easy to handle. The dinghies were wired to it with underwater cables but tended to pull away. The base to Swallow’s mast broke, proving safety was an issue, but the idea eventually worked.
Richard Pilbrow and his film crew on the camera pontoon
A grey punt was also used. I remember Simon West towing it as he rowed us into Rio. It was easy to transport from one lake to another but must have been tippy. Somehow David Cadwallader, the grip, managed to keep the horizon horizontal using no more than a spirit level. Shadows were lifted from our faces by using huge reflector boards apt to catch the wind. It must have been impossible to use filler lights out on the water, although they somehow managed to power a number of sets on Peel Island.
Sophie Neville in the Amazon with DOP Denis Lewiston, his 16mm camera and a reflector board ~ photo: Martin Neville
Richard Pilbrow kindly sent me Swallow’s pennant from his home in America. Unlike Ransome’s original sketch of the crossed flags, the bird flies away from the mast, which is technically incorrect, but I was thrilled to receive the genuine film prop used in vision. If you look closely you can see some of the stitches I made whilst in conversation with Mother, played by Virginia McKenna.
It would have been good if Swallow’s hull had been painted white in line with illustrations in the books. Her varnished planks are a nod to the 1970’s when everyone was busy stripping pine, but the important detail is that she has a keel rather than a centerboard. It makes her difficult to turn, and markedly slower than Amazon, but grants her stability. This feature may have saved us when we really did just miss colliding with the MV Tern on Windermere, which alarmed my father who was on the Tern’s deck. He knew how difficult Swallow would be to turn with the larger vessel taking our wind. We were fully laden with camping gear and yet totally lacking buoyancy of any kind.
Simon West as Captain John sailing Swallow. Sten Grendon plays the Boy Roger
One secret of filming Swallows and Amazons is that it was set on four different lakes, a smelly lily pond that served as Octopus Lagoon, and Mrs Batty’s barn where night sailing sequences were shot with Swallow mounted on a cradle. One challenging scene was when the Swallows were cast off from Wild Cat Island to sail north to the Amazon River, leaving Titty behind to light the lanterns. I slipped underwater whilst pushing her free of branches overhanging the landing place but regained my footing and waved them off. Simon caught ‘a fair wind’ but the boom swung so far out that Suzanna held the mainsheet by the figure-of-eight knot and Swallow sped up Coniston Water like a ‘pea in a peashooter’, as Ransome wrote in Winter Holiday. A gust hit them broadside as they cleared the island and Swallow gybed, but Simon calmly stood to catch the boom, scarified the wind and took her on up the lake. Watching the sequence still brings tears to my eyes.
Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton at the helm of Swallow with Stephen Grendon in the bows, while Sophie Neville looks on from the shore of Peel Island
No one had given much consideration to the rowing involved in the story. Built as a run-about boat by William King of Burnham-on-Crouch, Swallow has two sets of rowlocks but it was tricky to keep time when she was wired to the camera pontoon. The first scene attempted was when the Boy Roger and I had to row her back from the charcoal burners with Susan at the tiller.
Sophie Neville as Titty and Stephen Grendon as Roger rowing to Cormorant Island
We rowed again on Derwentwater, making our way out to Cormorant Island to look for the treasure. It took everything in me, but I later managed to row Amazon out of Secret Harbour in one take at the end of a long day filming. The action was repeated with Denis Lewiston, the lighting-cameraman, and his 35mm Panavision camera in the stern. Cold, with wet feet, I completed the scene but had to be carried ashore by a frogman acting as the safety officer. Titty later anchors Amazon off Cormorant Island on Derwentwater, but the shot of her wrapped in the sail, sleeping aboard, was taken in the darkened barn at Bank Ground Farm. The fishing scenes were recorded on Elterwater with Swallow moored near the reedbeds.
Sophie Neville as Titty and Simon West as John
My one regret is that we didn’t follow the book when sailing the captured Amazon back to Wild Cat Island. The wind was up and Claude Whatham needed Simon to sail Swallow ahead of the Amazon which was lashed to the pontoon. I originally took the tiller as Titty is urged to in the story, but had trouble with the rudder and Susan is at the helm on the cover of the paperbacks brought out to accompany the film and a DVD distributed by the Daily Mail.
I was somewhat surprised to see Swallow outside Elstree Studios where we went to post-sync the film. They set up a tank on the sound stage so that Bill Rowe, the dubbing editor who was to win an Oscar for The Last Emperor, could capture the sounds so taken for granted and yet so evocative of handling wooden boats. I was concerned that she’d been given away (and she nearly was) but, as Richard Pilbrow made plans to adapt other Ransome books, she was sent to Mike Turk’s warehouse in Twickenham and stored with maritime props such as the Grand Turk, a replica of HMS Indefatigable, built in 1996 in Turkey for Hornblower.
When Mike’s collection was eventually auctioned in 2010 I was alerted, first by my father, then by Magnus Smith. We found Swallow’s details online, took one look at the photos and clubbed together to purchase her, launching SailRansome at the 2011 London Boat Show. The idea that others could go out in her with an experienced skipper was greeted by John McCarthy who recorded the sounds of sailing Swallow for Paddling With Peter Duck, his programme made for BBC Radio 4.
Peter Willis in the Nancy Blackett with John McCarthy
The Arthur Ransome Society now own both historic dinghies. Rupert Maas valued Swallow highly when she appeared on BBC Antiques Roadshow in 2021.Everyone gasped but her true worth is akin to Captain Flint’s hidden treasure: instead of gold ingots his trunk contained precious memories that no doubt kept him on course when the storms of life blew in. Just as Arthur Ransome’s books grant us solace, my prayer is that many will be able to grab the chance of sailing the little boats that take us into the stories immortalized on film so long ago.
Back in 1974, none of us knew that Amazon had been used in the BBC adaptation of Swallows and Amazons made just eleven years previously and broadcast in 1963. I met the White family when they brought Amazon from Kent to Cumbria to feature in Country File. Ben Fogle had found their twin daughters on Peel Island, looking very much like Nancy and Peggy in damp bathing costumes having been swimming in the lake. It has been extremely generous of them to enable other families to sail such a precious boat.
Not so very long ago, a few TARS joined me at Keswick for a talk and screening of Swallows and Amazons at the Alhambra cinema when we grabbed the chance to go aboard the Lady Derwentwater. Nick Newby explained how she had been decommissioned in 1973 to appear as Captain Flint’s houseboat. Her temporary conversion was overseen by Ian Whittaker, the set dresser who went on to be nominated for a number of awards and won an Oscar in 1993 for his work on Howard’s End. The Lady Derwentwater has since been given a new stern but is in good shape, back in her role as a passenger launch.
The mfp Vinyl LP of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ with Sophie Neville and Simon West bringing Swallow into her harbour
Arthur Ransome was taught to sail on Coniston Water by the Collingwoods in a boat they kept below Lane Head, now known as Swallow I. People often ask if the original Swallow II, a sea-going dingy with a standing lugsail built by William Crossfield, and sailed by the Ransomes, is still around. After being kept on a mooring in Bowness Bay, where she was looked after by a boatman called John Walker, she was sold in September 1935 and sadly ‘vanished without a trace’.
The Amazon, originally named Mavis, and also sailed by the Altounyan family, now resides in the John Ruskin Museum at Coniston where she can be visited much like a great aunt. Ransome’s dinghy Coch-y-bonddhu or Cocky, the model for Scarab in his books, restored and owned by TARS, is on display at Windermere Jetty, the museum where the fourteen foot RNSA dinghies used in the 2016 movie of Swallows and Amazons have been moored. A few of the steamboats used to dress the scenes set at Bowness-on-Windermere or Rio in 1973, such as Osprey and George Pattinson’s launch Lady Elizabeth, may be in residence. They are currently restoring the SL Esperance used by Ransome as his model for the houseboat.
In 1983, I worked behind-the-scenes on the BBC drama serial of Coot Club and The Big Six (and wrote Extras for the DVD titled Swallows and Amazons Forever!) We spent three months filming on the Broads, using the four-berth gaff sloop Lullaby to play the Teasel, a vintage dinghy for Titmouse and a punt for Tom Dudgeon’s Dreadnaught. They have all been kept at Hunter’s Yard, near Ludham in Norfolk where you can hire classic boats. While exploring the Broads you can track down the Death and Glory, Janca, used to play the Hullabaloo’s Margoletta, and the wherry Albion used for Sir Garnet along with yachts like Pippa that were also featured in the serial. Hopefully, Arthur Ransome’s ‘good little ship’ the Nancy Blackett, bought with his ‘Spanish gold’ or royalties, will one day star as Goblin in a film adaptation of We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Arnaldo Putzu’s poster for the EMI film Swallows and Amazons (1974)
Half a century has passed since the original film Swallows and Amazons first came out in cinemas, the good little ships featured sailing improably on the poster. Thanks go to Magnus Smith, Rob Boden, Diana Wright, Marc Grimston, and all those who have looked after and lovingly restored the inspirational boats that appeared in the movie. They mean so much to so many. Three million cheers to those at The Arthur Ransome Society who are working with Hunters Yard in Ludham to make both little ships available for hire in 2025 .
Amazon will soon be available to hire at Hunter’s Yard, Ludham
If all goes to plan, you will be able to take them out. When you do, smell the freshness for me. Stroke the varnish, take in the feel of the ropes, the weight of the oars. It may be chilly, but that too is part of the experience of liaising with old boats out on the water.
Neville Thompson acted as the online producer on the 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons. He choose an excellent crew and took daily responsibility for scheduling the production on location in the Lake District and later at Elstree Studios where the film was edited and post-synced.
Producer Richard Pilbrow and Production Associate Neville C Thompson on Derwentwater in the Lake District in 1973
Neville was born in Ipswich in 1933. Although gregarious at times, he was a quiet man who was once a maths teacher in Scotland. He had five children to support, but decided to go to RADA and become an actor. When a pair of twins came along he moved the family to Croyden and went into film production. He began work as a location manager for Mike Newell and became a production manager for Ken Russell.
Richard Pilbrow gained the rights and film finance for ‘Swallows and Amazons’ but came from a background in theatre and knew nothing about film production. He asked Neville to help set everything up.
Neville C Thomas (top centre) with Richard Pilbrow, Claude Whatham et al
Neville came to Burnham-on-Crouch for our sailing audition when the dinghy ‘Swallow’ must have been purchased from the boatbuilders William King.
Second Assistant Terry Needham, Associate Producer Neville C Thompson and Production Manager Graham Ford with the unit radio on a sunny day in June 1973
Neville was passionate about film making, becoming known as ‘the last gentleman producer.’ He would have been the one making the executive decisions, the man ultimately in charge of the schedule, personnel, safety, insurance and bringing the film in on budget.
Claude Whatham, Richard Pilbrow, Gareth Tandy, Peter Robb-King, Ronnie Cogan and Neville C Thompson with Kit Seymour and Lesley Bennet trying on hats
His daughter, Mandy, told me that he was a wonderful Dad but had been away a lot. ‘He had eight children in nine years and was keen for them to make their own way in the world.’ Mandy became an occupational therapist, George became a ballet dancer, Chris Thompson went into film making. Neville was diagnosed with Lukemia at the age of 47 but lived another twenty years, ending his days in Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Neville Thompson relaxing on set – photo taken on Sunday 24th July 1973, by Daphne Neville
Neville established a production office at the unit hotel on Windermere. By the time he reached the location he was often exhausted. Everything he’d set up was in motion so, like an experienced parent, he could relax and enjoy the boats.
Richard Pilbrow and Neville Thompson ~ photo:Daphne Neville
When Neville died in Woodbridge in Suffolk at the age of sixty-nine in 2002, Richard told me that ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was broadcast on television as if in his honour.
You can find an impressive list of Neville C Thompson’s production credits on IMDb here
Sophie Neville looks on as Stephen Grendon organises his costume helped by Jane Grendon with Claude Whatham and Neville C Thompson when filming pick up shots near Epsom.
You can find details of how to purchase ‘The making of Swallows and Amazons’ here on line or listen to it on audible and other audiobook platforms.
I began with working on book adaptations in 1971 with Laurie Lee’s memoir Cider With Rosie and went on to appear as Titty Walker in the 1974 film Swallows and Amazons when the screenwriter David Wood worked with Mrs Ransome to abridge her husband’s well-loved novel into a 90 minute movie.
I’ve written about how the film was made and include pages from David Wood’s script of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ below. It is fascinating to see the original 1973 screenplay. Those who know the film well can appreciate how it was changed whilst we were on location.
By 1983, I was working in television production on book adaptations such as Coot Club and The Big Six by Arthur Ransome, set in East Anglia.
My Family and Other Animals shot entirely on Corfu.
One by One, David Taylor’s memoirs of a zoo vet.
James Ellis as Paddy O’Reilly in the BBC vet series ‘One by One’, which ran to 32 episodes ~ photo: Sophie Neville
I also worked on The Diary of Anne Frank, Doctor Who, Eastenders, Rockcliffes Babies (a police procedure series), a Shakespeare play – Titus Andronicus and Bluebell – a costume drama based on the true life story of a dancer from Liverpool called Margaret Kelly.
I then wrote/edited – five documentaries and two drama-docs that I produced for BBC Education, and one that I made for Channel 4. In all I’ve worked on about 100 different television programmes in 7 different countries and appeared in 100 others but am still learning how to write scripts.
Sophie Neville directing a sequence with BBC cameraman Lorraine Smith
I’ve submitted numerous tv and film proposals. ‘Dawn to Dusk’ became a major Natural History series, broadcast on Thursday nights at 8.00pm.
Series originated by Sophie Neville, Produced by Alastair Fothergill
It is very difficult to get a new series or film accepted. George Marshall said, ‘Hollywood is like a whale, indiscriminately glupping plankton.’ He optioned one film script I’ve written.
‘But I’d love to get my books adapted for the screen’
You can pay someone to adapt your work – and then edit and market it yourself. But watch out for scammers.
‘How do I do it myself?’
It’s going to be a slog – and expensive – so ask yourself WHY you want to do it. You can always self publish a novel but there is little you can do with a script that won’t sell. The transposition exercise helps you improve on your prose, but it is a lot of work. Take a first step and record your novel as an audiobook. I have narrated two at Monkeynut Studios.
You need to build up a CV to give producers confidence. The easiest thing to get accepted is an item in a long-running magazine programme eg: BBC Antiques Roadshow. This cost me no more than my time and petrol but I had two (historical fiction) stories accepted instantly. They were repeated and got me in the Mail Online and OK magazine. You can see the photos on this website here.
‘That’s not my pigeon!’ But it’s what viewers want. Start small and move on to providing Countryfile with an historical story. ‘But I write Biblical fiction.’ OK – Horrible Histories.
2. Buy Final Draft software – (they give you a free trial) and read up on how to format a script. Free software is out there such as celtx or WriterDuet. MS word has a screenplay template but most professionals send each other manuscripts on Final Draft.
The formatting gives you the length: 1 minute a page – 90 minutes for a screenplay – ie script of 90 pages.
100 pages = a short story. When I transposed a screenplay into a novel, adding description, it was only 30,000 words long. It took me another five years to finish it.
3. Never submit rough work. Perfect it. One of my first jobs – aged 22 – was to put together A Russell Harty Christmas show starring Esther Rantzen, Peter Davison and Matthew Kelly. This was the first time I wrote for television: a pantomime piece. I walked into the rehearsal room with a rough copy and it was a disaster. They gave the commission to Nicholas Parsons – and paid him well.
4. Write plays for the stage or radio – they are cheaper to make and accept historical and biblical fiction with BBC Writer’s Room offering an open door. Write low budget material. Come up with a story that’s set in a church or an inexpensive venue.
5. Think Netflix. Think episodic: Would your books be suitable for a TV series? What kind? How long would each episode be?
A serial = long-running story with something happening in each episode. eg: we made My Family and Other Animals into 8 x 28.5 min episodes. (Interestingly Ep 2 looked weak on paper but turned out to be quirky and eccentric.)
A series = each episode a story with a continual tread. The James Herriot books made a good series: Each 50 min programme could stand alone as a TV film. Different characters in each. Silent Witness – a dramas with pairs of episodes within a series.
“I want to make one book into a feature film.”
6. Look at the market.What is selling? It’s difficult to get a film accepted, particularly an epic one. If you have an idea for one set in a swimming pool in LA it would be easier. The US market is looking for formulaic Christmas movies – 50 get made a year. High concept Rom Coms. Netflix series. Many filmmakers begin with shorts. Look up the length. See what they want.
The script for the movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’
It can happen! David Wood was asked to adapt Swallows and Amazons at the age of 28 in 1972. He added jeopardy – which was cut firstly by Mrs Ransome, secondly by time restraints and ultimately the producer and his assistant, who stuck to the simple story that had been a bestseller since 1931.
Sophie Neville and David Wood talking about films on CBBCTV
7. Do you write for children? Again, think in terms of sales and marketing. David said, that since parents tend to be very conservative, it is a good idea to adapt well-known stories, like the Tiger Who Came To Tea rather than attempt to devise your own. It’s easier for the producers to raise funding. Movie finances are far more risky than books. Bestsellers can still lose money.
Ransome began studied storytelling in Russia. Perhaps try adapting fairytales, traditional or out of copyright stories to make a name for yourself before you try to sell your own novel as a script.
8. Watch on catch up and take note. Watch good writers. What do you like? What don’t you? Who is producing what? Talk to writers. Gerald Durrell advised us about things like sound, encouraged us to edit the truth. Brian Sibley said that it’s good to begin with a journey. The dubbing editor on Swallows and Amazons amplified Titty’s imagination (cheaply) from the sound of wind in palm trees, parrots, chattering monkeys…
Gerald Durrell with Sophie Neville in 1987
The producer Joe Waters told me to ‘Put your money in front of the camera’ – the visual impact of steam trains, traction engines, period cars, horses and boats.
9. Get a job as a trainee script editor. All BBC producers work with a script editor. There were two on Eastenders when I worked on the series. See if you can work in this capacity. (NB: Script Editors are different from Script Supervisors who oversea continuity on location and script co-ordinators.)
The original screenplay of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ adapted by David Wood in 1973
There’s a lot to learn. eg: You need to number the Days. These examples are lacking. It should read: EXT: LAKE – DAY 2 . Remember the script will be ‘broken down’ by the costume, makeup and set designers.
Expect re-writes – hundreds. They will want Spot the dog.
The script of David Wood’s adapation of Arthur Ransome’s classic book ‘Swallows and Amazons’
What do you do with your finished script?
Screen writing competitions and pitch sessions. Page Turner in the UK offer a book adaptation as a prize or will adapt your book for a fee.
I have entered numerous screenwriting awards on FilmFreeway – winning 25 to date. Again, beware of the spammy ‘Film Awards’ offering discounts.
All the big American awards can be entered on Coverfly. You can register and set up a profile free of charge. I have accumulated 17 accolades and have a profile here.
The costs can mount up. Have a budget. I met someone who spent 3 years writing 4 feature films and sold nothing but remember that it can happen. Swallows and Amazons was made by very young professionals and it’s still being broadcast.
Remember: Script writing is a craft. The huge comfort is that Jesus was a carpenter. He knows how to put things together, so they last, and are finished well.
A page of David Wood’s original screenplay: ‘Swallow & Amazons’ (1974) that was completely changed.
Just do it.
As a young actor, Julian Fellows formed a partnership with the drama director Andrew Morgan when making Coot Club on location in Norfolk. Just when the Head of BBC Drama Series and Serials said ‘No more children’s book adaptations!’ they collaborated on two period costume drama serials for children: Little Lord Fontelroy and The Prince and the Pauper. He then won an Oscar forGosford Park.
Julian Fellowes as Jerry in ‘Coot Club’ photo: Sophie Neville
He’s the only writer I’ve encountered on location. ‘I’m like a make-up artist, ready to tweak.’
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour on BBC Breakfast
‘Can you speak to BBC Breakfast?’ I was asked. ‘They want to interview the cast on Zoom tomorrow morning.’
It was Saturday 29th June. We were at Windermere Jetty in Cumbria for the 50th Anniversary of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, the 1974 film was being screened in the room below us and a huge number of enthusiasts were eager to chat about how we’d made it. I had just come in from sailing Amazon, John Sergeant, president of The Arthur Ransome Society, was about to arrive and we had books to sign, but I knew it was important to act fast. The BBC would need time to contact StudioCanal in order to use the film trailer. I grabbed my lap-top and attempted to persuade the production team we had lots to talk about while finding a good signal. The best place was on a staircase, which was fun when Captain Nancy and Mate Susan rushed past, but a more interesting background was required.
‘What time do you want us on air?’
‘7.40am.’
‘Ah – the museum doesn’t open until 10.00am. Can we chat to you from the terrance of our hotel? It overlooks Windermere.’
‘It might be best if we send out an outside broadcast unit.’
I wasn’t told the item would also go out on Look North and North West News.
I woke early the next morning to find Keith, the BBC cameraman, setting up his equipment. Rain clouds cleared as I unrolled Arnaldo Putzu’s 1974 film poster and plonked David Wood’s screenplay on top of it with a few flags but worried about my hair, which was not behaving. We had Peter Robb-King, one of the greatest make up designers in the world with us. I should have asked for his help. All I did was remove a car key from around my neck.
Sadly, Simon West who’d played Captain John had already left, but Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour emerged from their rooms and we lined up for the shot.
Was I organised? Did I tell them, ‘We need to get three points across!’ ?
No.
Someone quietly suggested I could mention The Arthur Ransome Society who had organised the weekend festival, which was free for all.
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Kit Seymour setting up for BBC Breakfast
Keith fitted us with earpieces and explained that there would be a delay between questions asked in the studio and our answers. We couldn’t see the presenters but could hear the film trailer being played. When we were asked us to introduce ourselves, I didn’t realise they needed to know which characters we’d played until I got to Kit Seymour, who had been Nancy. Straight forward and honest, she managed to answer the difficult question:
‘What’s it like… how does it feel?’
‘Listening to stories of how the film has changed people’s lives,’ she admitted, ‘was quite an emotional experience.’
Suzanna, explained in her beautiful voice, that since the the story was set in the 1930s it hasn’t dated, and we were able to chat naturally about our mission to encourage the next generation to get out on the water. We chatted about the movie memorabilia and David Wood’s script – that as children we were never allowed to read and the amazing time we were having at Windermere Jetty museum where one little girl arrived dressed as Titty Walker with a green parrot on her sholder.
I held Swallow’s flag and managed to speak about the acquisition and renovation of the dinghies, aware that there were no boats to be seen on the hotel terrace. However BBC Breakfast have brilliant vision mixers. The best film clips of Swallow and Amazon literally sailed over my words and I grabbed the chance to talk about The Arthur Ransome Society on national television before they bid us farewell.
When John Sergeant asked me how it had gone I had to admit that we tripped up on the time delays, but we celebrated the much loved film bringing news that Swallow and Amazon are being made available for anyone to sail and that grants are available for children to take part in outdoor activities mentioned in Arthur Ransome’s twelve books.
Many thanks to all those who left encouraging feedback on social media. I forwarded it to the production team.
Eileen Jones – This is fascinating , about the landscape more important than costume. Just introduced another generation.
Amanda Whatley – Great interview, congratulations on the reunion of the boats and people.
Jon Porter – Fantastic
John Greenhough – Great memories of this film.
David Elms – Delightful interview Sophie.
Amanda Currie– I ‘m so sorry I didn’t get there Sophie, my stupid body keeps letting me down, I would have so loved to meet you all.
Robin Jett – I love your delight about the boats. The boats are back! What fun! Great to see how ‘Susan’ and ‘Nancy’ have grown up too. I can see aspects of each character in each actress, but I expect, if you had all played different characters, that might still be true.
Sophie Neville 