Having been released in cinemas in April 1974, the original movie ‘Swallows and Amazons’ was not accompanied by computer games but by puzzels, jigsaws and competitions. Here are a couple found recently whilst clearing out my mother’s house. You can see more on a post added to this website here.
Few films are set in 1929, and yet it was that period, nearly a hundred years ago that gave the first film adaptation a certain style.
Graham Potter wrote saying: “I have just finished a DVD of S & A and found how much easier it is to see the details on the TV than in a cinema having to look from side to side. I was surprised to see how little sailing was shown and how the Amazons were not seen much. I think you were 12 or 13 at the time but looked younger. I have to to admit to enjoying the glimpses of the navy blue knickers in the opening scenes.”
One of the set of four jigsaw puzzles made when ‘Swallows & Amazons’ was released in cinemas in 1974, along with a Puffin paperback
Graham goes on to say, “I was surprised to see how you carried all the exciting scenes: left alone on the island, finding the secret harbour , dealing with leading lights , capturing and hiding Amazon, dealing with Mother’s visit during the night sailing, giving Captain Flint a good telling off for blaming John for firework and not listening to his warning about potential theft at his houseboat. Then the great finale when you are able to present him with his stolen life’s work in the trunk. Perhaps it was planned that you didn’t have too many lines to remember, as it enabled a very young girl to contribute such a lot to the film.”
This is very kind but I believe the film was made by the fact that Simon West who played John and Kit Seymour who played Nancy were good sailors. You can tell when they are sitting in a moored boat. While Claude Whatham was an exceptional director, ahead of his time stylistically, the director of photography uplifted the film by insisting we waited for clouds to pass. What else? – a hardworking and talented crew put together by Nevill Thompson. Simple costumes that never dated. Natural, well cut hair and a lack of make up – all the facets of filmmaking that you are not meant to notice.
Maybe our spiritedness as children carries the original film on. We are all in our sixties now, but the characters we played have become imaginary friends to many. As Shakespeare wrote, ‘Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air.’ The Tempest Would Ransome have agreed? I only know he discussed Shakespeare with Karl Radek.
I came across an essay in one of my school exercise books that I must have written aged twelve whilst on location. I was trying to explain that only about three minutes of what will be the finished film are captured during a long day’s filming on location. The piece is not well written.
A school essay written in 1973.
We went on to learn about the Spanish Main, which may have been requested by Claude Whatham, the director of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ so that I would know what Titty was talking about. On 1st June 1973, I was on location in the Lake District filming in the capture of the Amazon in Secret Harbour on Peel Island.
Perhaps I should add these remenants to a future edition of ‘The Making of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974)’. You can order the illustrated paperback from libraries, find it for sale online, or listen to the audiobook:
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.
“My professional life began at the age of ten when I gained a part in the first BBC adaptation of Cider With Rosie. Two years later, the director, Claude Whatham, invited me to interview for the part of Able Seaman Titty in the EMI film Swallows & Amazons (1974). He never thought to ask if either I, or Virginia McKenna who played my mother, could row a boat but I grew up next a lake in the Cotswolds where I was used to rowing a Thames skiff. In the film I had to row with a massive 35mm Panavision camera in the stern but it was fun. I started rowing more seriously at Durham University and managed to complete the five-hour Voga Longa in Venice on the crew of the Drapers’ shallop.
The Drapers’ Barge ‘Royal Thamesis’ in Venice
I began directing plays at university and won a place on the BBC General Trainee Scheme. After working on The Book Show and the live television chat show Russell Harty, I gained a job casting children on the BBC dramatisation of Coot Club and The Big Six. I then worked on serials such as My Family and Other Animals, Doctor Who, Eastenders and shot the wartime romance Bluebell in Paris before directing comic dramas for BBC Schools Television.
Sophie Neville, in stripy top, on the BBC Studio Director’s Course at BBC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood in 1990
I was twenty-two when I first wrote for television. It was a disaster. My concept was accepted but Nicholas Parsons had to re-write the dialogue. I later put together a few drama documentaries and an INSET series for Schools Television, which worked well. In 2004, I was commissioned to write a feature film about Germans in Africa. Sadly, the producer died but I’ve continued to develop this and written a second screenplay that is currently winning international script awards. Both are based on true stories about the lives of family members who emigrated to East Africa in 1919.
I’ve always been attracted to the wilderness and the amazing people you find there. In 1985, I drove from London to Johannesburg, making my first documentary for Channel 4. In 1992, I emigrated to Southern Africa where I set up a couple of BBC wildlife series and a Blue Peter Summer Special.
I bought a horse, lived on different game reserves and spent time between contracts writing stories illustrated with sketches made while working for friends as a safari guide.
In the western Okavango
I’d begun riding at the age of four and had such obstreperous ponies as a child that nothing in the Africa bush daunted me. We had to do most of our own veterinary work in the Okavango Delta. I ended up nursing a stallion who’d been scratched on the rump by a lion and became a great believer in Epsom salts.
I have drawn all my life but only turned professional as a wildlife artist after I broke my pelvis falling off someone’s horse. My grandfather, HW Neville, was a landscape artist who became the first art master at Stowe School after service as a re-mounts officer in WWI. Like him, I took to painting watercolours outdoors, began exhibiting in London, and made enough money at a solo exhibition to go on a YWAM Discipleship Training Course in New Zealand. On returning home, I felt called to adapt a diary I’d once kept into a humorous book entitled Funnily Enough, which was serialised in iBelieve magazine.
I somehow brought out Ride the Wings of Morning, followed byThe Secrets of Filming Swallows & Amazons when we were renovating the family home in Hampshire and began writing articles while contributing to non-fiction publications. I now belong to a consortium of Christian writers called Resolute Books, with Ruth Leigh, Clare Dunn, Paul Trembling, Liz Carter and members of the Association of Christian Writers. My paperback on The Making of Swallows and Amazons is published by The Lutterworth Press. They are based in Cambridge where I spoke on writing for the screen at the British Christian Writers’ Conference last year.
We had a little miracle: Funnily Enough, which is a Christian testimony, reached No. 2 in all categories for free Kindle downloads in the UK. It was down-loaded at 250 copies and hour. After giving away 16,000 e-copies, I was in bed, recovering from a horrid biopsy, when a cut-glass crystal trophy arrived in the post: Funnily Enough had won third prize in the International Rubery Book Award.
I love the writing of CS Lewis, Adrian Plass and Catherine Fox, although Arthur Ransome has had the greatest impact on my life. I’ve given over a hundred talks about filming Swallows and Amazons and will be appearing at the Swallows and Amazons Festival at Windermere Jetty in Cumbria this summer. The Arthur Ransome Society – the second biggest literary society in Britain – is bringing along the boats used in the film along. Members of the cast and crew will be able to see the original Amazon owned by members of the Altounyan family, Arthur Ransome’s dinghy Coch-y-Bonddhu and hopefully travel on the MV Tern, which the Swallows nearly crashed into on film.
I’ve been representing Bible Society since going on a short-term mission to China in 2011. We visited the Amity Printing Press, various churches and met pastors around the country. Bible distribution is conducted openly, and is both well-organised and joyous. There are often speeches, music and songs, and sometimes free hair cutting or gynae scans for women whose health was compromised by the one-child policy. I’m now Bible Society’s volunteer speaker for the New Forest and Isle of Wight, so let me know if you need a slide show.
I now spend far too much time behind a laptop but live on the South Coast where I take exercise by collecting flotsam. Becoming New ForestBeach Cleaner of the Year was a surprise butlitter gives me plenty to write about. You find the strangest things. There are now about 2,000 Litter Pickers of the New Forest clearing up the National Park before our wildlife chokes to death. They’re all amazing.
Awarded ‘Litter Picker of the Year’
I met my husband at an archery meeting in Worcestershire. I was fed up with being single and complained to the Lord, asking “Why can’t I marry that man?”. The archer in my sights proposed to me six weeks later. His grandfather had been an Olympic archer who’d introduced my parents to the longbow in the ’sixties. Mum had given the Amazons lessons on how to shoot for the film Swallows and Amazons when we children had all wanted a go. I picked up the basics in the Lake District and became just good enough to gain the leading role as an archery champion in an adventure movie called The Copter Kids when I was fifteen. We now belong to three archery societies and sometimes win the odd trophy. It’s the only word that rhymes with Sophie.
Other answers to prayer have been pretty dramatic. Try taking medicines into a war-torn African country and you’ll find out. Shattered lives, cruelty, destruction and waste make me angry. Litter falls under this category. Fulfilment of potential makes me happy. I like walking along beaches and riding through the wilderness. I love the sound of waves and horses.
The promises of God are what give me hope for the future. I pray for their fulfilment. If locked in a church it would be nice to be with my husband. He’s never ever failed to stop and pray with me but we risk talking about the mundane. The South African intercessor Bernie Mostert would probably use the time most powerfully, but I’m yet to meet him.
There’s an apparent demand for family films and faith-based scripts in America. My own work in progress is called Banana Man – The True Story. It’s about singleness and marriage with humour akin to Debbie Isitt’s film Nativity! starring Martin Freeman. Spare me a prayer. It would be fun it that got off the ground.”
On Sunday 9th February 2025, I was invited to join the Projections in Time panel since I worked on ‘Doctor Who’ in the summer of 1984 .
An email arrived with this wonderful invitation:
“Over the last few years, I have been part of a team at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, organising screenings based around a number of television series, but the most popular and regular of these events have been based around Doctor Who.”
“In conjunction with the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, the next event at will be a screening celebrating Vengeance on Varos, a Doctor Who story made in the studio at BBC Television Centre.
The story will be shown, followed by Q&As, as well as a photo studio session, in which fans can have a photo with the guests, and an autograph session. So far, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Nabil Shaban, Gerladine Alexander, Stephen Yardley and Forbes Collins will be joining us. You can buy tickets here.
“I always do my best to include crew at these events as I think they have more of an overall impression.” Apparently those on the production team have been very popular and do well at the autograph table. I’ve been thinking up some stories.
Sophie Neville working on the set of Doctor Who in TC6 with Nibil Shaban, Martin Jarvis and Forbes Collins
Below is a plan of the day after, lunch for the guests, with two panels of guests.
“At the autograph table we’ll provide photos to sign, although attendees normally bring their own items. There are normally a handful of posters of the event, which we ask all of the guests to sign, which are then sold for charity.”
The story was recently re-released on a Bluray – with studio footage.
In 1983, I worked for the director Andrew Morgan on the BBC adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s books ‘Coot Club’ and ‘The Big Six’ that was screened under the title ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever!’ and is now available on DVD.
Swallows And Amazons Forever! (Coot Club & The Big Six) SPECIAL EDITION [DVD]
Andrew cast Colin Baker as Doctor Dudgeon. I had found Henry Dimbleby to play his son Tom Dudgeon, the hero of the story.
Colin Baker as Doctor Dudgeon in ‘Coot Club’ – photo Sophie Neville
I also took this photo, below, of Patrick Troughton who played Harry Bangate the eel man in in ‘The Big Six’.
Patrick Troughton playing Harry Bangate the eel man in ‘The Big Six’ – photo Sophie Neville
Many of those working on our crew worked on episodes of Doctor Who at some stage, including Di Brookes, Liz Mace and the sound recordist Colin March. I have written about the Doctor Who connection here. Having read Andrew Morgan’s memoir, I remember that Colin found out that he’d been offered the part of The Doctor while he was with us on location in Norfolk. He was thrilled.
Assistant Make-up Designer Penny Fergusson with John Woodvine who played PC Tedder in ‘Coot Club’, having appeared in ‘Doctor Who’
If we could promise a big enough audience, I could ask if Riverside Studios would host a similar event celebrating ‘Swallows and Amazons Forever!’ Please let me know if you’d be interested in coming in the comments below. I’ll ask Colin Baker if he could come when I see him on 9th February.
Those who played Time Lords had other incarnations. As a researcher, I invited Peter Davidson to sing on the chat show Russell Harty’s Christmas Party, which was fun, and appeared with Tom Baker in Sherlock Holmes. He was brilliant in that role. I wore rather a tight corset.
Sophie Neville with Tom Baker in ‘Sherlock Holmes’
You can read more about the adventures I had working in film and television in ‘Funnily Enough’, now also available on audible.
Funnily Enough – the paperback with black and white illustrations
“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.
An original hardback copy of my book on how we made the 1974 film of Swallows and Amazons was sold in Paddy Heron’s online auction for £86 to raise funds for BBC Children in Need 2024.
It exceeded bids for the autobiographies of Theresa May, Michael Ball, Charles Spencer, Tim Peake, Lynda La Plante, Father Alex Frost and a number of amazing biographies.
An unframed print of a portrait of her playing Titty executed by C. Assheton was also sold in the online charity auction, which raised a total of £14,705 – which is fantastic.
Paperback and ebook editions of my same story are also available at Waterstones and online from all the usual stockists including Amazon
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.
On Wednesday 27th November at 3.00pm, I will be giving another talka about ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ on a Zoom hosted by the national child literacy charity Schoolreaders.
You can join us by remailing s.glasgow-smith@schoolreaders.org
Since the original film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ has been out for fifty years, and screened on television more than any other British film, it has a loyal fan base. Paddy Heron of the fundraising charity ‘Children in Read’ says, ‘I have seen that film I don’t know how many times through the decades, with my brother and sisters, with my own kids, and with my grandkids. That film will stand the test of time for ever.’
Jane Whitbread, who founded Schoolreaders ten years ago, tells me that a love of reading is a proven key to future success in life. Around a quarter of all children in England leave primary school unable to read well and yet good literacy improves all round academic achievement. Arthur Ransome’s series of twelve ‘Swallows and Amazons’ books is great for reluctant readers – those who learn to read but fail to develope an interest in books.
Although my handwriting outshone others, I was deeply embarrassed about not being able to read until the age of nine. I battled to crack the code but once through the barrier, soon gained fluency and was captivated by imaginary worlds. Like me, Andrew Harvey said that he was helped by the Arthur Ransome books, “which provided the inspiration to get me through my (undiagnosed) dyslexia.”
Since it was launched ten years ago, Schoolreaders has helped about 80,000 children to read fluently and develop an interest in books by giving them one-to-one support.
It’s clear that lives are transformed by reading. The author David Cooper says: ‘I found Ransome when I was six, and that was a revelation. He wrote with the same high standards as apply to writing for adults, which is why people of all ages are attracted to them. It only took a few chapters of Swallows and Amazons to make me want to be a writer.’
You can watch a precious talk with Schoolreaders on Youtube:
If you could volunteer to listen to children read in school for a year, think of contacting the charity Schoolreaders: www.schoolreaders.org
On 6th April, the original cast of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ (1974) gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the film’s release in London with David Wood who wrote the script.
It was unexpectedly amusing as can be seen in this recording kindly brought to us by Lee Pressmen and volunteers of the Cinema Museum where the original movie was shown before we were invited on stage by Brian Sibley.
Brian Sibley talks to Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville, Sten Grendon, Kit Seymour and screenwriter David Wood – photo Lee Pressman of the Cinema Museum
As soon as self-confessed ‘super fans’ arrived, the venue began to buzz with the question, “What was your favourite line from the film?”
“They’ve got India rubber necks.”
“They’re girls!”
“… must be a retired pirate. He’s working on his devilish plans.”
Sten Grendon, who played Roger, said it was undoubtedly: “I said – ‘Yes’.”
I’ve always liked: “X marks the spot where they ate six missionaries.” Although I often use, “Here we are, intrepid explorers making the first ever voyage into unchartered waters,” I think “I’ve got her. I’ve got her!” is the most appealing.
One viewer on Instagram claimed their favourite line was: “Titty that way.”
What is your favourite line?
Do add your line to the Comments below.
A recording of Brian’s interview with the screenwriter David Wood can be watched on this website here.
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 