Review for Tyrant King (The): The Complete Series (Review)

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Wow! I was blissfully unaware of this incredibly cool sixties kids TV show which, until now, was only ever aired in black and white, and then only once in 1968. Not only is it an absolutely magical journey through sixties London but it features some of the grooviest sounds ever for a kids show, including Cream (The White Room and Sunshine of Your Love) Pink Floyd (Interstellar Overdrive, Astronomy Domine) and The Nice’s The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack over and over again. What a concept!

However, all that raving aside, it’s not a series without its flaws. The narrative is curiously thin, and some of the dialogue and acting is decidedly wooden. But featuring, as it did, a trio of fresh behind the ears kids from the Italia Conti stage school, that’s all entirely forgivable. It was actually a bit of an experiment on lots of fronts, which could account for the amateurish air throughout, with this also being Euston films (later responsible for ‘The Sweeney’ and ‘Minder’) first outing as a production company too.

So first a word of warning. Unless you are a complete nostalgia freak, crazy about the time transporting power of archive TV, this may not be for you. My wife declared it rubbish before banishing me to another room whilst she (oh, the irony) watched ‘Big Brother’ instead.

There is a lot to forgive here in terms of muddied sound (on wide shots in cavernous and echoey locations the dialogue is almost inaudible) and grainy picture, along with the strained narrative and enthusiastic but pedestrian acting but…but IF you can forgive that then this is a rare treat indeed.

Based on a book published by London Transport, which has a wafer thin adventure plot as a device to take the books trio of child heroes around every attraction in London in a very methodical fashion, watching it now you can’t help smell a rat. I presume that some of the finance for this came from that same source because this too is a thinly disguised tour guide.

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