# Silas (1981)

> A runaway boy drifts through circus life and rural villages in a gentle 1980s German adventure adapted from a Danish children's novel.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/38411

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: family, fantasy
- Created by: Bernd Burgemeister
- Network: ZDF
- Cast: Patrick Bach, Diether Krebs, Günter Meisner, Lucki Molocher, Michael Habeck, Hans Helmut Dickow, Ingeborg Lapsien, Nina Rothemund
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081929/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: earnest, wistful, gentle, adventurous, sincere

## What critics say

Viewers remember the German children's adventure as warm, well-crafted family viewing that found an audience well beyond German-speaking countries.

## Synopsis

Silas (1981-1982) is a German ZDF family adventure miniseries created by Bernd Burgemeister and adapted from the Danish children's novel by Cecil Bødker. Patrick Bach plays the title character, a young runaway whose journey takes him through a circus and the rural villages and farms of the countryside. Diether Krebs appears as Philipp, a companion on the road, while Günter Meisner plays Fabian Fedder and Lucki Molocher plays Bein Godick among the travelers and locals he encounters. The engine of the story is simple and concrete: a boy on the move, trying to find a place where he belongs, meeting horse people, performers, and suspicious adults along the way. Each of the twelve forty-eight minute episodes unfolds as a self-contained stretch of road, with small dangers, kindnesses, and moral tests shaping the boy's growth. The single season is a warm, earnest children's serial with a wistful, sincere tone and a bittersweet pull toward home and loyalty. Its European storytelling tradition, pastoral visual sensibility, and gentle pacing make it a fit for viewers who enjoy Heidi and the Tom Sawyer-style adventure of Jack Holborn, the orphan series Bach made the following year.

## Shows like Silas

- [Pippi Longstocking (1969)](https://ember.film/tv/3533)
- [Seaside Hotel (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/55537)
- [De Zevensprong (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/20789)
- [Holiday Secrets (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/80597)
- [Nobody's Boy: Remi (1977)](https://ember.film/tv/40632)
- [Belle and Sebastian (1981)](https://ember.film/tv/9388)
- [Life on Seacrow Island (1964)](https://ember.film/tv/12382)
- [Nils Holgerson (1980)](https://ember.film/tv/18033)
- [Floris (1969)](https://ember.film/tv/1471)
- [Ku'damm 59 (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/67496)

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