# Children of the Stones (1977)

> An astrophysicist and his teenage son researching a village's standing stones are drawn into the past.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/5847

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: science fiction, mystery
- Created by: Jeremy Burnham, Trevor Ray
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Gareth Thomas, Veronica Strong, Peter Demin, Ruth Dunning, Iain Cuthbertson, Katharine Levy, Freddie Jones, John Woodnutt
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075491/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: eerie, contemplative, uncanny, measured, wistful

## Synopsis

Children of the Stones (1977) is a British miniseries created by Jeremy Burnham and Trevor Ray and produced by HTV for ITV1. Astrophysicist Adam Brake (Gareth Thomas) and his teenage son Matthew (Peter Demin) travel to a sleepy English village ringed by a megalithic stone circle to research the standing stones, expecting dry scientific work. Instead they are pulled into the past in ways neither anticipated, and the village's residents, including Margaret Smythe (Veronica Strong) and the enigmatic Raphael Hendrick (Iain Cuthbertson), seem to know more than they admit. The engine of the story is a rational inquiry slowly unravelling as uncanny events accumulate around the circle, with each episode peeling back another layer of local secrets. Told in seven half-hour episodes as one continuous story, it is a single-season mystery with a measured pace and an unhurried, eerie atmosphere. Its blend of British folk horror, ancient ritual, and science fiction time displacement recalls the village unease of The Wicker Man and the early time-travel adventures of Doctor Who. Its tone is contemplative and uncanny rather than frightening, with a family relationship at its core. Fans of 1970s British televised science fiction and slow, atmospheric mysteries will find resonance here.

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- [The Tomorrow People (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/1461)
- [The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/36849)
- [Requiem (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/66496)
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