THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

THE DECEMBER ROSE

Title: The December Rose
Production type: TV Mini-Series
Year of first transmission: 1986
Director: Renny Rye, who was also the director of The Box of Delights
Screenwriter: Leon Garfield, who also wrote the subsequent novel (see below) based on the TV script
Genre: Historical drama, thriller
Length: 6 episodes, each approximately half an hour in length
Language: English
Availability: The series, edited down to approximately 2 hours, had a VHS release in 1989. Since then, the series has never had any official release. A rather poor quality off-air video recording is available to view on Youtube, beginning with episode 1, here.
Principal boy actor: Courtney Roper-Knight plays 'Barnacle'.

Synopsis
13-year-old chimney sweep Barnacle, so called because of his amazing powers of holding on, overhears a criminal conspiracy whilst up a chimney, and runs from the conspirators' house, pursued by the malevolent Inspector Creaker. A cockney skipper, Tom Gosling, takes the lad under his wing. Whilst Barnacle slowly adapts to life on a Thames barge, he is pursued by Creaker's band, who mean to kill him.

This miniseries was made by the same producer and director team (Paul Stone and Renny Rye) who were responsible for the 1984 miniseries The Box of Delights. Leon Garfield, the series writer, was a superb novelist whose books had already been adapted to the screen - for example, The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris (1979) and Smith (1970) - though in the case of The December Rose the script preceded the novel, which was published later in the same year.

The December Rose is an exceptional series, every bit as splendid as The Box of Delights, and the absence, to date, of a proper official release is deeply to be regretted.

Below: Listing, production photo, contents page listing, and article from Radio Times 8-14 March 1986 (from Editor's collection; click on images for full size scans)

The series was broadcast in two parts in the US in 1987. Below is a publicity photo for the broadcast. (Editor's collection)

Below: sleeve of 1989 VHS release, featuring more publicity photos from TV series on back and spine

Below, front dust jacket of hardback novel (left), featuring photo from series, plus small production photo on rear dust jacket (right). Published by Viking Kestrel, 1986.

________