PLATFORM: BBC SOUNDS | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Happy Day! Children of the Stones is back! Regarded by those who remember it as one of the most terrifying kids’ TV shows of all time, the pagan horror story gets a modern revitalization in this BBC audio drama. New girl in town Mia Brake (India Brown) discovers that not all is well in piddling little Milbury, moving to the English village after a family tragedy. Mia and dad Adam (Steve Oram) are quick to learn that its ancient stone circle is more than just a pretty rock garden.
The stones’ ancient power exerts a strange hold on the residents of Milbury, manifesting in their fake smiles, sudden mathematical genius, and the phrase “happy day.” As Mia’s friends begin to fall under the stones’ thrall, she must use her own powers – podcasting and a form of telepathy – to decipher their secret.
It’s been over forty years since Children of the Stones first aired on TV and, while the story remains iconic to genre fans of a certain age, newer audiences will likely be oblivious. This ten-part Radio 4 drama comes updated for our modern age, recasting its lead – not only as female, but a podcaster too. The script comes littered with references to Marvel’s Avengers, mansplaining, and multiple modern technologies. Thankfully, it hasn’t forgotten to be scary – and sound designer Richard Fox does a wonderful job of ensuring that this adaptation manages to stay creepy and unsettling. It’s unlikely to bother the jaded modern audience of 2020 much, but its atmospherics are effective regardless.
If Brown is well-cast as young Mia, Oram is surprisingly disappointing as dad Adam. While the Sightseers star isn’t exactly ‘bad’, his performance feels weirdly disconnected from his radio daughter – like he’s acting in an entirely different story from everyone else. Which is a shame, as Reece Shearsmith and Ralph Ineson are perfectly cast as the celebrity podcaster and the town weirdo, respectively.
Whether or not listeners have a pre-existing relationship with the story, Children of the Stones is a treat. It updates the story for a new generation while staying true to the spirit of the original. It’s unlikely to scare anyone like the original television show once did, but its tone and atmosphere are on point. This unsettling work of pagan ritualist horror makes good use of the audio drama form; revitalising the children of the stones to traumatise a new generation of listeners. If they bother with it at all, that is. Aren’t the kids all into podcasts these days?
