188 Heidi

First  watched  : 20  October  1974

False  Memory  Syndrome  strikes  again. I'd  have  placed  this  much  further  back,  1971  or  thereabouts, well  before  say  Carrie's  War.  That  it  was  only broadcast  after  we'd  changed  schools  in  the  summer  of  1974  flabbergasts  me.

Heidi  replaced  the  repeat  of  The  Long  Chase  as  the  Sunday  tea  time  serial  and  could  hardly  have  been  more  different. It  was  an  adaptation  of  a  Swiss  novel  about  a  little  orphan  girl  who  improves  the  lives  of  everyone  with  whom  she  comes  into  contact  particularly  disabled  friend  Clara. The  BBC  version  simplified  the  story  and  toned  down  its  religious  overtones.

It  is  best  remembered  as  the  ( credited )   TV  debut  of  13  year  old  Nicholas  Lyndhurst. As  I  got  interested  in  drama  shortly  after  this  was  broadcast  I  followed  his  career  with  interest  and  it's  hit  me  in  the  gut  to  see  him  now  playing  an  "old"  man  in  New  Tricks .  He  played  Peter  Heidi's  goat  herd  friend  who  ends  up  doing  something  rather  naughty  out  of  jealousy  with  unexpected  beneficial  results.

Heidi  herself  was  played  by  Emma  Blake  who  has  only  acted  intermittently  since,  having  spells  as  a  jazz  singer  and  dialect  coach  and  time  out  of  the  public  eye  caring  for  an  alcoholic  mother. Her  grumpy   and  impressively  hirsute  grandfather  was  played  by  grim-faced  German  actor  Hans  Meyer. In  a  case of  life  imitating  art,  the  actress  who  played  Clara  , Chloe  Franks,  was  struck  down  by  rheumatoid  arthritis  as  an  adult  and  is  now  a  respected  disabilities  campaigner.