Cast: Virginia Denham (Isobel Mathews), Paul Guess (Lewis Hammond), Sam Kydd (Bookmaker), William Mervyn (Squire Mathews) Blake studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and began her professional career in the late 1960s. She appeared in the 1969 film Goodbye Mr. Chips. She went on to perform additional roles on television. In 1971 she landed the lead role in a Yorkshire Television Production Follyfoot, which ran for three series until 1973. Her last role of note was in two episodes of the BBC2 Playhouse series in 1980. One Pair of Feet (1942) recounted her work as a nurse, and subsequently she worked in an aircraft factory and on the Hertfordshire Express – a local newspaper in Hitchin; her experiences in the latter field of work inspired her 1951 book My Turn to Make the Tea. [2] Another popular series, although it is really more of a general animal series rather than pony one, it does include a strong pony element, as the main character is horse-mad! If you like Follyfoot I would recommend these books.

Gip Willens (Bryan Sweeney): young boy who loves horses but has little idea how to look after them. After Ron spins him a line about Follyfoot being a place where horses are tortured, Steve has his work cut out trying to convince him otherwise and it takes the near-death of Gip's horse to win him round. Cast: Rio Fanning (Reporter), Len Jones (Willy Willens), John Lyons (Photographer), Margery Mason (Mrs. Willens), Bryan Sweeney (Gip Willens) The Follyfoot series was made by Yorkshire Television and was filmed at the estate of Harewood House between Leeds and Harrogate.The series, which was filmed on the Harewood family estate, was set at a home of rest for horses. Despite an apparent appeal limited to young girls with an equine interest, Follyfoot was actually aimed squarely at the teenage market and often had challenging things to say about the treatment of horses and animals generally in British society. The ethos of Follyfoot generally was to give another chance to both horses and people who had been rejected by the rest of society: the stance of the series was recognisably pro-animal, and characters who resembled the archetypes of the Pullein-Thompson sisters et al [ clarification needed] were overwhelmingly shown in a negative light. Continuity in the series was assured by the use of mainly one writer, Tony Essex, who wrote 34 of the 39 episodes. In episode five, a former pit pony, affectionately known as One White-Foot Charley, was played by a pony actually called Charley, but he had never been near a pit in his life and was a much-loved family horse.

Horse in the House 1 9 7 7 (UK) 12 x 25 minute episodes This children's series from Thames Television featured Melanie Webb (Kim McDonald),… Being a series about neglected horses the show often featured some hard hitting storylines including some where the horse doesn’t make it through. Throughout the series you expect that Steve and Dora will eventually become an item but despite some lingering looks and unspoken commitments they never did. By the time the third season arrived Dora was in charge of Follyfoot after the Colonel becomes too ill to look after it himself. All Dora's dreams come true when she meets the horses. As a child, she had passionately wanted a pony, but her parents never let her have one. Dora's disillusionment with her privileged life seems to echo Monica's feelings about her own life.

Author (1915 - 1992)

The book became the inspiration for the TV series Follyfoot almost a decade later. The series had a massively pro-animal stance. Characters who saw horses as disposable and of no use once they could no longer work were shown in a distinctly negative light. A huge plus is the vast array of previously unpublished photos, both from the episodes and from behind the scenes. These alone make it worth the time of any Follyfoot fan.