Review for Stalky & Co - The Complete Series

The BBC has always been great at producing high quality historic mini-series, even in the early eighties when the medium of choice was video – at least for the interior scenes.
Stalky & Co. is no exception; a reasonably faithful adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's original book, based on his own experiences at public school. Whilst Kipling himself was reflected as the character ‘Beetle’, it was his companion ‘Stalky’ who became its star.

The entire school appears to be a nurturing ground for boys who would later become men who would govern and defend good old blighty and the British Empire as Civil Servants, Foreign Office agents of military brass.



Whilst the book (and this series) is full of school-boy japery, quite of the Jennings or Billy Bunter variety, unlike either or those, it also dealt with much tougher issues like bullying, or illness, with a degree of compassion and sensitivity.



The series was shot during the 1981 and released in early 1982, much of it on location at a boarding school on the south coast of England, near Bournemouth, called Hurn Court School, once the home of the Duke of Malmsbury. (No point in looking for it now – it’s been converted into apartments).
The series follows the activities of three lads from Study No.5 in Mr. Prout’s residence hall, who seem determined to buck the system and go against the general flow of the other boys, despite revealing themselves to be decent sorts in their own way, probably destined for great things. (Stalky himself went on to achieve great things as a military man whilst ‘Beetle’ became the writer we all know so well today for penning ‘The Jungle Book’ among many other books.



The three, who a dorm as well as many ‘adventures’ are: Stalky, the son of an officer serving in the Indian Army, who, being taller and more confident than the other two seems to be the natural leader of the group, skilled in the arts of war and very able to come up with the most incredible schemes and ruses.



M'Turk, who is from an landed Irish family who has a highly developed sense of honour as well as a love for John Ruskin, the writer.

And finally, Beetle who is the bookish wit, replete with rounded glasses and a constant supply of reading material, who eventually becomes the editor of the school paper.



Other characters who appear across the six, fifty minute episodes are Colonel Dabney, the Padre, Foxy (a retired infantry Sergeant who’s now the school handyman and all-round snoop); and their arch enemy, the bearded Mr. King, a childish Latin teacher who is a Master of another house and who is fiercely competitive. But even though Mr. King may be constantly seeking their expulsion, the school’s head seems quietly confident that they’re not bad eggs after all and may well turn out to be major contributors to the countries future security and prosperity.


Most stories included show how the threesome ‘bend’ the rules to their own ends and usually end up getting one over on some deserving soul. So, after being called smelly by another dorm they bury a dead cat in the other house’s rafters, rendering their whole dorm virtually uninhabitable due to the smell.

Or when the stray on to a local land-owners land, to report the unsporting killing of a fox, he invites them in for tea and cakes. But when Mr. King wanders on to the same land, convinced the boys are drinking and smoking, they are chased off by the land-owner. All a great big, if gentle wheeze.



Or, more seriously, when the gang are made aware of some spiteful bullying and set out to redress the balance. 


The cast are excellent and soon have you transported back to a pre-World War 1 age of public schooling. Each of the six episodes, whilst developing characterisation, stands independently as a self-contained story.



The picture quality, whilst hardly stunning, is perfectly acceptable given the vintage (1982) and the source material – video.

Disappointingly there are no extras – a (surviving) cast reunion would have been fun.
Definitely well worth picking up.