The evocative ident for HTV West gives way to arresting shots of standing stones accompanied by stark, angular, choral music. Immediately the attention is caught. This deliciously spooky and atmospheric drama features a pre-Blakes 7 Gareth Thomas as an astrophysicist who moves with his son to Milbury, an isolated village where the inhabitants seem oddly contented, greeting each other with a cheery "Happy Day!" They soon encounter strange phenomena somehow linked to a supernova, an ancient amulet, an enigmatic painting, and a nearby ring of standing stones. Finding allies in the museum curator and her daughter, the four try to resolve the mystery before themselves becoming unquestioningly happy.

The story has some recognizable antecedents: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (people being replaced by bland replicas), Children of the Damned (scary genius kids who think as one), The Prisoner (a village where almost everyone conforms and from which there is no escape), The Wicker Man (the survival of an ancient pagan cult), and even elements of The Bible and John Fowles' The Magus. But for all the familiarity this is a terrific yarn, executed with great skill. In fact, perhaps the most remarkable similarity is to the later Quatermass serial - so striking is it one can only wonder whether Nigel Kneale saw this before penning his script.

The script by Jeremy Burnham and Trevor Ray is literate and well-paced, employing a superficially credible scientific rationale, developing the eerie tale from cliffhanger to cliffhanger in the style familiar from Doctor Who. It is straight-faced in a way almost inconceivable now. There is a strong cast: Thomas is highly credible, and Peter Demin is excellent as his brainy son; Veronica Strong and Katharine Levy make a fine mother-and-daughter pair to complement them; and Ian Cuthbertson is suitably imperious as the mysterious patriarchal head of the community. The direction by Peter Graham Scott is largely understated, leading to a feeling of strange calm amongst the scariest of circumstances. The only flat note is Freddie Jones, who is a little tiresome as an all-too-familiar 'village idiot' who escapes turning into a happy inhabitant largely because he is a bit daft.
Perhaps the most significant contribution to the success of the drama is the music. Composed by Sidney Sager, it is almost entirely choral except for an acoustic guitar. It is strikingly modernistic, employing whispering, shouting, crying, howling, humming, and eerie re-iterations of the villagers' "Happy Day!" This avant-garde music is all the more remarkable for being applied to children's drama and anticipates by some years a somewhat similar approach for The Day of the Triffids. The choral idea carries through into the story itself, with scenes of massed villagers standing in a circle, hands linked, intoning wordlessly to the heavens. The impression of witnessing some primeval pagan rite is quite extraordinary.

The serial comes from the time when it was customary to shoot interiors on videotape and locations on film. Unfortunately the mismatch in stock is very obvious as the film is evidently 16mm: thus exteriors have good colour but a graininess, interiors are sharp but anaemic. However, the complete absence of kinetic camera work is very refreshing seen from our 21st Century perspective, where the camera cannot stay still for a second. Another weakness is very apparent from DVD viewing: the cliffhanger overlaps from episode to episode are way too long; with a lengthy title sequence, each episode has no more than 20 minutes of story.

But the biggest weakness is the setting. Milbury is Avebury and even in the '70s Avebury was a popular place. The aerial shots show clearly that, far from being an isolated community, there is a main road going through the centre. There should be a veritable stream of tourists passing through. It makes little sense that this supposed community of 55 is portrayed as cut off and insular, newcomers sticking out. Given the number of megaliths and stone circles this country has it seems just a little foolish to shoot in what is probably the most-visited UK site of its type after Stonehenge.
The extras include two revealing interviews with Thomas and Scott. Thomas alludes to mysterious events which occurred during shooting (shades of The Omen) and an hilarious encounter between some American tourists and a standing stone which wasn't as old as it appeared.

Despite weaknesses, Children of the Stones is the best type of children's drama: imaginative, thought-provoking, and uncondescending.