CBBC'S Malory Towers

 

Following the adventures of Darrell Rivers’ CBBC’s Malory Towers, adaptation brings a modern day twist to the much loved 1940’s boarding school drama series. 

The series begins with twelve year old Darrell running through a train station ready to start her new life 

staying true to the original story,plot and characters

CBBC’s alteration introduces us to a modern retelling. 

 we see into Sally, Darrell and Gwendoline’s lives before attending the school. 

Throughout the show we discover what bravery and courage truly mean while we allow ourselves to accept our faults and see beyond them.  

Gain teachings on growing up in the forever changing post war Britain.

Learning  knowledge on various medical conditions. As we learn of Emily's mother Margret's arthritis,which she tries to hide in fear of losing her job.  glimpsing into Darell's struggles with reading and  a mini storyline on Sally's appendicitis. 

Countless children will be able to relate to Darrell's word bllindness (dyslexia) , showing them that life gives you many ups and downs and it's okay to not have all the answers. Lessons they can take on and use everyday. 

I was lucky enough to speak sixteen year old Beth Bradfield an actress from Wales who made her T.V debut playing Jean in Malory Towers 

After completing sixth form Beth hopes to continue acting, sending out the message that " having a visible difference is normal - whatever you look like you are beautiful and you definitely shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Be confident, be bold, put yourself out there because you can and if anyone says you can’t act, model, run, swim, sing, achieve - prove them wrong! I hope that with my television appearance I can inspire people with visible differences to pursue their passions and do what they love without the fear." 

She feels it is "extremely important especially for people with visible differences and/or disabilities" to be able to see themselves represented on screen "because in day-to-day life we often don’t see people who look like us or even other people who don’t necessarily look like everyone else which can make school, work and other public situations feel like a lonely experience,to see someone, you can relate to on screen reinforces the fact that we are not alone and that out there somewhere there is somebody else who doesn’t quite look like the people we see around us. " 

And agrees that CBBC's subtle inclusion, "helps normalise difference" going on to say "If a child notices that their peer has a disability or visible difference in school, the child might not say anything about it as they would relate it to someone on screen who is similar to their peer therefore illustrating to them that it is ‘normal’ to look/ act/ do things differently and it doesn’t need an explanation, they just are who they are and that’s okay."

No one guessed Malory Towers would gain such a positive response although being a part of production left Beth loving what the team had created.

The Malory Towers's fanbase continues to grow larger everyday. 

Thanking the fans Beth said she feels "so incredibly grateful for people all over the world who have watched and loved the show."

A massive thank you to Beth for taking the time  to answer my questions, another to her mum Catherine for passing them on and to the people at the BBC for reading over everything and checking everything was okay. 

You can catch up with Malory Towers on BBCIplayer or the FamilyChannel