Ace of Wands
| Ace of Wands | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's Television, Science fiction, Contemporary fantasy |
| Created by | Trevor Preston |
| Directed by |
Pamela Lonsdale John Russell |
| Starring | Michael MacKenzie |
| Theme music composer | Andy Bown |
| Opening theme | "Tarot" |
| Ending theme | "Tarot" |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 46 |
| Production | |
| Running time | c. 25 mins |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV Network |
| Audio format | mono |
| Original release | 29 July 1970 – 29 November 1972 |
Ace of Wands is a fantasy-based British children's television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972, created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television. The title, taken from the name of a Tarot card describes the principal character, called "Tarot" (played by Michael MacKenzie) who combined stage magic with supernatural powers. Tarot has a pet Owl named Ozymandias, played by Fred Owl. The series was later replaced by The Tomorrow People in 1973.
Ace of Wands ran for two seasons of thirteen episodes and a third season of twenty. The first two seasons have been wiped, although the final season is intact. In the first two series Tarot is assisted by Sam Maxstead (Tony Selby), a reformed convict and Lillian Palmer known by her nickname, Lulli (Judy Loe), an orphan. Lulli shares a telepathic link with Tarot, which enables them to communicate over great distances. After having to leave the programme because of prior commitments, in the final series this pair were replaced by brother and sister Chas (Roy Holder), a photographer, and Mikki (Petra Markham), a female journalist, who have very similar roles, she also sharing a telepathic link with Tarot. A character named Mr Sweet (Donald Layne-Smith) who runs an antiquarian bookshop often has the answer to Tarot's questions. Sweet is based in a university for the last series. Mr. Stabs, played by Russell Hunter, is defeated by Ace of Wands's lead Tarot, yet returns, again played by Hunter, in an episode of the anthology series Shadows. The character's final appearance was in Dramarama, this time portrayed by David Jason. However, the Dramarama story was a prequel to the previous ones.
A DVD of all existing episodes was released by Network UK in July 2007 and features a new documentary in 3 parts by Classic TV enthusiasts and experts Andrew Pixley and Simon Coward.
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