The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988 TV serial)
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988 TV serial) | |
|---|---|
Title screen
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| Written by |
C.S. Lewis Alan Seymour |
| Directed by | Marilyn Fox |
| Starring |
Richard Dempsey Sophie Cook Jonathan R. Scott Sophie Wilcox Barbara Kellerman |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Paul Stone |
| Running time | 172 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 13 November – 18 December 1988 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Prince Caspian/The Voyage of the Dawn Treader |
| Related shows | The Chronicles of Narnia |
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a British children's television drama first broadcast by the BBC in 1988. It was the first series of The Chronicles of Narnia that ran from 1988 to 1990.
In 1940, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie are siblings who are evacuated from London because of the recent outbreak of World War II. They are sent to the countryside to stay with Professor Digory Kirke.
While exploring a spare room in the house, Lucy enters a wardrobe and finds herself in the middle of a snowy wood, lit by a single lamp-post. She meets a faun named Mr. Tumnus, who explains that she is in the land of Narnia. He takes her back to his cave for tea. He then plays his flute and Lucy goes to sleep, but when she wakes up Tumnus is crying and he confesses that he had intended to hand her over to the cruel White Witch, who rules over Narnia. She had ordered him and all the other Narnians that if they ever saw a Son of Adam or Daughter of Eve in Narnia, they were to catch them and hand them over to her, but Tumnus walks back to the lamp-post with Lucy to make sure she returns safely to her own world.
When Lucy returns to her siblings, they do not believe her story about the country in the wardrobe. Edmund is particularly cruel to her and taunts her with comments like "found any new countries in the cupboard lately?".
Later, during a game of hide and seek, Lucy again enters the wardrobe and Edmund follows her into it, and manages to find his way into Narnia, but he cannot find Lucy. He hears a jingling of bells and a horse-drawn sleigh draws up, transporting a great lady.
The lady introduces herself as the Queen of Narnia, and demands to know "what" Edmund is. She is running out of patience before she finally asks him if he is human. He tells her that he is human and that he got into Narnia through a wardrobe door. She is kind to Edmund. She magically makes a tent appear which they enter before talking. She is eager to know all about him and he tells her that he has a brother and two sisters. He also tells her that his sister Lucy has already been in Narnia and has met a faun. The Queen tells Edmund that she would like to see his brother and sisters and that next time he comes to Narnia he should bring them with him to meet her. She also tells him that she has no children, and that she would love to have a boy she could bring up as a prince; who would be King of Narnia when she died. She eventually bids farewell to Edmund.
Edmund returns to the lamp-post, where he is reunited with Lucy, who tells him that she has been to see Tumnus again. When she describes the White Witch, Edmund realises that she is no other than the lady he has just made friends with, but he does not let on that he has seen her.
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