This is not going to be as easy to write as my overview for series one, mostly because it has taken me so long to watch this series that I’ve practically forgotten what happened at the beginning of it. But I have my reviews to remind me, so let’s get down to it.

A reminder of the episodes

I did this in my series one overview, but this time it’s as much for my benefit as it is for my readers.

1. The Head of Form

Most of the form return for second year (sans Emily and Katherine) and we meet new girl Ellen who’s there on a scholarship and the new teacher Mr Parker. As the title suggests the main plot is about choosing the head of the form which ends up being between Sally, Alicia and Gwen. There begins the disharmony as Darrell tries to be friends with both Sally – who wins head of form – and Alicia, as per the books.

Although Ellen and Nosy Parker are in the books they are played differently on-screen. Ellen is mostly cheerful while Mr Parker is new to the school and rather all over the place with his attempts at discipline.

2. The Dunce’s Cap

Continuing with the theme of Mr Parker being ineffective he brings in the dunce’s cap and shames Mary-Lou for her lack of confidence at reciting in front of the class. This ties in with the magic pink chalk trick which the girls play on Mam’zelle Rougier and Mr Parker.

The trick is funny, but not as well-done as in the book, while the dunce plot seems nothing more than a way to pad out the trick into an entire episode, seeing as they fail to use it to further Ellen’s storyline.

3. The Stray

The fact that Ellen doesn’t fit in becomes more apparent as we see her oversized uniform and her wrong lacrosse kit. She has a rant about how the other girls are lazy and don’t appreciate what they have, leading them to making an act of charity towards her which doesn’t go down well.

The title refers to a cat which Ellen finds and starts to take care of, mean while the leaky roof from previous episodes is explained when we find out that Malory Towers is in financial difficulties.

This is a rather uneven episode, with Ellen’s outburst coming rather out of nowhere, and the cat being rather superfluous.

4. The Audition

Head Girl Georgina Thomas is putting on a play about Lady Jane Malory and her lover Highwayman Jack. Gwen persuades Darrell into auditioning with her as she wants to impress her father, but Darrell still has time to go treasure hunting after Lady Jane Malory’s diary is found.

Almost nothing in this episode comes from the books, and it shows. The auditions are pure nonsense – they HAVE to audition in pairs, regardless of whether both girls even want to be in the play, and only girls from Darrell’s form even audition.

5. The Caricatures

Mary-Lou (who has been revealed as the artist behind some caricatures lately) draws a new one of Mam’zelle Rougier and Matron, leading to a lot of trouble, and Gwen makes a big fuss about learning her lines and making the play a success.

I love the (fairly small) part of the book where Belinda’s drawing causes first an upset and then a resolution between the two Mam’zelles. However Mary-Lou having been secretly skilled at art, leaving secret caricatures around and then drawing a somewhat spiteful picture doesn’t make sense. The story lacks impact, also, as there isn’t the same history of animosity between Matron and Mam’zelle Rougier.

6. The Runaway

Ellen messes up taking a test and is so upset that she runs away. Meanwhile personal belongings are starting to go missing and Gwen’s acting oddly about it.

Ellen’s storyline has been patchy at best, rather than building slowly to this moment for her it has come in fits and starts. The start of the episode does show her waking up amongst her study materials, implying she’s over-doing it but it’s a bit late.

7. The Play

The Lady Jane Malory play is held, with Darrell ending up having to take the role of Highwayman Jack at the last minute. Gwen has to try to keep her lies/secrets from unravelling as her mother comes to see the play, and Mr Thomas (Georgina’s father) also attends and is possibly going to save the school by investing.

This is one of the better episodes due in large part to it heavily featuring Gwen and her mother, both parts being acted extremely well. Lots of intrigue starts to build up here with questions over Mr Thomas’ motivations and Gwen’s behaviour.

8. The Measles

Much of this episode takes place in the San. Georgina has the measles, Mr Parker is unwell but it turns out not to be the measles and Gwen has to quarantine in case she has measles.

With Mr Parker absent Sally is given responsibility for the class and struggles to exert her authority, while Gwen is able to discover that Mr Thomas plans to demolish Malory Towers. She also steals something belonging to Georgina, establishing that she taking on the role of thief in this series.

Although there are some fun scenes in this episode (Mr Parker laid up in the san for example) much of it doesn’t make sense. Why is Mr Parker in Matron’s bed? Why is Gwen quarantining right beside a confirmed measles case? Well, to further the plots obviously, but it makes it all look very silly. I found Gwen’s honourable behaviour rather out of character, too.

9. The Sneezing Trick

Stealing a plot from Third Form at Malory Towers, Alicia and Darrell play despite Sally being firmly against it. This sets up a lot of strife as the trick is discovered and Sally takes the blame and Darrell falls out with Alicia for not owning up. Meanwhile, Gwen continues to steal.

This sticks reasonably closely to the (wrong) book, but it’s just not as funny or well-done as it was with Miss Potts, Matron and Mam’zelle Dupont.

10. The School Trip

Gwen carries on stealing, though has an attack of conscience when she finds out how much sentimental value Mary-Lou’s item has for her. Darrell and Sally find a clue to the treasure and Miss Grayling reminisces about her childhood at Malory Towers.

This episode drags a bit as Mary-Lou spends rather a lot of time locked in a cupboard while Gwen runs around risking being caught by having all her stolen goods out in the open. The stuff about Miss Grayling’s childhood was nice but again, seemed freshly made up for this episode.

11. The  Quiz

Malory Towers is to host a quiz against boys from a school nearby. Alicia accuses Ellen of being the thief, and Darrell ‘proves’ it’s true by catching Ellen looking through Mr Parker’s desk in the night.

With Ellen excluded – or so they think – Irene join the quiz team and after an extremely rocky start the girls do win.

Despite trying to base events on the book this falls very flat. Ellen’s actions and motivations are bizarre and the girls’ behaviour during the quiz is just silly. I was very disappointed that Darrell and Sally weren’t stronger in defending Ellen against the first thieving accusation, in fact Darrell’s speech was horrible to watch. The highlight was watching Gwen trying to work out how Ellen was expelled for theft when it wasn’t her.

12. The Heroine

Gwen is desperate to post off her stolen goods and so Mary-Lou ends up taking them to the post office via the cliff path. As per the book she falls over the edge and is later rescued by the thief, aka Gwen.

This sticks as close to the book as it can given the change of the thief’s identity and the fact it was filmed on a sunny afternoon. Some of the drama is lost as the girls chat quite casually despite one of them hanging off a cliff, but overall it’s not a bad episode.

13. The Lost Treasure

Everything comes to a head in this, the final episode. Gwen’s parcel is found revealing her to be the thief, and so Ellen is exonerated amongst her peers. Darrell and Sally go searching for the Malory Treasure while Alicia and Gwen try to delay Miss Grayling from selling the school to Mr Thomas, and then Gwen has to face Miss Grayling – and her dorm mates – over her thieving.

Everything is neatly tied up in the end – as you’d expect. I wished Mr Thomas had had more of a comeuppance but I’ll just have to enjoy the memory of him falling in the mud back in episode 7.

 The cast

There were a few changes this term, as shown below.

Returning girls –

Darrell Rivers ( Ella Bright) – continues to battle her temper and finding her place in the form between steady Sally and the wilder Alicia.

Alicia Johns (Zoey Siewart) – The main trick-player for the series Alicia is perhaps in the background more often than she was in series one, though she is key in accusing Ellen of theft.

Irene (Natasha Raphael) – Irene was again under-used in my opinion as she’s very funny when she does get screen time.

Sally Hope (Sienna Arif Knights) – Sally has a bigger role now that she’s not holding onto so many secrets. As head of form she comes up against Darrell and Alicia on several occasions. I think that Sienna Arif Knights was a more confident actress in this series compared to series one, and was able to convey more feeling behind Sally’s prim exterior.

Jean (Beth Bradfield) – Jean’s main role is as a friend to Ellen, and her staunch defender which was nice to see.

Mary-Lou (Imogen Lamb) – Mary-Lou’s character was fleshed out a little more, though deviating from the books, as she is the mystery caricaturist.

Gwendoline Mary Lacey (Danya Griver) – As in series one Danya Griver’s acting was superb and she steals almost every scene she is in. Her facial expressions continue to be wonderful and convey so much without her even having to open her mouth. I can’t say that I was the biggest fan of making Gwen the second form’s thief, but Danya Griver certainly carried it off well, her consistent, skilful acting making you forget when the plot didn’t entirely make sense.

The new girls –

Ellen Wilson (Carys John) – Ellen is the new scholarship girl who comes from a much poorer home than the other girls. She finds it difficult to fit in and feels like she isn’t keeping up with the rest of her form, not having studied the same subjects at her previous school. Her story culminates in her trying to steal the answers to the inter school quiz and being falsely accused of the thefts in the second form.

Georgina Thomas (Edie Whitehead) – Not new to the school, but new to our screens, Georgina is solely in charge of the play the second formers put on. She’s also the daughter of Mr Thomas though thankfully she manages to finish out her last year at the school without his actions effecting her.

The returning staff –

Mam’zelle Rougier (Genevieve Beaudet) – Mam’zelle returns to rule her French classes. She has a couple of minor storylines – the chalk and sneezing tricks are played on her, she doesn’t pass on Darrell’s concerns about Mr Thomas to Miss Grayling, and she and Mr Parker play their own trick on the girls after some song lyrics are mistaken for a love letter.

Matron (Ashley MacGuire) – After Gwen, Matron gets some of the best scenes in the series – none of it based on the books, but just lots of little moments peppered throughout the episodes. She gets soaked when the dorm ceiling falls in,  she battles herself over whether or not to eat the chocolate cake they’ve just baked, and so on. She’s very funny, and actually more likeable than in series one.

Miss Grayling (Birgitte Solem) – I swithered over whether to put Miss Grayling as returning or new, as the character returned but the actress did not. Miss Grayling still dishes out good advice but I thought she failed Ellen rather badly in not listening to her.

The new staff –

Mr Parker (Jason Callender) – With Miss Potts gone Mr Parker arrives to take over the form – for 9 of the 13 episodes, anyway. He is a strange teacher, struggling to exert his authority at the beginning before fading into the background or disappearing altogether later in the series. It is a shame that Jason Callender rarely got to shine as his character had moments of sensitivity with his pupils, and I liked the storyline about him being picked on by the boys at his old school, though unfortunately it never went anywhere.

Everyone else –

Ron the garden boy returns and is involved in a few important plots – the selling (and rebuying) of Gwen’s mother’s stolen brooch, and the finding of the treasure.

Mr Thomas, Georgina’s father, has been created for the series and first appears as a benevolent benefactor with the power to save the school. Then we discover that he is only in it for his own gain.

Mrs Lacey returns for an all too brief visit for the school play and is as aloof and wonderful as ever.

Felicity also turns up for the play along with the newly-created character of Mary-Lou’s granny.

My thoughts on the series

I definitely didn’t find this series as compelling as the first, hence me taking months and months to watch just 13 episodes.

But first, the good points –

The standard of the acting remained exceptionally high – I couldn’t fault a single moment of the acting from any of the cast, no matter how young or how little their role.

The costumes, locations, sets and so on were also excellent. Visually it’s all very beautiful and (to my millennial eyes) perfectly of the period.

There were some really humorous moments woven in, and I commend the script writers and the actors for doing that so well. They never felt like filler material, but they brought uplifting moments that slotted nicely in-between slightly heavier or even just serious scenes.

And now for the bad –

I was really disappointed to not get Daphne or Belinda. As two girls left the dorm it’s a real shame we couldn’t have either girl and both their storylines were given to other girls. It was rather square peg in a round hole for both, but Danya Griver and Imogen Lamb acted it all very well and made it as believable as possible.

Both Ellen and Mr Parker had potentially interesting storylines (one from the book and one made up, of course) so I was frustrated that neither of them got the time to really explore that. Ellen seemed to get forgotten about rather a lot, and would then come out of nowhere with a rant or argument. Her storyline was cut in half, with what seemed like a resolution to her problems, then later being accused of theft and deciding to steal the quiz answers. It would have been much better to stick to the book and have one big bang for her with the accusation(s) and cheating at the exam. I can see how that would have reduced her screen-time, however, as Ellen is very much in the background of the book until the end.

As for Mr Parker, he had lots of small moments that didn’t really build to anything. We saw he had a teddy in episode one, that was never mentioned again. He did struggle to exert his authority in a few early episodes, but we never really got to see him bloom into a confident or capable teacher after that, except for perhaps his sensitive chat with Ellen in the san. He is missing entirely for four episodes, and his role in many episodes was reduced to a minor background plot such as playing the love letter trick on the girls or them thinking he was proposing to Matron. I feel like they didn’t really know what to do with him.

The treasure hunting story also suffered from a lot of stop-starting and getting forgotten about. I know the ghost story was similar but that just seemed to work better. It was also patently obvious – even for those who hadn’t read the book surely – that the treasure buried under the cross on the cliff would, after the cliff had crumbled, be likely to still be in the vicinity. Or at least that would be a good place to start looking!

I will caveat some of that with two things – I had long gaps between watching episodes (I watched two at a time until the last three which I did at once) so that may have exacerbated my feelings on the rhythm of the plots. I also realise that I am basing perhaps too much of my opinions on the books. Book Gwen isn’t the same as TV Gwen, so when I’m saying Gwen wouldn’t do that, what I mean is that book Gwen wouldn’t have. My issue is that they’ve changed the character rather than her acting out of character.

Just a last note to say thanks to everyone who’s commented on my reviews of this series, lots of interesting points have been raised and they’ve definitely given me more to think about when watching this adaptation. It’s always interesting to see what others have taken from watching it.

Series three has been online for some time now, but here I am just getting to the end of series two. I don’t think that I’ve made any secret that I haven’t found this series as compelling as the first, but I will save my thoughts on the series as a whole for another post.

The Lost Treasure

All of a sudden it is the very last day of term, and Miss Grayling announces that she is selling Malory Towers – Mr Thomas is arriving at 11 to sign the contract and then the school will be knocked down. Oddly she only announces this to Darrell’s class who already know the plans for the school. Perhaps she goes class to class telling them one at a time – but it just highlights the tiny cast they have to work with most of the time.

She also brings up the issue of the thefts, admitting she has let the girls down with the school but they’ve also let her down with those. Wow she’s really packing in a lot for a last day of term speech. A bit like Voldemort generally waiting until the end of the school year to attack Harry. Miss Grayling demands the thief own up – if only she’d looked at Gwen at that moment she’d have seen the conflicting emotions on her face and known something was up. But she doesn’t, leaving Gwen to escape (for now). She does go up to Miss Grayling’s door later to confess but she chickens out.

The other girls, although disheartened, decide to go for a swim as it’s their last chance. I was muttering at the TV at this point reminding them that they have an 11am deadline to save the school!

Thank god for Ron the gardener’s boy who brings along Georgina’s mirror and Alicia’s pen which he’s found on the beach.

Darrell and Sally go back along the beach with him and find a necklace and the rest of Gwen’s parcel.

Why would our stolen things be in Gwen’s parcel to her mother?

As the viewer of course we know exactly why. In the books the reader doesn’t know and we get to make the same leap of logic as the girls do – though they ruminate for a while about how Daphne got hold of the things they are so sure Ellen stole. Having seen Gwen do all the thieving on screen it makes Sally’s question seem that little bit more stupid.

On screen they go to tackle Gwen having presumably figured it out, whereas in the book they go to Miss Grayling. Gwen – rather unbelievably even for her – denies being the thief. When the girls press her she comes up with one of the worst excuses ever –

I acquired them yes, but I didn’t steal. I planned to give them back to you.

If that was even remotely true she would have slipped the stolen things back into the owner’s trunks or drawers, or left them somewhere they’d be found like she did with Mary-Lou’s coin.

That aside, she also denies knowing about the necklace they found – which turns out to have Lady Jane Malory’s picture inside. Darrell and Sally rush off to check the inventory (I love Gwen’s eager statement about it being something they should definitely check out – hoping to distract them!) and only Alicia remembers about Gwen, dragging her along to confess.

Miss Grayling is nowhere to be found but they confirm the necklace came from the treasure and make their plan. Darrell and Sally are to go looking for the rest of the treasure while Alicia and Gwen are to stall Miss Grayling to stop her signing the sale papers.

For a minute it’s as if they’ve all forgotten about Gwen’s thefts as she says she’s never wheedled in her life and they all burst out laughing. I mean they are of course happy that they are on the track of the treasure and could save the school, but Gwen has not only stolen from just about every girl in their dorm but also let another take the blame. Surely it’s too soon for them to be so friendly?

On the beach Darrell and Sally find a big heavy wooden box which has somehow tumbled from the cliff and travelled twenty or more feet away from the cliff across the sand to land amongst the rocks. I think it would have been much better if it was still sticking in the cliff a short way up and Mary-Lou’s scrabbling around had uncovered it, causing the necklace to fall from a rotten corner of the wood.

In a nice Blytonian twist the seemingly empty box has a false bottom which opens to reveal some rather cheap-looking costume jewellery. Interestingly it is Ron who finds the false bottom after Sally and Darrell turn to walk way, making him the true hero of the story!

They rush back to the school where Mr Thomas remarks that Someone’s raided the costume trunk – only in his fictional world it’s valuable stuff. They have made it just in time, and prevent Miss Grayling from signing the contract. Sadly she doesn’t exactly tell Mr Thomas where to stuff it in the way I’d have liked her to, she’s too polite for that. I know he’s not a true villain – he hasn’t really schemed or plotted to force Miss Grayling into selling but he’s not a nice character and I wish he’d gotten worse than “I’ve changed my mind… I apologise with all my heart.” She even offers to pay all his legal bills!

And finally Gwen gets her comeuppance – or does she? I’ve said all along that making it Gwen is a problematic choice. Miss Grayling gives her a serious talk – though I feel like her serious thief voice is the same as her serious voice for cheating at a quiz, and I know which one that I think is far worse.

She asks Gwen if she has the qualities needed to be a Malory Towers girl, to which I shouted NO at the screen. Gwen says sometimes, like when she rescued Mary-Lou. It’s hard to watch as Gwen is so upset – admitting that she doesn’t belong there and isn’t really a Malory Towers girl. Danya Griver’s acting is really the only thing that keeps this plot from being a total disaster.

Miss Grayling says she would like to give Gwen a second chance but then drops the bombshell – It must be in the hands of your form.

Oh no says Gwen.

Of course we know what the outcome has to be, as we know that Gwen is a main character who is in all the rest of the books. I just find it harder to believe that they would forgive Gwen than Daphne. Daphne obviously has problems as she has stolen before but you can believe that a real fresh start could work for her. Gwen, on the other hand, has stolen, lied, played dirty tricks and engineered others to take the blame and so on.

The thing is that Gwen’s story really isn’t all that sympathy inducing. It boils down to having no pocket money and nobody liking her. She has no pocket money as she’s disappointed her father with her poor school results and she has no friends as she’s been awful to everyone! It’s not as if she’s truly deprived, either. She has plenty of nice things to begin with and half the things she has taken aren’t ‘nice’ either – Darrell’s hanky, a pen, a sewing kit. Even the nicer things she took aren’t the sort of things she’d be likely to buy with her pocket money. If she’d been stealing sweets I’d have understood!

The girls are, of course, the most decent sort. They are kind to a fault, asking Gwen to explain why she did it, saying they’d have helped her out if she’d told them her pocket money was stopped. And of course they give Gwen her second (or rather third, or fourth?) chance, so we know she will be back. Only time will tell if she comes back as bad as ever or if she has learned from this year.

The random sub-plot of this episode is the girls thinking that Mr Parker and Matron are getting married. They overhear him mentioning ‘popping the question’ and using the chapel, and later he’s seen kneeling on the floor in front of her.

Of course it’s all a misunderstanding – he was talking about his girlfriend who we see at the end of term as he leaves for a new job, and he was looking for Ellen’s cat under the furniture.

A couple of additional points that didn’t fit anywhere else.

Mr Thomas flounces off and takes Georgina with him, carrying just her over-night case. I wonder if he will have to come down off his high-horse to arrange her trunk to be collected or delivered later. (It wasn’t going to fit in his sporty little car anyway, so maybe that was already arranged.)

There’s a nice little scene with Matron in the garden and she has a blanket over her lap. Is the school closing mid-year or is it just a very cold July? Also, surely she should be busy handing back the girls health certificates and making sure everyone packs and takes all their belongings etc.

At one point Ellen and Jean say they must find the cat and run into the bathroom just off their dorm. It seemed as if they were running through there to get elsewhere but the door out of the dorm is not in the bathroom, and the cat has never been brought up into the dorm.

Lastly, Alicia tells them that she has been given a trial for a Canadian skating team so she won’t be back for a year. I had heard that the actress didn’t return for series 3 so this is how she is written out, obviously, though it seems to be leaving the door open for her to return in the future.