As with series one and two I thought I should do a recap.

A brief episode recap

I’ll have to wrack my brains here as I watched the earlier episodes a really long time ago! There will be spoilers included here.

1. New Arrivals

We start again on the first day of term. Most of the girls have returned with the exception of Alicia who is in Canada having joined a skating team and Sally who (as per the books) has the mumps. The new arrivals the title refer to are Bill, Thunder and Miss Johnson.

Gwen’s misdemeanours of the previous series are forgotten and she instantly starts throwing her weight around as her father is joining the board of directors.

Bill is extremely horse-mad and starts things off quite badly by breaking the rules about visiting the stables on the first day of lessons.

Miss Johnson comes across as what I can only describe as suspicious at this point. She seems kind-but-strict but her facial expressions hint that she’s got a lot more going on beneath the surface.

2. The Trials

There are lacrosse trials to be held but Miss Johnson throws spanners in the works by being ridiculously rigid about rules and seeming to do her best to prevent the girls from practicing.

Mary-Lou has trials of her own (I have only just this moment realised that the title has a double-meaning) as she starts her periods and doesn’t know where to turn.

3. The Surprise Picnic

The girls decide to have a midnight feast in the stables, but have to change it to their dorm at the last minute as Miss Johnson is creeping around the stables that night.

Bill continues to get into trouble for constantly being at the stables, and Irene offers to play the piano for Mavis’ singing audition.

4. The Accident

Thunder appears at the classroom window in a manner reminiscent of Lassie, trying to get Bill’s attention as something is wrong. And something is very wrong – Miss Grayling has taken Thunder for a ride, fallen off and badly hurt herself.

With Miss Grayling taken to hospital and unable to manage the school a temporary replacement must be found, and it ends up being Miss Johnson!

5. The New Headmistress

Miss Johnson immediately starts to enforce new rules at the school. No more talking in the corridors, no talking to the ground staff, personal belongings are not to leave the common room or dorms, and so on.

Darrell fights back and lands herself in trouble, but manages to make the lacrosse trials and is chosen for the county team.

6. The Voice

Sally returns to find the school almost unrecognisable and tries to talk to Miss Johnson about it. She assumes she can continue as head of form but Miss Johnson gives that honour to Gwen instead.

Irene and Mavis have no choice but to sneak out to Mavis’ audition as Miss Johnson has refused them permission to go. They have to walk back as Mavis begins to feels unwell.

7. The Dance

Gwen turns a dance lesson with some boys from another school into a Dance complete with decorations, food and the girls in their best dresses.

Mary-Lou finds a mysterious statue in the woods, but it disappears as soon as they have told Miss Johnson about it, and Gwen completely betrays Mary-Lou to Miss Johnson in order to protect herself.

This is mostly a filler episode as little of importance occurs other than Gwen firmly putting herself with Miss Johnson and against the girls, and the statue being found.

8. The Sisters

Felicity visits Malory Towers to sit the entry exam, and has to switch clothes with Mary-Lou to be able to explore the school and grounds because Miss Johnson has forbid it.

The girls letters home are being censored, so when Darrell’s attempt to smuggle out an uncensored letter via her sister fails, Ellen comes up with a coded way to let Alicia know what’s happening.

This is again fairly filler-y, though it serves a purpose in highlighting how Miss Johnson is isolating the girls.

9. The Hamper

Alicia’s response to Ellen’s letter is to send a hamper of food and tricks. The girls pull off the fake mouse trick at first, but are then caught by Miss Johnson and Darrell takes the blame.

Darrell makes the county lacrosse team while it is revealed that Mavis has laryngitis.

More filler!

10. The Peaches

Alicia’s hamper also contained two tins of peaches which the girls are desperate to share between themselves, and also with Mavis as peach juice is supposed to be good for the throat. Only Miss Johnson has taken them for herself. Four of the girls manage to avoid going on a school trip so they can reclaim the peaches for themselves.

Miss Johnson is so nearly caught out as they discover some of the letters she has hidden in her desk, but she talks her way out of it.

A lot of filler with the exception of the finding of the letters and the near-exposing of Miss Johnson.

11. The Ride

When Thunder shows signs of being unwell Bill can’t think about anything else and gets herself into trouble. Matron takes the time to look in on the horse but Miss Johnson is adamant that nothing is wrong. Bill rides of dramatically to fetch the vet, and Miss Johnson gets something nastier than egg on her face when she is proven wrong about Thunder.

The episode which remains the truest to the book despite none of it being exactly the same.

12. The Arrest

Ron has found a stash of paintings and other objects hidden in the stable, but ends up being arrested as the art thief. Darrell is adamant that he is not guilty, but most of the girls in her dorm side against her and Ron, as they don’t see how Miss Johnson could have been at the stables and in the school at the same time.

Miss Grayling returns, and although Miss Johnson tries her best to keep the girls from talking to her, she does hear some concerning information about how the school has been run in her absence.

13. The Thief

Darrell sees two Miss Johnsons at the stables but nobody is inclined to believe her at first, even when Irene finds a picture of Miss Johnson sitting beside a woman who looks identical to her.

Ellen proves that two paintings in the school have been painted over some of the stolen artwork, and Miss Johnson tries to flee when she realises she has been found out.

Gwen holds her up by talking and then taking her van keys, keeping her there long enough for the other girls to come help before the police arrive to arrest her.

The cast

As with series 2, while most of the girls returned some didn’t, and we got some new characters too.

Returning girls – 

Darrell Rivers ( Ella Bright) – Darrell continues to struggle with her temper, especially when faced with Miss Johnson’s infuriatingly strict rules. She is determined to solve the mystery of the statue in the woods and then to prove Ron innocent of the thefts.

Irene (Natasha Raphael) – Irene is mostly used for comic effect, though at times her clumsiness and forgetfulness do advance the plot. Her main storyline was in helping Mavis audition at the Conservatoire and getting in herself.

Sally Hope (Sienna Arif Knights) – Sally is absent for the first few episodes as she has had the mumps. When she returns she highlights the absurdity of the new school regime as it is all a complete surprise to her.

Jean (Beth Bradfield) – Jean is mostly in the background this series, although she was head of form to begin with, and had some intelligent comments to make about the new rules. Her best moment was her going to Miss Johnson to drop Sally in it – an orchestrated plan to prevent Sally from having to go on a school trip.

Mary-Lou (Imogen Lamb) – Mary-Lou was also often in the background, though she had her own little story-line with starting her periods. Her artistic abilities were used in a couple of episode, and it was her who found the stolen statue.

Gwendoline Mary Lacey (Danya Griver) – Gwen had quite the arc this series. She got to be head girl but unfortunately used that to snitch to Miss Johnson and enforce all the new rules. At the end, however, it seems that she really understood how awful she had been, and how Miss Johnson had manipulated her, and she wrought her revenge magnificently.

Ellen Wilson (Carys John) – Ellen uses her science skills a few times in the series, but is generally in the background.

The new girls –

Wilhelmina Robinson (Amelie Green) – Bill, as the new girl, takes over most of the series. She constantly goes up against Miss Johnson over visiting the stables to see Thunder.

Mavis (Bre Francis) – As she’s older we don’t see a lot of Mavis. She’s more modest than her book counterpart, and only sneaks off as Miss Johnson has unfairly gone back on the plans for her to attend an already arranged audition.

Absent (temporarily) –

Alicia Johns (Zoey Siewart) – Alicia is in Canada having joined an ice skating team, though she is mentioned from time to time and of course provides the hamper of tricks and food which becomes important in a couple of plots. As far as I know she does return to the school later.

The returning staff – 

Mam’zelle Rougier (Genevieve Beaudet) – We don’t see a huge amount of Mam’zelle though she teaches a few classes and is seen to be unimpressed when Miss Johnson is chosen for head over herself.

Matron (Ashley MacGuire) – Matron – despite having appeared to have thawed to the girls in the previous series Matron becomes Miss Johnson’s right-hand woman, and seems to take delight in enforcing rules and punishing the girls. There are still moments of humour from her, but perhaps less than in series one and two.

Miss Grayling (Birgitte Solem) – Miss Grayling is absent for more than half of the series as she is in hospital. She allows Miss Johnson pretty much free reign before her accident, and returns just in time to find out that the girls have solved the art thefts mystery and to see Miss Johnson arrested for it.

The new staff – 

Miss Johnson (Emily Piggford) – At first just a new form mistress, Miss Johnson is soon promoted to headmistress. Having already come down hard on the third form she immediately enforces new rules on the whole school. Although she declares these rules are to assist the girls to focus on their studies and promote good values, she has really just been trying to keep the girls away from what’s going on in the school grounds, and from telling anyone what’s going on at the school. (Besides, I suspect, just enjoying exerting control over everyone.) By the end of the series it is revealed that she has a secret twin sister and the pair of them have been stealing artwork and hiding it in the stables.

Everyone else – 

Ron (Jude Harper Wrobel) – Ron pops up regularly and becomes integral towards the end of the series in investigating the strange goings on at the stables.

Mr Lacey (Christien Anholt) – Becoming a member of the board Mr Lacey has some say in what goes on at the school and it is he, apparently, who inflicts Miss Johnson on them as headmistress. He appears at the beginning of the series where he is less cold to Gwen, but still unkind, then again at the lacrosse trials where Gwen is desperate to impress him.

Felicity (Minti Gorne) – Felicity is in just the one episode, where she sits her entry exam. I like Minti Gorne as Felicity, but I know she is replaced by another actress in series four.

My thoughts on the series

Like with series two I found this a lot less compelling than the first series, probably because it strayed so so far from the events of the book.

But first, the good points –

While I am generally a fan of sticking as close to the books as possible I actually thought that the evil headmistress story was a good idea. I’m not sure if there was any reasoning behind it, such as Birgitte Solem being unavailable for filming. If so, it was a very good way of getting around it.

Miss Johnson was extremely well-acted by Emily Piggford and was a character that I loved to hate. I think that her draconian control over the school would have been a good enough plot for the series without the addition of the art thefts. Perhaps she could have been embezzling school funds instead.

The acting from the rest of the cast was of a very high standard which is what I have come to expect from the show. As ever Danya Griver shone (though perhaps had slightly less screen time this series), while Matron’s comic timing was brilliant as always, and pretty much everyone had at least one moment of brilliance. Bill eating the carrot in class, Sally going up against Miss Johnson, Jean’s remarks about the new rules and so on.

And now for the bad –

There seemed to be lots of things which I thought were hints at what was going on, but which went nowhere. Instead we had the reveal of an identical twin which – beyond Miss Johnson having a picture of “herself” on her desk – was not hinted at in any way. I would have loved to realise at the end that a strange moment or two (Miss Johnson not remembering something, or having suddenly having changed clothes) be explained by it having been her twin. Similarly her betraying her twin was so last-minute it couldn’t be explored.

The most recognisable elements from the book – Thunder becoming ill and Mavis sneaking off to her audition – were sadly less dramatic on-screen. TV Mavis taking a bus to an audition then walking back on a mild day without a blazer and developing a sore throat can hardly compare to book Mavis getting refused entry to a talent show, missing the bus, getting soaked and collapsing by the side of the road only to be rescued by Miss Johnson who is racing to fetch the vet for Thunder.

So a mixed bag, really!

We, or rather I should say I, am at the final episode of series three. I’m sure most fans of the series have already watched series four and five, it’s just me that’s way behind.

But there are those who don’t (or can’t) watch, and (hopefully) those who have watched and are still interested in someone else’s thoughts a year or so down the line.

The Thief

I feel like this is an odd title for the final episode. We will see them reveal the true thief, but somehow an episode titled The Thief makes me feel as if it should be the first episode where the girls realise there is a thief, rather than the unmasking of the real thief after the mistaken arrest of the supposed thief. It feels more suited to there is a thief, rather than here’s the real thief. In my head, anyway!

With Darrell focused on clearing Ron’s name, Mary-Lou and Ellen uncover new information that changes everything they thought about the art thefts. 

The episode synopsis doesn’t give anything away, despite us all knowing who the thief is. Darrell SAW two Miss Johnsons at the end of the previous episode so I hope she doesn’t waste time believing that was a mirage or something.

Famous last words

I know I usually try to start with the positives but this is the last episode so I’m changing things up.

Of course they start out with nobody believing there were two Miss Johnsons.

Maybe you were seeing things. Two Miss Johnsons, it doesn’t make any sense.

No, Irene , it makes TOTAL SENSE. That’s how Ron saw her load the van, while she was also seen outside the study. Even Sally doesn’t believe her.

(At this point I was wondering if they’d ever switched back and forth or was it always the same twin in the school the whole time.)

Despite Irene (somewhat conveniently) finding a photo that proves there are two identical women, the others continue to disbelieve her and Darrell.

What worked well

Miss Johnson continues to have so much confidence she installs herself behind the headmistress’ desk and calls for girls to come see her, the moment Miss Grayling is out of the school. Yet at the same time we see her desperate to show that she has done a good job with managing the school.

I’m not sure what her motivations are – does she want to stay at the school? Or is she just trying to keep in favour until she can do a runner?

Although Irene finding the photo was really rather too easy and convenient I loved the reveal. We had seen the photo in earlier episodes and of course I thought it was just vanity that had her put her own photo on the desk but it’s far more likely the part that was showing was her twin. So it was a nice early clue that I completely disregarded. As a side note, on taking the screenshot for below, I did start to think that it looks awfully like the window in the dining room/assembly hall of Malory Towers.

We get another great Gwen vs Bill moment (why couldn’t we have had a lot more of this through the series?)

Bill is declaring that the stolen goods are why Miss Johnson kept her away from the stables etc and Gwen replies:

No, to be fair, Wilhelmina, you were impossible. Anyone would have given you punishments.

It was good to see Ellen’s chemistry knowledge being used again, especially with household products in place of the official set.

Miss Johnson’s disappearance reminded me of the Von Trapp Family not going on stage to receive their prizes at the music festival, as they have fled from the nazis. Max Detweiler is on stage calling them up, once, twice, just like Gwen calls for Miss Johnson only to realise that she has gone.

Although sad, the scene of Gwen’s illusions being shattered was well-done. It actually reminded me of the books, and how she would go all silly over various girls or teachers aways to be let down. It was also good to see her stand up for herself and the other girls and tell Miss Johnson that she was wrong for what she had done. Just a pity the other girls didn’t all see her having grown so much spine!

The end was fairly satisfying with Miss Johnson being caught… er… brown handed. It couldn’t live up to the earlier scene with Thunder, but it was still good to see her humiliated again. Nothing less than she deserved!

What didn’t work so well

Yet again a lack of cast was painfully obvious at times. There is a lot of talk about the end of term assembly. Miss Grayling arrives back just in time for it, and Miss Johnson plans to leave straight after it, so this rather rules out the idea that there were six assemblies. Yet Gwen refers to it as the third form assembly, perhaps desperate attempt by the script writers to explain why there are only 15 people in the room including the staff!

Note the wooden shutters behind Matron and Miss Grayling. A mirror image of the ones in the photo of the two Miss Johnsons?

Things I felt ambivalent about

Although I was fully on the girls’ side, I was hugely frustrated when Bill stands in Miss Johnson’s way and she behaves as if this is an impossible roadblock. I literally told her (out loud!) to just shove Bill out of the way. She has been ruthless all series, so why not now?

She is shown to be utterly self-serving, though, as she chooses to leave her twin locked in a horse stall rather than shoving Bill and unlocking the door. It’s a shame that this wasn’t explored at all – it would have been nice to see her twin betray her back in revenge, or something.

Overall

This was a fairly strong end to the series. Miss Johnson got what she deserved at last, and Miss Grayling is back. Gwen grew a spine (at least temporarily), and the girls worked together well once they all believed Darrell.

After another longer than intended gap, we are nearly at the end of the series.

The Ride

The episode description is Bill’s desire to see Thunder intensifies after he becomes unwell. When Matron suspects it may be something more serious, Darrell and Bill race to get help! 

That sounds as if it is at least based on the books, but I doubt that we will get as close to the book as we wish!

What works well

Bill ricochets around this episode desperate to get help for Thunder as she is convinced that he’s not well. It does feel a little repetitive as she has been defying orders over Thunder all term, but there is a real sense of urgency here and it does echo the book more closely. I enjoyed Bill’s Just because you don’t have any friends! It was a great comeback against Miss Johnson, though admittedly not very clever given Miss Johnson’s penchant for hefty punishments.

She manages to get herself banned from going to the stables at all and Gwen is put firmly in the middle as she is to ensure that Bill obeys. In a move that’s too little too late Gwen does try to cover for Bill but fails.

All this is a set up to get Matron to the stable where she speaks kindly to Thunder and shows concern for his well being. Obviously she is taking on the Miss Johnson role from the book in this episode. TV Miss Johnson is clearly too evil to be the one who helps save Thunder but it does work using Matron, who has played a similar role as book Miss Johnson did in keeping Bill from Thunder.

There are some great scenes in the second half of the episode and some really good dialogue.

For example from Gwen as Bill tries to appeal to her better nature regarding animals:

I’m allergic to cats, I’m afraid of dogs and I just don’t see the point in hamsters.

Gwen, being flippant asks why they don’t just take Thunder to the vet if the vet can’t come to him. Bill thinks this is genius (I think it’s stupid). But we get this great scene from it:

Bill: You might have just saved Thunder’s life.

Gwen: Well, we all make mistakes.

Bill: Aren’t you going to try and stop me?

Gwen: Would you listen to me?

Bill: No.

Thankfully Darrell shows sense and tells Bill that riding a sick horse is a really bad idea and they go to Matron.

Matron: I don’t think he’ll fit in one of the beds.

Matron continues to become a more sympathetic character again – after having been particularly awful to the girls. Even in the face of some major emotional blackmail she doesn’t back down but she does seem torn, and says that it’s more than her job’s worth, suggesting she does fear for her job if she doesn’t obey Miss Johnson. This doesn’t let her off the hook, though. She has seemed to take pleasure in enforcing all the draconian rules.

She does at least go to Thunder and it is she and Ron who begin walking him up and down to prevent him from lying down.

It’s therefore Bill who goes riding off dramatically (though in the middle of the day) to fetch the vet.

We also get the absolute delight of Gwen standing up to Miss Johnson, pointing out that no, she doesn’t know where Bill is, as she was considering her position as head of form, as ordered by Miss Johnson. That doesn’t sound like much but her tone of voice says more than her words. (As a bonus she covers for Bill and Darrell here as she does know what they’re up to).

And then the absolute best part.

Miss Johnson at her odious best (worst?). It’s unbelievable how smug and controlling she can be. The vet declares that Thunder has gone downhill, despite Miss Johnson repeatedly telling him that he has had a wasted journey. She is so determined that he not come back until his appointed visiting time of 5pm she then has the cheek to accuse him of trying to exaggerate the situation in order to charge her an extortionate call out fee.

You can see that Bill, Ron and the vet are all thinking how vile she is but it’s Thunder that answers back. I mean… who would be stupid enough to stand behind a horse with colic? I shrieked with laughter so much so that Brodie came running to see if I was all right. I’m not normally one for gross-out or bodily function humour but this was divine.

Not so smug now, are you!

Honestly, that and the earlier dialogue pretty much redeems the whole third series.

What didn’t make sense

Honestly, for once, not a lot in this episode!

Gwen sabotaging the girls’ plans in order to please Miss Johnson gets a bit tiring after so many episodes of it, but Danya Griver’s acting is so good I can’t bring myself to mind too much.

The girls continue to be wildly and annoying impetuous at times, but generally for the good. For example Bill showing she’s a much better friend to Gwen than Gwen is to her, as she practically shouts at Miss Johnson that Gwen is not to blame for her sneaking out. Not so clever for someone who is trying to persuade Miss Johnson to see things her way.

Darrell asking Mary-Lou of all people to distract Matron while she runs off to the stables to warn Bill seemed silly when there were better options available. Likewise, why Matron was hanging around long enough to be distracted instead of heading straight for the stables herself.

Bill having a slight fever (from riding for the vet?) came out of nowhere at the end of the episode but I assume this is going to become relevant in the next.

Other thoughts

The final minute of the episode gives away some of what has been going on as it shows a mysterious figure sneaking around the stables and looking in a chest of silver. They then (somewhat foolishly) hide a key on top of a door frame, only for it to fall down as they leave…

It’s been fairly obvious that something has been going on at the stables what with Miss Johnson’s determination to keep the girls away from it, and that she’s knee-deep in it all. It looks like she’s keeping stolen goods (or perhaps forgeries) in there which would tie in with the bust they found in the woods. I had thought she was hiding a person in there, but perhaps not.

The Arrest

Ron shows Darrell and Sally a stash of art found in the stables – but where did it come from? Miss Johnson is caught off-guard when Miss Grayling arrives back at Malory Towers.

I’m starting to wonder why I haven’t included the episodes’ synopses before!

This is a dramatic title if ever there was one, but as there is one more episode to go, I can’t see them arresting Miss Johnson just yet. Someone else will cop the blame – probably poor old Ron. But Miss Johnson’s time is running out, surely, with Miss Grayling back she will be demoted and lose her seat of power.

What worked well

It was so good to see Miss Grayling return. Although I initially preferred Jennifer Wigman’s Miss Grayling to Birgitte Solem’s, I have got used to the new actress and was thrilled to see her back. To be fair, anyone has to be better than Miss Johnson and I can’t wait for her to be put in her place.

The frustration continues, however, well drawn-out by Miss Johnson insisting that Miss Grayling rest, and interrupting her just as the topic of the art thief comes up.

You can absolutely tell that Miss Grayling is not impressed with Miss Johnson, including the way she has taken over her study. She is ready to listen to the girls though we don’t get a resolution by the end of this episode, I know Miss Grayling will put things right in the final one.

I had to laugh at Matron checking that the girls’ sweets were really sweets, by eating one of course, and I enjoyed the return of Know Your Onions in Bill’s get well soon card. Even better was the girls’ “murder board” on the inside of a wardrobe door as they try to solve the mystery.

What didn’t work so well

I know they wanted to drag things out for one more episode but this ended up being so frustrating.

Miss Johnson blaming Ron would be expected, but not the girls, and certainly not so many of them.

I feel like we returned to series one episode thirteen where the girls vote against Darrell and blame her for Gwen’s tricks. Have they learned nothing about siding with Gwen against Darrell?

What clinches it really is Ron’s insistence that he saw Miss Johnson loading the goods into the van, yet Miss Johnson was hanging around outside Miss Grayling’s study at the same time.

It’s so patently obvious that it’s the lazy plot twist of identical twins! (And it looks like I was right about there being someone else hiding around the stables.)

Other thoughts

Darrell goes into the stables and does indeed see double – so much so that everything seems to spin and go hazy for her rather than triggering an aha! moment – but it’s too late anyway as Ron has already been arrested, setting us up for the series finale.

Bill having a fever kept her in the san, and it seems that it was so she could use the phone in there to call Miss Grayling. As that involved getting Matron out of there anyway, it seems like it could have been done without Bill being ill.