First watched : 4 January 1976
This followed The Legend of Robin Hood as the Sunday teatime serial. After supporting roles in Heidi and Anne Of Avonlea this provided Nicholas Lyndhurst with his first starring role in the parts of Prince Edward ( later Edward VI ) and Tom Canty, the lookalike pauper's son he encounters and changes places with for longer than he bargained.
The series was an adaptation of the novel by Mark Twain, a popular work of historical fiction. And fiction it certainly is ; far from the kind , resourceful and socially concerned young prince depicted, the real Edward was a ghastly bigoted prig who acquiesced in his uncle's execution and would probably have been as monstrous as his father had he lived to adulthood. Nevertheless it's a good yarn as proved by the number of adaptations since its publication in 1881.
A British film version came out the following year and I've often wondered if news of one influenced the production of the other. Ironically while Lyndhurst's career advanced significantly after this, his film counterpart Mark Lester ( who was too old for the role anyway ) gave up acting after scathing reviews and became an osteopath.
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