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Lorna Doone
to be seen
on ABC-3
A serial version of R. D. Black
more' s well-known novel Lorna Doone
will begin on ABC-3 tomorrow at
7.30 p.m.
Lorna Doone is a 17th
century story of secret
agents, highwaymen, clan
nish marauders and farmers
set against a background of
wild mcwrland country in
the south-west of England.
It begins with the child
hood of John Ridd, whose
family is one of many ter
rorised by the D.oones, a
band of outlaws who settled
in the moors after their
leader, Sir Ensor, had been
banished from the court of
Charles I many years be
fore.
The heart pi the story is
in the romance between
John and the beautiful
Lorna Doone, "Queen" of
the outlaw band, who is
closely guarded in their vil
lage buried among the rocks
and hills ni Exmoor.
Lorna Doone is the best
known novel of the 19th
century writer R. D. Black
more, who spent his child
hood in the West Country
and himself attended Blun
dell's, John Ridd's school, j
The idea for the romance
probably came to him after
reading various accounts,
published in the mid-19th
ccntury, of the Doone
legends.
The television dramatisa
tion is by Constance Cox,
well known for her recent
serial adaptations of Jane
Eyre, the Old Curiosity
Shop and Oliver Twist.
Douglas Allen is the pro
ducer, and the director is
Brandon Act.on Bond, Film
sequences were shot in the
actual locations named in
the book, including the
famous Doone valley in
north Devon, which is now
a popular tourist attraction.
Special music was written
for the serial by the Aus
tralian composcr Dudley
Simpson, who has been a
guest conductor at Covent
Garden Opera House, and
was musical director for
Dame Margot Fontcvn on
one of her recent world
tours.
Bill Travers portrays John
Ridd, and Jane Merrow,
Lorna Doone.
Jano Merrow is a girl
who has moved far and fast
since she left the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art
just four years ago. London
born, she is half English and
half German, and has no
family connections in the
theatre closer than her
grandparents, who were on
the management side.
Nevertheless she decided
early on that she would be
an actress (though, she says,
she had no romantic notions
of stardom), and she only
once wavered from her de
cision. This was when a
sudden fear of being unable
to learn lines made her toy
with the idea of becoming
(a nurse.
| The moment of doubt
soon passed, however, and
[from her boarding school at
Folkestone she went up to
jthe Royal Academy of Dra
matic Art- on a scholarship.
Sincc then she has never
looked back.
$