In Out of the Blue Horse Dora is extremely upset when she discovers a horse that has been neglected for months. It belongs to the Berwicks who, since their daughter left home, are struggling to cope. Dora is determined to get the horse to Follyfoot.
Young Callie is a surprise visitor to Follyfoot and there is a cute moment when she tells Dora that she didn’t mind moving away because she knew that Steve was in love with her and she didn’t want to stand in Dora’s way. We had forgotten all about Callie so it was a nice surprise to see her back.
Callie is actually the reason Dora discovers the horse, she is due to be sent to boarding school and with Follyfoot bursting at the seems, needs somewhere to stable her horse Magic.
It’s a good mixture of sadness and humour throughout the episode with Dora trying to let Cally know that she doesn’t need to muck up her exam because the Colonel is going to make some extra horse stalls and then the tense scenes of Dora and Steve trying to get through to Mr Berwick.
When Berwick refuses to give up the horse Steve gets very angry and has to stop himself from hitting Berwick. He later reveals to Dora why he went to prison – he lost his temper and beat up a man who was whipping a horse. When Steve realises just why Berwick is acting like he is he tries to get Dora to put people first for a change.
Shelagh Fraser who plays Mrs Berwick had one of the main roles in popular ITV drama A Family At War at the time.
production details
UK / ITV – Yorkshire / 1×25 minute episode / Broadcast Sunday 13 August 1972 at 5.35pm
Writer: Francis Stevens / Director: Peter Hammond
Series: Follyfoot Season 1 Episode 11
cast
Gillian Blake as Dora
Steve Hodson as Steve
Arthur English as Slugger
Christian Rodska as Ron Stryker
Demond Llewellyn as The Colonel
Gillian Bailey as Callie
Shelagh Fraser as Mrs Berwick
John Stratton as Arnold Berwick
Bery Cooke as Headmistress
