''Just William'' is a United Kingdom television series first broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

in December 2010. The series is based on the book series of the same name by

Richmal Crompton Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William (book series), Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books. L ...

. The adaptation is written by

Simon Nye Simon Nye (born 29 July 1958) is an English screenwriter, best known for television comedy. He wrote the hit British sitcom, sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly'', and all of the four ITV Pantos. He co-wrote the 2006 film ''Flushed Away'', created an ad ...

. It is the first adaptation of the books since a

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

in the 1990s. The series stars Daniel Roche as the title character, eponymous character William Brown, with

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

and Daniel Ryan as William's parents.

Caroline Quentin Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Amanda Jane Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances, portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie ...

and

Warren Clarke Warren Clarke (born Alan James Clarke; 26 April 1947 – 12 November 2014) was an English actor. He appeared in many films after a significant role as Dim in Stanley Kubrick's '' A Clockwork Orange''. His television appearances included '' D ...

appear as the parents of

Violet Elizabeth Bott The ''Just William'' series is a sequence of thirty-eight novels written by English author Richmal Crompton. The novels chronicle the adventures of the unruly schoolboy William Brown. The novels were published over a period of almost fifty ye ...

(played by Isabella Blake-Thomas), neighbours of the Brown family. It is directed by

Paul Seed Paul Seed (born 18 September 1947) is a British television director and former actor. Born in Bideford in Devon, Seed began his career as an actor and appeared in numerous television series including ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly Softly: Taskforce'', '' ...

and produced by John Chapman. Martin Jarvis, who voices the radio and

audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the '' Red Book'' technical specifications, which is why t ...

adaptations of ''Just William'', acts as the narrator. Various sources suggest that the series will not be returning.

Background

British author

had a

series of books A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

published between 1919 and 1969 about the adventures of schoolboy William Brown and his group of friends, also known as the "Outlaws". Crompton, a schoolteacher, wrote her first novel in 1922 and went on to sell over 12 million copies of her books in the United Kingdom. The first film adaptation of the novels, titled ''

Just William ''Just William'' is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for ...

'', was released in 1940, and this was followed by two further films in 1948. A radio series was also broadcast on the BBC around the same period. The books were also adapted for television, firstly as ''

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

'' in the 1960s, then as ''

'' in the 1970s and again under the same title in the 1990s.

Production

The producers chose to set the film in the 1950s, just following the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, despite many of the books being written in the preceding three decades. The series was filmed in the Home Counties. The screenplay was written by

. Daniel Roche was cast in the title role as William Brown, the main character and leader of "The Outlaws" along with his friends Ginger, Douglas and Henry. Ten year old Roche had received critical acclaim for his performances as Ben in the BBC comedy series '' Outnumbered''. Isabella Blake-Thomas, who appeared in the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

television film '' Enid'', got the part of

, William's neighbour. Due to the setting of the series, Roche had to have his trademark curly hair cut short.

Cast and characters

* Daniel Roche as William Brown * Daniel Ryan as Mr Brown *

as Mrs Brown *

Lily James Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson (born 5 April 1989), known professionally as Lily James, is an English actress. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began her career in the British television series '' Just Wi ...

as Ethel Brown *

Harry Melling Harry Edward Melling (born 17 March 1989) is an English actor known for playing Dudley Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' films (2001–2010) and Harry Beltik in ''The Queen's Gambit'' (2020). Early life Harry Edward Melling was born on 17 Marc ...

as Robert Brown *

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical'', and for Best ...

as Uncle Neville * Isabella Blake-Thomas as Violet Elizabeth Bott *

as Mr Bott *

as Mrs Bott * Jordan Grehs as Ginger * Edward Piercy as Douglas * Lottie Bell as Dorinda * Robert A. Foster as Henry *

Adam Gillen Adam Gillen (born 11 September 1985) is a British actor, best known for his role as Liam Conroy in the ITV hit series ''Benidorm'', Brian in the Channel 4 comedy '' Fresh Meat'' and Gavin in BBC's '' Prisoners’ Wives''. In 2019, Gillen was n ...

as Hector *

Denis Lawson Denis Stamper Lawson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Wedge Antilles in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy (1977–1983) and as John Jarndyce in the television miniseries ''Bleak House'' (2005), the l ...

as Headmaster *

John Sessions John Sessions (born John Marshall; 11 January 1953 – 2 November 2020) was a British actor and comedian. He was known as a regular performer on comedy improvisation show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', as co-creator, co-writer and co-star of the ...

as Mr Welbecker *

Roy Hudd Roy Hudd (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. Early life Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née Barham ...

as Bob * Martin Jarvis as the Narrator *

Ruby Stokes Ruby Stokes (born 4 September 2000) is an English actress. On television, she is known for her roles in Netflix series '' Lockwood & Co.'', the Paramount+ series '' The Burning Girls'' (both 2023), and the BBC One drama '' The Jetty'' (2024). Sh ...

as Grumpy Girl

Broadcast

The series, which consists of four half-hour episodes, aired as part of the BBC's Christmas programming from 28 to 31 December 2010 on

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

.< The series was broadcast on the CBBC channel from 8 to 16 January 2011.

DVD release

The first four episodes were released to DVD on 7 March 2011, under the title, ''Just William, Series One'', although further series were not produced.

References

External links

* * {{Simon Nye BBC One original programming Just William 2010s British children's television series 2010 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings CBBC original programming