‘moon dial’ trauma
When I was a child I remember watching a particularly disturbing children’s television loosly based on a little girl who was able to slip back in time. She effectlively visited two sad kids in the past and part of the storyline was about a child who was only allowed to play out in the garden at night. The programme was really strange and was called ‘Moon dial’.
I think that I was a little too young to understand exactly what was going on and it always seemed really ghostly and scary to me back then. I vividly recall sitting on the sofa hiding behind a cushion.
If I try and ‘unpack’ how I feel about it. I think I was left rather traumatised.
With the benefit of hindsight I recall that one of the central sad characters around whom the whole piece was cast was a small girl with a disfiguring birthmark on her face. She was one of the ghostly figures.
I suppose it demonstrated to children back then that times have changed and kids with the odd birthmark can play outside in the daytime. If that was the point to children of the 70’s and 80’s to see through skin deep differences between them and other children, why did the show’s producers make the thing so scary?
The only reason I have thought about it is because I went outside in my pals garden to take a breather and looked up at the low hanging full moon tonight. It brought it all back.
Even sitting here typing to you, it still sends a shiver down my spine. I can get quite wound up about it. I vaguely remember the theme tune and the image of a child in a large hooded cape dancing and singing in the light of the moon. Weird.
Obviously if you have seen lately or can recall ‘Moon dial’ it would be good to hear from you to know whether your experience was the same.
Hi Lloyd.
I certainly remember Mooddial but a lot more fondly than you. I used to love it. I remember finding it exciting and thrilling not scary. It was quite odd. I liked the secret garden aspect of it as that was a book I loved at the time. I think I read the moondial book too. I found it excellent escapism and fantasy, I’d be really annoyed if I missed an episode. It had a grandfather clock that the face on it spun weirdly or something at the ghostly hour…can’t remember much more except she would go outside through a garden gate and the ghostly children would come and they would play together and there was a special bird, perhaps a robin that would come, though I may be remembering that from my secret garden book illustrations instead. I thought you were a fair bit older than me but I dont think you can be if you remember moondial so well as I think I was about 10 when it was on. What did use to scare me shitless however was willo the wisp, not the whole show, I loved it but evil edna the evil TV. Also Watership Down, as yet the scariest film I have ever seen.
Take care
Maddy x