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Soldier and Me - The Complete Series
Carol Wilks (director)
Network on Air (studio)
PG (certificate)
216min approx (length)
17 August 2015 (released)
24 September 2015
This fast paced children TV-drama won a BAFTA back in 1974, and charters the adventures of two youngsters, Jim and Istvan. The boys find themselves on the run after Istvan, a Czech refugee, unravels a sinister plot by four of his countrymen to kill a dissident in Stockport.
The series is a nine-episode adaptation of David Line’s bestseller ‘Run for your Life’ and this is exactly what 12-year old Istvan ‘Soldier’ Szolda (Richard Willis) and 15-year old Jim Woolcott (the late Gerry Sundquist
) are doing for most of the series: run for their lives and flee from four Czech henchmen who leave no stone unturned to bump them off after the pair witnessed blue murder! How did it come to that?
Enter Stockport and the local school, where streetwise and tough Jim makes the acquaintance of Istvan, an oddball schoolboy with Buddy Holly-style glasses and short trousers. His geeky appearance and the fact that he’s a foreigner isolate him from his classmates who just love to bully him at every occasion. Only Jim, for no apparent reason, defends him after he learns that there is simply not enough income in Istvan’s home to buy him a pair of long trousers… Henceforth Istvan clings to him like ivy – something that Jim isn’t overtly fond of. Nonetheless, some peculiar friendship begins to develop between Jim and Istvan, the latter looking upon his older friend as some sort of brother figure. In many respects Jim is also an outsider – not exactly fond of school and authority, instead slumming about the streets and parks of Stockportand smoking a fag. The fact that he lives alone with his mother and occasionally helps out in her ‘Ladies boutique store’ also sets him apart.
One day in the library, Istvan overhears a conversation by two men (in Czech language) plotting to kill a certain dissident who now resides in Stockport. When Istvan asks Jim for help he refuses to believe the story at first, eventually though the two boys decide to reveal all at the police station. As expected, their story is brushed off as ‘fantasy and a prank’. They have no option than to take matters into their own hands, though at that point Jim is still not sure as to why he agrees to help Istvan, whom he considers to be “an irritating little twit”. Nonetheless, when they make their way to a secret house to warn a certain person of impending murder, they arrive just in time to witness the foul deed. Unfortunately they get caught hiding in the house, and thus ensues the adventure of a lifetime – and indeed a matter of life and death!
Realising that it’s next to impossible to shake off the pursuers in Stockbridge, they frantically board a train that is meant to bring them to the Lake District area, where some of Jim’s relatives reside. Shock and horror, one of the nasties managed to board the train as well… and our panic-stricken young friends see no other option than to jump from the train while in full-motion! It’s a cracking scene this but should NOT be tried at home. As they roll down meadows and fields one must wonder how they managed to get away with nothing more than mere cuts and bruises, for one would assume that a few broken bones might be unavoidable!
Making their way through the countryside, Jim admits that he has no sense of direction and they seem miles and miles away from their destination. As hunger and the elements begin to creep in, so is an increasing sense of terror and the bickering becomes more frequent. Still, Jim and ‘Soldier’ are not one to give up, despite treacherous hills, a mad farmer who greets them with his rifle, and various other obstacles. As they finally seem to reach a house and safety after days in the wilderness of North-west England… they make a terrible discovery: their pursuers are much closer than they think!
Thanks to Jim and ‘Soldier’s’ wit, determination and fearless audacity they come up trumps in the end… though not before another few episodes of this spanking drama rolls across in front of us!
Gerry Sundquist as ‘Jim’ and Richard Willis as ‘Istvan SOLDIER Szolda’ deliver not just honest and believable performances, but their mismatched and occasionally conflicting personalities result in great screen chemistry. In particular Richard Willis’ is impressive as the refugee kiddo, displaying a surprisingly convincing Czech accent.
The series is a nine-episode adaptation of David Line’s bestseller ‘Run for your Life’ and this is exactly what 12-year old Istvan ‘Soldier’ Szolda (Richard Willis) and 15-year old Jim Woolcott (the late Gerry Sundquist
Enter Stockport and the local school, where streetwise and tough Jim makes the acquaintance of Istvan, an oddball schoolboy with Buddy Holly-style glasses and short trousers. His geeky appearance and the fact that he’s a foreigner isolate him from his classmates who just love to bully him at every occasion. Only Jim, for no apparent reason, defends him after he learns that there is simply not enough income in Istvan’s home to buy him a pair of long trousers… Henceforth Istvan clings to him like ivy – something that Jim isn’t overtly fond of. Nonetheless, some peculiar friendship begins to develop between Jim and Istvan, the latter looking upon his older friend as some sort of brother figure. In many respects Jim is also an outsider – not exactly fond of school and authority, instead slumming about the streets and parks of Stockportand smoking a fag. The fact that he lives alone with his mother and occasionally helps out in her ‘Ladies boutique store’ also sets him apart.
One day in the library, Istvan overhears a conversation by two men (in Czech language) plotting to kill a certain dissident who now resides in Stockport. When Istvan asks Jim for help he refuses to believe the story at first, eventually though the two boys decide to reveal all at the police station. As expected, their story is brushed off as ‘fantasy and a prank’. They have no option than to take matters into their own hands, though at that point Jim is still not sure as to why he agrees to help Istvan, whom he considers to be “an irritating little twit”. Nonetheless, when they make their way to a secret house to warn a certain person of impending murder, they arrive just in time to witness the foul deed. Unfortunately they get caught hiding in the house, and thus ensues the adventure of a lifetime – and indeed a matter of life and death!
Realising that it’s next to impossible to shake off the pursuers in Stockbridge, they frantically board a train that is meant to bring them to the Lake District area, where some of Jim’s relatives reside. Shock and horror, one of the nasties managed to board the train as well… and our panic-stricken young friends see no other option than to jump from the train while in full-motion! It’s a cracking scene this but should NOT be tried at home. As they roll down meadows and fields one must wonder how they managed to get away with nothing more than mere cuts and bruises, for one would assume that a few broken bones might be unavoidable!
Making their way through the countryside, Jim admits that he has no sense of direction and they seem miles and miles away from their destination. As hunger and the elements begin to creep in, so is an increasing sense of terror and the bickering becomes more frequent. Still, Jim and ‘Soldier’ are not one to give up, despite treacherous hills, a mad farmer who greets them with his rifle, and various other obstacles. As they finally seem to reach a house and safety after days in the wilderness of North-west England… they make a terrible discovery: their pursuers are much closer than they think!
Thanks to Jim and ‘Soldier’s’ wit, determination and fearless audacity they come up trumps in the end… though not before another few episodes of this spanking drama rolls across in front of us!
Gerry Sundquist as ‘Jim’ and Richard Willis as ‘Istvan SOLDIER Szolda’ deliver not just honest and believable performances, but their mismatched and occasionally conflicting personalities result in great screen chemistry. In particular Richard Willis’ is impressive as the refugee kiddo, displaying a surprisingly convincing Czech accent.
