The Lost Islands, 1976
Here’s a 1970’s kids classic that you’ve probably forgotten about. The Lost islands was a kids TV series that was originally aired in Australia, before being broadcast around the world including us here in the UK.
A co-production with US studio Paramount The Lost Islands ran for 26 episodes in Australia in 1976 before being screened across the world a year later in 1977.
Summary
A hurricane nearly sinks the United World, a sailing ship holding 40 teenagers from all around the world. Most of them flee the ship in lifeboats, but the evacuating children are not counted, and five are left behind. The storm blows the battered ship across a reef into the lagoon of an uncharted island.
The island, Tambu, is ruled by a supposedly 200-year-old immortal tyrant called “Q”, who came to the island on one of several ships originally bound for New Holland.
In the centre of the island is a valley in which the descendants of the original ship still live, in the manner of an 18th-century colonial community. An adjacent island is Malo. This island is nothing more than barren wasteland, but is significant because of a lagoon where prisoners are forced to dive for a “blue weed” which, according to the people of Tambu, is refined into a powder which the Q uses to extend his life.
The five children shipwrecked children befriend a local family, the Quinns, who help them remain hidden on the island in a swamp avoided by locals because it is, according to local myth, inhabited by the ghosts of the dead.
Most of the storylines in the series pit the children against the Q, who fears their knowledge of the outside world is a threat to his dominion of Tambu.
In the final episode, the children do not escape the lost islands but instead remain stranded. As the end credits begin, they are seen celebrating the liberation of the village from the tyrant “Q”, who has retreated into exile on the far tip of the island, plotting his revenge.
Clips
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Cast
Tony Hughes – Tony, an Australian orphan
Jane Vallis – Anna, German girl
Robert Edgington – David, American boy
Amanda Ma – Su Yin, Chinese girl
Chris Benaud – Mark, British Boy
Details
Channel: 0 -10 (Australia), ITV (UK)
Created By: Michael Laurence
Original Transmission Dates: 1976 (Australia), 1977 (UK)