Blast from the Past: Ace of Wands

[Dave]

Did anyone ever watch this children's series?

It was a Thames TV production shown on ITV. It seems to have had quite a cult following. Like 'Doctor Who' and 'The Tomorrow People' the format was a series of multi-part 25 minute long episodes.

There is a website here: Ace of Wands Web Site

I came across it while staying in a caravan on holiday one summer at a farm. The farmers children were absolutely fanatical about it and insisted we come into the house to watch it. When I returned home I tried to find it in the TV schedules, but in those days ITV regions showed completely different schedules and it wasn't on. I never ever saw it again. (As an aside, I was always envious of my cousins who had Rediffusion cable TV and two different ITV regions - it was like having four channels instead of three and a choice of films to watch - and I never even got to see 'Tiswas' on Saturdays and had to watch some rubbish with a fat kids instead, or 'Swap Shop' on the BBC.)

from aceofwands.net
The series portrayed the adventures of a young magician, Tarot, and his assistants Lulli Palmer and Sam Maxted. As well as having a stage career as a conjurer and escapologist, Tarot spent much of his spare time solving mysteries and crimes of a bizarre or magical nature.

Ace Of Wands consisted of three seasons. The first was broadcast from the summer to the autumn of 1970, the second followed almost exactly a year later. The third was longer than the first two, and ran from summer to winter 1972.

I probably caught the middle of the third season and yes, it does sound a lot like 'Jonathan Creek' but this was much earlier.