Frontier Fort

TX : 4th September 1977

Publicity : The Eagle Of The Ninth: One day in the year 117 AD or thereabouts the Ninth Legion marched north from Eboracum, where York now stands, to deal with tribal uprisings in Caledonia. And disappeared. It is one of those lovely mysteries of Roman Britain that fascinate Rosemary Sutcliff. Another is how a Roman eagle, a legion's standard and symbol of its honour, came to be at Silchester where it was unearthed. She put the two together and the result was one of her best-known books, The Eagle Of The Ninth, now dramatised for television.

Her hero Marcus, whose father was a centurion with the Ninth, sets out in hazardous search for the lost eagle. He hopes to restore the honour of the legion - and his father. What really happened remains a total mystery. "I didn't find out any more about it, there isn't any more to be found," says Rosemary Sutcliff. "The legion marched off and disappeared. And it is missing from the army lists and all records thereafter". This banishment from official record suggests that what happened was known and disgraceful. "It must have been disgrace otherwise the legion would have been reconstituted. There would have been people on leave and seconded to other legions and sick, say two-thousand. They did not do this which points to a scandal and suppression of it".

Rosemary Sutcliff has written many children's books set in Roman Britain and the Dark Ages. Her passion for this epoch stems from her own childhood, when her mother read to her from books like Kipling's Puck Of Pook's Hill; the three Roman tales entranced her. "I didn't read myself till the last possible minute, about nine. I was brought up on Arthur Weigall's Wanderings In Roman Britain and Wanderings In Anglo-Saxon Britain. He mentions this eagle dug up at Silchester and I've been fascinated by it since I was five". At about three she was crippled by juvenile arthritis, or Still's Disease. And this was another key factor in her writing. "I think most children's writers are writing a chunk of unlived childhood," she says. She writes, superbly, of adventure, battle, young warriors. Rosemary Sutcliff's comversation is rapid and merry and very funny.

She claims to be completely uneducated. "I left school at fourteen. I haven't got a very literary or intelligent kind of life. I have very ordinary friends". In fact, she has completed art school and was a successful professional miniaturist in her late twenties when she wrote her first book. It just happened to be for children and somehow her books have kept on being, theoretically at least, for children. But she doesn't believe in a rigid division between adults' and children's books. "When I was a child I was reading Dickens and Beatrix Potter at the same time". As far as writing goes she does not find it restrictive. "Very occasionally a subject is verboten. And one may have to simplify - no, not that, uncomplicated a very complex emotion. But usually I just write as I want to write".

She does not know all that many children and does not automatically like them. "I like a child or a dog or an adult according to their merits. I am prone to like more dogs on a percentage basis". When a book is going well Rosemary Sutcliff enters into, almost becomes, her characters. The Eagle Of The Ninth, published in 1954, is one of her very favourite books. "I rather wish it weren't because it is quite early. I think and hope I have written better since. But it is my best beloved. Part of me was Marcus, and part was in love with him". (Radio Times, September 3, 1977).

Synopsis : Sometime about AD 117, the Ninth Legion, the Hispanas, which was stationed at Eburacum, where York now stands, marched north to deal with a rising among the Caledonian tribes…and was never heard of again.

Notes : Episodes were originally transmitted 5:45pm to 6:15pm on BBC 1.

Esca

TX : 11th September 1977

Synopsis : Obsessed with discovering the fate of his father's lost legion, Marcus arrives in Britain to take command of a frontier fort. He makes friends with Cradoc, a British warrior, and all seems peaceful. Then, on the night of the full moon, the tribes rise in rebellion to attack the fort.

Across The Frontier

TX : 18th September 1977

Synopsis : Badly wounded in the battle, Marcus is discharged from the legion, his soldiering at an end. He goes to recuperate with his Uncle Aquila in Calleva. There he saves Esca, a British gladiator, from death in the arena, and from him he hears of the lost legion.

The Lost Legion

TX : 25th September 1977

Synopsis : His wound healing after a painful operation, Marcus considers where his future now lies. A Roman commander visiting his uncle tells him of a rumour that the Caledonian tribes are about to rise and that the Eagle of the Ninth is in their hands. Marcus and Esca go north to recover it.

The Wild Hunt

TX : 2nd October 1977
Director : Baz Taylor
Script : Donald Bull

Synopsis : After months of searching, Marcus and Esca meet Guern, the hunter. Now living as a British tribesman, Guern confesses that he was once a centurion with the Ninth, and tells them how the legion was annihilated. Later, at a tribal ceremony, Marcus sees the Eagle.

Valedictory

TX : 9th October 1977
Director : Baz Taylor
Script : Arden Winch

Synopsis : Marcus learns of the legion's last stand and meets the man who killed his father. He conspires with Esca to steal the Eagle but fleeing with it, they discover the tribesmen are close behind them.

Characters	Portrayed By
Marcus Flavius Aquila	Anthony Higgins
Drusillus	Bernard Gallagher
Hilarion	Matthew Long
Cradoc	Patrick Malahide
Marcis' Father	Peter Whitbread
Duty Centurion	Bill Henderson
Guinhumara	Laura Graham
The Druid	Iain Agnew
Soldier	George Howell
Aulus	Brian Carey
Aquilla	Patrick Holt
Esca	Christian Rodska
Cottia	Gillain Bailey
Clodius Maximus	Paul Chapman
Stephanos	W H D Joss
Rufrius Galarius	Kalman Glass
Placidus	Darien Angadi
Claudius	Martin Heller
Decurion	Gerry Slevin
Soldier	Iain Glass
Tradul	Moultrie Kelsall
Legate	Conrad Phillips
Dergadian	Alec Heggie
Liathan	David Hayman
Gault	Robert Docherty
Guern	Victor Carin
The Guard Commander	Linal Haft