A forgotten classic of British TV from 1972, The Intruder was made by Granada television and broadcast on a Sunday evening. The series was based on the novel of the same name by John Rowe Townsend. Who adapted Alan Garner’s The Owl Service for TV, and starred James Bate (The Spoils of War, Dr Who and The Stars Look Down) as Arnold Haithwaite, Milton Johns as Sonny (Empire Strikes Back, The Jensen Code and The X-Files) and Simon Fisher-Turner (Claire Dolan, Lillie and The Big Sleep) as Peter Ellison.

Sixteen-year-old, Arnold Haithwaite (Bate) is a sand pilot. He guides visitors along a treacherous coastal sand bridge to the small island where he lives. His life is very suddenly turned upside down when a stranger with an eye patch (John) turns up in the small seaside village of Skirlston, Cumbria claiming to be him. Naturally, this causes the young Arnold a great deal of concern and he experience something of an identity crisis. The stranger, known only as Sonny is a sinister, scheming individual played to perfection by Milton Johns, who tries to cause trouble for young Arnold at every opportunity. Arnold is naturally suspicious of the man and enlists his friend Peter (Fisher-Turner) to help him find out exactly who he is. At one point Sonny ties up and threatens, Peter, who he has caught spying on him, threatening to do harm to the lad if he tells Arnold of his movements. At the end of the day, Arnold must snap out of his petulant mood swings long enough to find out exactly who he and Sonny are, and understand why Sonny has some sort of power over his Uncle, Ernest Haithwaite  (Jack Woolgar, Coronation Street, Soldier and Me and Gawain and the Green Knight).

To be honest, the whole series has a strange, dark and unsettling feeling to it. It has such an unusual feel to it, much like The Owl Service before it, it definitely feels of its time, but there is something decidedly odd about it that leaves the viewer feeling slightly out of time. The cast are largely made up of twenty and thirty-something actors playing teenagers and it all feels a little too adult at times to be a children’s TV show, which is what it was billed as at the time. Milton Johns stands out for his performance as Sonny, he really takes the character of the invasive outsider to a whole other level. 

Unlike The Owl Service, The Intruder has been largely forgotten in amongst the wealth of amazing 60s and 70s Hauntological TV series, and whilst it has no supernatural side to it, it still remains a deeply troubling piece of television. This new Blu-ray of the series from Network is wonderfully put together, the picture and sound quality is excellent and features an archive interview with writer, John Rowe Townsend, a brand new interview with Simon Fisher-Turner and audio commentaries, courtesy of Tim Worthington on four of the episodes. If you’re looking for something a little left of field from the glory days of children’s TV drama, you could do a lot worse than check out The Intruder. It may be a little bloated in places, but it’s worth sticking with.