Review of The Silver Chair

And so the Children's BBC Narnia series comes to an end with the third and final instalment, THE SILVER CHAIR. And you can see why they finished here; the life and enthusiasm that filled THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE has long since vanished, leaving this a plodding affair that needs more 'oomph' to work. It's essentially an SFX story in which a couple of kids and a sole adult head off to unknown territory to track down a vanished prince. Along the way their adventures involve meetings with weird witches, giants and even a man in an iron mask! Unfortunately the two kids are extremely bratty in this one and even Eustace has forgotten his life lessons from the previous series; you just want someone to knock some sense into them but it never happens. Thank goodness for Tom Baker who injects some class into the proceedings. It's episodic and fun at times, the BORROWERS-esque miniature adventures being the highlight. As for Barbara Kellerman, her unrestrained style of acting continues in abundance here, and that ten-minute scene opening the final episode seems to go on and on for at least an hour as a result.