This the second episode of the first series of the 1975 ITV series of spooky stories for children, 'Shadows', was written by Ewart Alexander - who wrote an episode for each of the three series - and directed by Audrey Starrett, 'After School' is the story of two Welsh schoolboys Poodle and Seth (Rhys Powys and Lyn Jones) trapped after school in their PE teacher's (Gareth Thomas) office after school who experience a number of ghostly events all relating to the town's coal mining history.
Even though he makes only a short appearance it's fun to see Thomas - seen here a year before heading off to the village of 'Milbury' to look at some stones - giving his original accent free reign and his portrayal of the PE teacher brought back some unwelcome memories of my own Welsh valley school teachers although they would have laughed at his football obsession as they brutalised generations of children on a poorly maintained rugby pitch. The two young lads who carry the majority of the episode are solid enough and make the best of what they have with a script that requires them to continuously over-emote. Written and aired in the long shadow cast by the Aberfan disaster
Alexander's script touches on some delicate areas but the 30 minute
runtime means any commentary is fleeting and whilst it has some nice touches, such as the 'mine collapse', the film never really
amounts to anything more than a curio.
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