West Country Tales was an early 80s BBC 2 series that, at least in it's first series, purportedly dramatised stories of encounters with the supernatural submitted by the public. Episode 2, aired on February 1st 1982, 'The Poacher' tells of the unnamed titular character's meeting with the God Pan in the wood where he plies his trade.
Told primarily - as is the rest of the series - via a narrator (Douglas Leech) with minimal dialogue from the on-screen cast, the Poacher (Dave Royal) walks us through a life spent wandering the fields, woods and rivers of his locale, often, but not exclusively, under the cover of darkness, he is shown as an independent and fair minded man atuned to the rhythms of the woods, never taking more than he needs - we witness his disgust at the wasteful pheasant shoot - and as a repository of old lore. When he meets the Wild God (Michael Venner) it's a meeting marked with the characteristic fear that a meeting with Pan induces and presented in an appropriately oneiric manner that changes the Poacher in the most profound of ways.
..........................................................................................
If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain
Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.
