where they had lived. Background Behind the book were hidden tragic elements in the author's own life: Robin, like several of his characters, was named after his son who had died at the age of seven, and the camaraderie of the boys was BB's imagination of the friendships he had never had as a child (having been considered too physically weak to mix with others). His loneliness at this period helped to cultivate his love of nature. The boys' boarding school, Banchester, was inspired by Rugby School where the author taught Art. Film, TV or theatrical adaptations The novel was adapted for television by James Andrew Hall, produced by Southern Television in association with RM Productions and Primetime Television in 1980, and shown on ITV from 31 December 1980 to 25 March 1981 (other than in Wales where HTV Wales transmitted it between April and July 1981, after it had been displaced by Welsh-language programmes before the inception of S4C). The European countries in which the series was shown include Germany (as Im Schatten der Eule), the Netherlands (as Het Donkere Bos Brendon Chase), Sweden (as Det stora skogsäventyret) and Norway. In the United States it aired on HBO. The TV series was filmed mainly around the New Forest and in Portchester, Hampshire (although the setting of the book was inspired more by the author's native Northamptonshire), and was produced and directed by David Cobham with music by Paul Lewis (flute played by James Galway). It contains much striking and poignant wildlife photography. The Hensman brothers were played by Craig McFarlane (Robin), Howard Taylor (John) and Paul Erangey (Harold). Aunt Ellen is played by Rosalie Crutchley and Smokoe Joe by Paul Curran. Police Sergeant Bunting is played by Michael Robbins and the Reverend Whiting by Christopher Biggins. The new character Monica Hurling is played by Liza Goddard. Although it was shown more than once in some other countries it only received one transmission in Britain, mainly because of Southern's loss of its ITV contract from 1982 (although Runaround and Worzel Gummidge were repeated after the company had gone off the air). For many years, the series never received any kind of commercial release, whether on video or DVD. In 2012 the series was released in Germany, on DVD, containing only the dubbed German language version. in 2015 followed a Dutch release on DVD and Blu-ray, in the original English language,