In Search of the Famous Five by Chris Smith

In the spring of 2024 I jumped in my car and went in search of the Famous Five. To my delighted astonishment, my idea for a reboot of the classic adventure series had been commissioned - now I just had to write it.

Like many of my generation, the Five were a part of my literary DNA. As a child I devoured the stories and eagerly searched the library each week for one of the adventures I might not have shared yet. Now I was about to invent my own brand-new mystery for them. Where would I start?

I turned my car south and headed for the location that inspired many of the original stories - the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. I based myself in the village of Corfe Castle, and as I trudged through the mud, it was easy to see how the stone turrets rising out of the mist had become Kirrin Island. But I didn’t find the Famous Five there. The owner of my AirBnB told me that the secret passages in the stories had been inspired by a window seat in the local pub so I stopped by for a ginger beer. Nobody at the bar had any idea what I was talking about.

I looked for the Famous Five at Corfe Castle station, where steam trains still pull in throughout the summer. The friendly volunteer station master told me that the Five had definitely been there once - for years there had been a large wooden sign on the platform with a picture of them. But it had rotted away and nobody seemed very excited about replacing it.

I googled the picture and, sure enough, found a picture of it online. There they all are - bossy Julian, playful Dick, underused Anne, fierce independent George and her brave Timmy - standing underneath a signpost pointing the way to Kirrin Bay and the Ginger Pop Shop. But apparently nobody wanted those directions any more.

So the Famous Five didn’t seem to be anywhere in Corfe Castle. I laced up my walking boots and headed for the coast. I gazed out at Brownsea Island which became Whispering Island in one of the later books. I rounded the headland near Old Harry’s Rocks and plunged into thick mists on the mysterious moors along the clifftops. As I passed ancient burial barrows and a steam train whistled in the far distance, a story started to take shape in my head about forgotten treasure. But I still hadn’t met the Famous Five on my travels.

Back at home, I dug out my old Famous Five books. Some of them had belonged to my dad - the old red hardbacks. Others were paperbacks from the 1970s with covers showing the TV series of the time. The theme tune became a constant earworm: ‘we are the Famous Five. Julian, Dick and Anne, George and Timmy the do-og.’ And I realised that I’d been wrong to search for these kids and their dogs in any physical location. Even when they were first published, with their sunlit picnics appearing in the middle of a devastating world war, these books were works of fantasy. Kirrin has no more real-life existence than Middle Earth or Narnia. But the Five were alive and well in my head and my heart, right where they’d always been. 

Because like a lot of us, I carry them with me wherever I go. Each one of us is adventurous, independent, and brave. Each one of us values friendship and loyalty and knows that meals eaten out of doors taste better. Each one of us is a Julian, and a Dick, and an Anne. A George and a Timmy. Sincerely yours, the Famous Five Club.