Editing The Famous Five (section)

====1978–79 series====
{{Main|The Famous Five (1978 TV series)}}
[[File:The Famous Five (cast photo).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|[[Jennifer Thanisch]] as Anne, Michele Gallagher as Georgina, [[Gary Russell]] as Dick, Marcus Harris as Julian from ''[[The Famous Five (1970s TV series)|Famous Five]]'' (1978–79) television series]]
The  ''Famous Five'' television series was produced by [[Southern Television]] and Portman Productions for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] in the UK, in 26 episodes of thirty minutes (including time for advertisements). It starred Michele Gallagher as Georgina, Marcus Harris as Julian, [[Jennifer Thanisch]] as Anne, [[Gary Russell]] as Dick, Toddy Woodgate as Timmy, [[Michael Hinz]] as Uncle Quentin and Sue Best as Aunt Fanny. It also starred [[Ronald Fraser (actor)|Ronald Fraser]], [[John Carson (actor)|John Carson]], [[Patrick Troughton]], [[James Villiers]], [[Cyril Luckham]] and [[Brian Glover]]. The screenplays were written by Gloria Tors, [[Gail Renard]], [[Richard Carpenter (screenwriter)|Richard Carpenter]] and Richard Sparks. The episodes were directed by [[Peter Duffell]], Don Leaver, James Gatward and Mike Connor. The series was produced by Don Leaver and James Gatward. Most of the outdoor filming was done in the [[New Forest]] and parts of [[Dorset]] and [[Devon]].The series was set in the present day, fifteen years after Blyton's last novel in the series.

Of the original 21 novels, three were not adapted for this series; ''[[Five on a Treasure Island]]'' and ''[[Five Have a Mystery to Solve]]'' because the [[Children's Film Foundation]] still own the film and TV rights to the books, while ''[[Five Have Plenty of Fun]]'' did not fit in the production schedule.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fuenffreundefanpage.at/en_schauspieler78-gary.htm |title=Gary Russell's ('Dick') memories about being Dick |publisher=Fuenffreundefanpage.at |date=23 January 2009 |access-date=3 October 2013}}</ref> Due to the success of the series, Southern Television were keen to make another season of episodes, but the Enid Blyton estate forbade them to create original stories.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://johnslookout.150m.com/five.htm |title=Enid Blyton's Famous Five |publisher=Johnslookout.150m.com |access-date=3 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002225654/http://johnslookout.150m.com/five.htm |archive-date=2 October 2015}}</ref>

The 1978 series was originally released on video by Portman Productions with reasonable regularity between 1983 and 1999, many of which are still easy to find second-hand, although the sound and picture quality is not always what it could be. A four-disc DVD collection, containing 23 of the 26 episodes produced for the 1978 series (and two episodes from the 1996 series) was released in region 4 (Australia and New Zealand) in 2005. The box and disc art identify it as a release of the 1996 series. (The distributor had licensed the 1996 series, but due to an administrative glitch was supplied with master tapes and artwork for the 1978 series.) The error was corrected in a later release.

A seven-DVD set containing the entire series and extensive bonus material was released in October 2010 in Germany by Koch Media; although there was an option to choose either the original English or German dubbed versions, the English version had non-removable German subtitles across the bottom of the screen on every episode. The same company released the DVD set in the UK (without the non-removable subtitles) on 25 June 2012.

A four DVD set containing all 26 episodes, without additional content, was released for region 4 (Australia and New Zealand) in late 2011, as ''Enid Blyton's The Famous Five: The Complete Collection''.
(The Finnish punk band Widows (of Helsinki) made three different cover versions of the theme song, the first  in early 1979, as did the Irish indie outfit Fleur, in 1996.)