Children of the Stones

The Stones of Avebury (Milbury in the serial)

The original stone circle was built during the megalithic era by a pagan folk led by a Druid priest. The village priest then witnessed the formation of a supernova and somehow deduced that a black hole had formed shortly afterwards. Using a variety of psychic powers, mixed with folk magic, the priest was able to harness the power of the stones, which are natural magnets, and focus negative energy, via a beam of light, through the centre of the circle towards the black hole. This energy, however, was drawn from the minds of the inhabitants within the circle, taking their anger and fear to the black hole, and turning them into docile but happy creatures (hence "happy day") under the control of the Druid priest.

When a pair of travellers entered the village the Druid priest attempted to brainwash them as well, through the beam of light towards the black hole. The travellers outwitted the priest, however, and tricked him into thinking they had been brainwashed when the beam of light had not yet appeared. When the two travellers entered the circle of those who had already been taken in by the priest the circle of control was broken. The beam of light then appeared, much to the priest's horror, destroying his altar and turning the inhabitants of the circle to stone. The two travellers barely managed to escape the same fate and survived by hiding in a rock cave towards the edge of the stone circle, known as the sanctuary.

The events of the original circle were later recorded in a painting, which eventually made its way to become a key point of another cycle of the time circle.

The barber-surgeon was an inhabitant of the village of Milbury, which had been built on the site of the stone circle. The events of the first circle began to unfold again in Milbury. The barber-surgeon, seeing what was taking place, protected himself by use of an amulet. The amulet was palm-sized and inscribed with a winged serpent.

The barber-surgeon presented a threat to whoever restarted the events of the First Circle and was crushed under a falling sarsen stone, also engraved with a serpent like the amulet the barber-surgeon carried. The amulet was crushed, along with the barber-surgeon; however, his bones were later removed and the stone that killed him was re-erected within the circle. Whoever caused the barber-surgeon to die did not succeed, and the time circle again reset itself into the modern age.

Dai the poacher's life, death and activities are markedly similar to those of the barber-surgeon, suggesting a link between the two characters.

The Time Circle again took another loop in the 1970s, when an astronomer, Rafael Hendrick, uncovered an ancient Dog Latin text about the Druid priest who saw a supernova explode in ancient times. Hendrick discovered the location of the supernova, a discovery that made him famous, and further learned that the supernova was now a black hole in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

Hendrick then travelled to Milbury, the site of the stone circle, and, through means left unexplained, learned how to harness the negative energy of the villagers into the beam of light towards the black hole. Through complex astronomical calculations he determined exactly when he could form the energy beam and began brainwashing the villagers into becoming what he called "Happy Ones".

The one challenge to Hendrick is posed by a poacher named Dai, but Dai suffers a mysterious death in the same location as the Barber-Surgeon had years earlier. Dai's body is also apparently replaced by a fallen stone carved with a serpent, but then both the stone and the body vanish. After Dai is killed pieces of a broken amulet are found, with those pieces matching exactly the gaps in the broken amulet of the Barber-Surgeon.

With nothing to stop Hendrick, one by one the villagers are brainwashed by the beam of light. Professor Brake's son, Matthew, is apparently psychic and has come across a painting that depicts the scene of the first circle. By the time Hendrick seeks to brainwash Brake and his son both have worked out that Milbury is replaying the events of the first circle and attempt to find a way to escape.

In the final episode Professor Brake and Matthew set Hendrick's digital timekeeping system ahead by five minutes, tricking Hendrick into thinking that they have been brainwashed by the energy beam. When they enter the circle of "Happy Ones" the power is broken. Hendrick is exposed to the beam of light and is metamorphosed into an image of the ancient Druid priest, while his butler, Link, covers his eyes for protection. The villagers are then turned to stone when they look at the beam of light from Hendrick's house. Professor Brake and Matthew attempt to save their friends Margaret and her daughter Sandra, but they both ignore warnings not to look back at the light and meet the same fate as the other villagers. The professor and his son escape to the Sanctuary, just as the ancient travellers did. When Brake and Matthew awake the next morning the village has changed back to normal, with only minor variations, and there is no sign that Hendrick or his plan ever existed.

The Brakes return to their lodging house and find Margaret, Sandra and the Brakes' housekeeper, who were all victims of the stone circle's power the previous evening, are now living their normal lives with no memory of recent events. Even the poacher, Dai, is now alive again and living in the Sanctuary. When the Brakes question him about what has happened, he admits he knows Professor Brake and Matthew but tells them he has no time for riddles, is not their friend, and to leave. As they do so, the serpent pattern from the amulet is seen below Dai's seat arranged in a pattern of bones. The Brakes then depart Milbury and Matthew wonders if the Time Circle has reset and if the events they have recently witnessed will happen again. Professor Brake jokingly asks Matthew if he would like to go back to the village and find out, but Matthew asks him to drive far away and to only stop off somewhere for something to eat.

In the final scene of the series, shortly after Professor Brake and Matthew depart from the village a well-dressed man in an expensive motor car drives into Milbury. He looks identical to Rafael Hendrick. The man drives to Hendrick's old house, where he meets Link, Hendrick's former butler in the last round of the Time Circle, who now has a moustache and looks considerably younger.

The gentleman introduces himself as Sir Joshua Litton, a former professor at the University of Cambridge, and explains that he has come to Milbury from London. He comments on what a nice place Milbury will be to retire to and says that he will be very happy there.