Swallows and Amazons series and observed, "It is the portrayal of this spirit which makes play a matter of desperate yet enjoyable earnestness which gives their distinctive stamp to Mr. Ransome's books. ... Because he understands the whole-heartedness of youth he can invest a momentary experiment, such as young Roger's Indian scout work, with real suspense." In 1963, the BBC screened a television series starring Susan George as 'Kitty' (changed from Titty), which was violently disliked by Arthur Ransome. The six-part series aired in September and October 1963. In 1974, EMI produced a film version of the "Swallows and Amazons", starring Virginia McKenna and
Swallows and Amazons series Broads before moving to the lake in the north. "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea" and "Secret Water" are set in coastal Suffolk and Essex, with the former involving a voyage to Flushing, Netherlands and the latter the exploration of the islands of Hamford Water near Walton-on-the-Naze. The books "Peter Duck" and "Missee Lee" involve voyages of the schooner "Wild Cat" to the Caribbean and the South China Sea. These stories appear to be metafictional in relation to the rest of the series, and were originally planned by Ransome (see below) as stories written by the children. The final