In the spirit of the original series I’m going to look at each TV Movie in two halves as they are, generally, made up of two separate stories. My First Adventure consists of the episodes: Egypt 1908 and Tangiers 1908.


In Egypt 1908, we take a very brief trip through Indy’s early childhood from birth to school, including a hair-raising expedition to his family home’s roof. Henry Jones Snr, his father (played, of course, by Sean Connery in The Last Crusade) is here played by Lloyd Owen, who may be familiar to viewers of Monarch of the Glen in which he featured as the male lead in later series of the show. A lecturer at Princeton he is shown to be strict, educated, highly intelligent and just a little amused by his son’s growing rebellious streak.


It is a university tour undertaken by Henry Snr which prompts Indy’s first journeys abroad, along with his mother, Anna, and Henry Snr’s former tutor, Helen Seymour, employed to continue Indy’s education on tour. After a brief stop in Oxford, to collect Miss Seymour, the group heads for Egypt.


Miss Seymour, incidentally, is played by Margaret Tyzack, a name which won’t necessarily ring a bell, but a face you would probably know from her appearances across UK television in programmes including The Forsyte Saga, I Claudius and even Jackanory – as well as a relatively recent stint in Eastenders.


In Egypt, Indy explores the pyramids with Miss Seymour and, after being abandoned by their guide, meet T.E. Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia – who happens to be a former pupil of Miss Seymour. He invites Indy to an archaeological dig in the Valley of the Kings where they then meet Howard Carter who has just discovered a new tomb.


No, not King Tut – that discovery is quite a few years off (1922 to be precise) – but a tomb of a royal architect/engineer called Kha. One of the team, Rasheed, is killed whilst guarding the tomb setting Lawrence and Indy on a quest to discover the murderer, as well as the location of a missing artefact. In the tomb, a crown worn by a bust of Kha is missing a jewel-encrusted jackal-head.


The culprit is eventually identified through a bit of detective work and confronted, although the artefact isn’t retrieved (an event which doesn’t occur until a later episode).


Historically we obviously have the presence of Thomas Edward Lawrence and Howard Carter. Carter is shown as a fine, upstanding man searching for the tomb of Tutankhamun and painstakingly scouring the Valley for artefacts. He is intelligent and not a million miles from how Indy’s father is presented. Lawrence is a handsome, dashing man who becomes a mentor to Indy giving him advice on how to survive in a world of exploration and discovery, as well as intriguing him with ghost stories and tales of mummies (much to Miss Seymour’s dismay).


Lawrence is played by Joseph Bennett who wasn’t known to me, but was married to Julie Graham (who featured in the Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as the remake of Survivors and the notorious Bonekickers). Tragically, he committed suicide in 2015. TE Lawrence features again later in the Chronicles, although that time he is played by a different actor. I must admit to being rather ignorant of Lawrence’s contribution to history (not even having seen the eponymous film) so will watch the accompanying documentary about him with interest.


Carter is played by Pip Torrens who has had a number of roles on UK television including the recent production of Poldark, Grantchester, appearances in UK staples such as Coronation Street, Soldier Soldier, Peak Practice and The Bill and, significantly for this marathon, as Rocastle in Human Nature and The Family of Blood. Who is Rocastle? Only the headmaster of the school that the 10th Doctor teaches at in that story, who ends up vaporised by Daughter of Mine! Our first, of many, Doctor Who links for this series.


The cast is rounded out by an almost unrecognisable Tony Robinson as a French photographer (I only realised it was him after looking up about this episode on the Indiana Jones wiki!).


This first ‘episode’ was just how I remembered Young Indiana Jones: Indy goes somewhere and has an proper adventure. There are scary bits, fighting, murder, intrigue, relics, archaeology and period atmosphere. Exactly what I love about this series. The mystery in this one is rather slight (and ends, because of the re-edit, a little abruptly) but still indicative of what this series has to offer.


Next up on Henry Jones Snr’s lecture tour is Tangiers in Morocco.

See you there.