Trivia

The animatronic Phoenix used for close ups and head movement was a radio controlled model and built by the same in-house technicians who built K-9 for Doctor Who.

Filmed during the summer of 1976 in studios 'A' & 'C' at the relatively new BBC Birmingham studios in Pebble Mill. The Pebble Mill studios were closed in 2004, demolished in 2006 and the land redeveloped into a dental training school.

Despite it's crude visual effects and small sets this remained one of the most memorable children's television series of the 1970s. It received several repeats, usually during school holidays, for the rest of the decade but hasn't been shown since. In 1995 the novel was turned into a feature film and a more lavish TV adaptation was made by the BBC in 1997. In 2019 the BBC finally relented to the constant requests and accusations that the tapes had been wiped and released a basic original, unrestored 1976 version on DVD.

To keep production costs as low as possible, some of the furniture and costumes were borrowed from other productions. Some of the sets were previously used in Doctor Who.

Puffin books re-released the paperback novel with a still from the TV show on the cover in the run-up to Christmas 1976. It subsequently became one of the best selling childrens books of 1977 despite having originally been published in 1904.