The Phoenix and the Carpet

From the archive

The Phoenix and the Carpet is a 1997 British serial miniseries based on the book of the same name by E. Nesbit co-produced by HIT Entertainment and the BBC which aired throughout November-December 1997. Starring David Suchet as the Phoenix, the serial focuses on four children in Edwardian England who acquire a phoenix and the adventures they have as a result. An earlier 8-part serialisation of the same story was made by the BBC in 1976 starring Jane Forster, Max Harris, Tamzin Neville and Gary Russell as the four children. In the first episode, a second-hand carpet is delivered to the Bastable household in London. Impatient for the arrival of Guy Fawkes Night, the four Bastable children had set off fireworks in the nursery, leading to a fire. Rolled up in the carpet, the children find a large egg. When they accidentally knock it into the fire, it hatches, and a talking Phoenix emerges. The new carpet is a magic carpet and can take the children anywhere, and with it they have some exotic adventures. The Phoenix is a friend of the Psammead, whom the children already know, and his help is sometimes called upon. In the sixth episode, the Phoenix decides it is time for him to begin his cycle again, going up in flames to arise from the ashes in two thousand years' time. He lays an egg, and immolates himself.