Kevin Moreton

[Torquemada]

I wondered if anyone knows what became of the actor who played the young Sam in the 70s? He seemed to be in a lot of things at the time and seemed set for big things but then it appears his career came to an abrupt end in the late 70s.

[cornershop15]

I remember a children's series called Striker that Kevin starred in, but it's completely disappeared from my memory and I have no idea if the series exists.

This link is to another actor's page on him. Apparently they were both in this show, written by actor Kenneth Cope and co-starring Joe Gladwin and Geoff Hinsliff (later Don Brennan in Coronation Street).



Kevin Moreton



I still have the original book on the left. I don't think I ever made the connection between the boy in Striker and Sam, which I'm still waiting to see after 35 years, until I browsed his filmography not long ago.



I hope you find what you want to know about him but, like Gary Warren from Catweazle, he might want his privacy. Wish they'd done more.

[Dame Starry]

[darrenburnfan]

At the third attempt (third time lucky) I have just won the issue of TV Times dated June 9th to June 15th, 1973 and it's cost me over £34. It's the highly collectable issue with Kevin Moreton as Sam on the front cover in glorious colour. It also has a four page article about Kevin and Sam inside that I hope will contain rare biographical information about Kevin. As I said in another thread, you can't Google for this info and you'll find precious little on the IMDb. You have to track down the original film and television magazines that contain the articles and interviews. Naturally, I am having this TV Times sent to me by First Class Recorded Delivery.

[darrenburnfan]

I neglected to say above that I won this TV Times on eBay, where, having been a member for over seven years, I've acquired some marvelous cinema and television related items.

[cornershop15]

name='darrenburnfan']I neglected to say above that I won this TV Times on eBay, where, having been a member for over seven years, I've acquired some marvelous cinema and television related items.

Hello. £34 seems a bit excessive! But I understand your reasons. To save you spending more big money on vintage TVTimes magazines, I wonder if you've come across those discs storing most of the issues being sold on eBay? It doesn't sound like it!



I purchased all the discs from the mid-60s right through to the end of the 70s, for about £25 each, from one seller. There's bound to be some more information on Kevin Moreton in some of the other issues. I'll have a look for you.



The eBay title of the discs was 'TVTimes on DVD' (Vols 1 10), if I remember rightly.

[darrenburnfan]

Thanks, cornershop15. I would have got it for a fiver if I'd been the only bidder. But that one with Sam on the cover from 1973 seems to be very popular with collectors. I tried two or three times before to get it over the years, but always been outbid.



The reason I want this particular issue is that I used to have it for twenty years until 1993, when I accidentally lost it, along with some other very collectable items, while moving house.



Scans of TV Times on disc can be very useful, but in this case, I understandably prefer to hold the actual issue in my hands again for sentimental reasons. When it arrives sometime during this coming week, I will peruse the four page article inside for info about Kevin Moreton and type the main details onto this thread...if my typing fingers don't get too tired.

[cornershop15]

This magazine clearly means a lot and I'm so happy you've got another chance to own a copy. I did say I understood your reasons but I wasn't expecting the tragic story behind it (our possessions aren't taken seriously by others, I've found) so eBay has done the same for you as it has for me.



I know the thread is titled Kevin Moreton but is Sam itself of equal importance? Two of the actors, Ray Smith and Alethea Charlton, have become real cult favourites of mine through DVD, with Michael Goodliffe not far behind (as he's appeared less often). I'm desperate for the complete series to be released.



If it is Kevin that's your main interest, what about his series Striker? Again, there are added attractions, not least Joe Gladwin, and the Radio Times must have had some feature on the actors in their BBC series. I have major doubts about this programme's availability. Even if it does exist, I can't imagine it getting a release. We all live in hope, however ...

[darrenburnfan]

Well, a bit of both, really. To me, Kevin Moreton was Sam and he and the wonderful first series made an unforgettable combination. I love the first series, which I have on DVD, but I never saw the second series. I just liked the first series with Kevin Moreton. Michael Goodliffe was excellent as the grandfather and the rest of the cast were also excellent.



In fact, Sam was one of only three television programmes I remember watching in 1973, so it must have made a big impression on me. The other two were The Brontes of Haworth, with Alfred Burke and, for me, the best Man Alive film of the entire series, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the programme that covered EMI's very expensive launch of the very ill fated and eventually tragic eleven years old Darren Burn. For me, these three programmes were 1973.



Unfortunately, I never got to see Striker. I've no idea why. It's a hell of a long time ago now.

[cornershop15]

I will continue this interesting correspondence tomorrow as I am absolutely exhausted after posting about a hundred messages this weekend. In the meantime, please enlighten me with more information about Darren Burn. I notice that's your user-name. And Alfred Burke is my favourite actor, yet I've never heard of that series. Same request!

[darrenburnfan]

Well, cornershop, here is Darren's story first and this took me a lot of typing:



The BBC’s Man Alive film, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", filmed in July and August, 1973 and broadcast on Wednesday, October 24th of that year, dealt with the British record industry's efforts to find a new pre-teen (or weenybopper) boy singing star to rival Americans such as Donny Osmond. Although it featured, among others, eleven years old Ricky Wilde (son of Marty Wilde), the programme primarily concerned itself with the beautiful and talented, although ultimately tragically ill-fated eleven years old Darren Burn, an ex-Christ Church Senior Chorister from Southgate in north London and the son of EMI executive Colin Burn. What all this eventually did to Darren made his story one of the most tragic in the history of show business. Second only to the tragedy that befell Bobby Driscoll.



Darren Burn was born at the Victoria Maternity Hospital in Wood Street, Barnet, Hertfordshire, on Monday, August 28th, 1961, the first of two children for Colin and Johanna Burn. Darren became a child model by the age of two years and by the age of five in 1966, his previous work as a child model saw him get parts in television commercials for baked beans. Darren was a very intelligent boy indeed and was regarded as a child prodigy. By this time, Darren had a three years old sister, Deborah, who had been born in 1963 and the family had moved to a very upmarket semi in Queen Elizabeth’s Drive, Southgate, Middlesex (now known as north London)…a house that backed onto the beautiful Grovelands Park. By this time also, Darren had become a member of the choir at Christ Church, Southgate, where he was to remain for seven years.



In 1970, at the age of nine, he co-starred in a short 45 minute film in Eastman Colour entitled The Insomniac. So Darren was no stranger to the world of advertising and films. By January, 1972, now aged ten and a half and a pupil at the Franklin House Preparatory School for Boys in Palmerston Road, Palmers Green, it was quite clear to the teachers there that Darren was academically brilliant and far ahead of his classmates. So the headmaster arranged for Darren to take a very difficult (for some) entrance exam to the prestigious City of London School in Blackfriars, near St Paul’s Cathedral. Well, Darren passed the exam with flying colours and it was arranged for him to start at the school after the summer holidays of 1972, when he would have celebrated his eleventh birthday.



In early 1973, Darren was made Senior Chorister at Christ Church…a rare honour indeed for an eleven year old, but reflecting the fact that he was their star turn. By this time, his father was an executive at EMI records, the world’s biggest record company and EMI, like a lot of other British record companies, was engaged in a race to find the first British weenybopper singing star to turn him into the British equivalent of the American pre-pubescent pop stars then dominating the top twenty. Darren’s mother, knowing only too well about her son’s fabulous singing voice, suggested Darren and EMI took it up from there. Darren said he wanted to make a record and was very enthusiastic about the project. He then made what was to turn out in the long run to be a fatal mistake. He left the choir to concentrate on his new career at EMI, which can’t have gone down well with the choirmaster and vicar of Christ Church at the time.



In July, 1973, the EMI publicity machine went into full swing and a fortune was spent launching Darren and his first single, Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart (EMI 2040). One of the best record producers in the business, Eric Woolfson, was made Darren’s producer and he made sure that EMI’s money was well spent, hiring the best arranger and session musicians that money could buy. Darren’s face and name began to appear in all the newspapers and magazines of the time and, sensing the start of something big, television crews followed him everywhere.



For a few months, while the top brass at EMI believed he could make a lot of money for them, Darren was treated like royalty; attending record promotion receptions; having his picture in all the newspapers and music magazines; having his first single played daily on Radio One by Tony Blackburn as his Record of the Week and even appearing in a BBC Television colour documentary in the “Man Alive” series entitled “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, a fascinating programme that covered the launch of Darren’s debut single in July, 1973 and his unforgettable personal appearance live on stage at the Sundown, Edmonton (formerly the huge Regal cinema) in front of seven hundred screaming fans. Darren, in turn, came across as the perfect little gentleman who would not have been out of place having tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle. His interview with John Pitman in the “Man Alive” programme showed Darren to be a wonderfully intelligent boy for his age; full of enthusiasm for the project and full of hope for the future.



However, despite all the expensive hype, Darren’s first single reached no higher than 60 in the UK singles charts. His second single, Is It Love, released in early November, 1973, a week or so after the Man Alive film had been broadcast to an audience of millions, was even better at showcasing Darren’s fabulous singing voice, but it just didn’t take off. EMI weren’t pleased, especially after another two singles in 1974 failed to make any impression. This was the turning point. On Darren’s 13th birthday, one of the senior executives at the company called the boy into his office and told him that his career was over and they didn’t want him any more. This, coupled with him having to suffer the cruel jibes of his fellow schoolboys at the City of London School, who called him "Top of the Flops" whenever they saw him, had a devastating effect on Darren and he never recovered from the humiliation and intense feeling of failure that this left him with. Like the equally ill fated Bobby Driscoll before him, Darren had been carried along on a satin cushion and then dropped in the garbage can.



He faded back into obscurity and, two weeks into his second year in the sixth form, he went home at the weekend as usual, but never went back to the City of London School…in effect, abandoning his education. The ensuing years saw him become a sound recording engineer.



Then, in 1988, John Pitman, sent to find and interview Darren for the “Whatever Happened To…?” section of BBC Television’s “People” programme, tracked him down to a flat in Grosvenor Terrace, Southwark, south London, where, now living alone, he was a 26 years old unemployed computer programmer, suffering from depression and taking medication for it. Pitman found Darren a pale shadow of the bright and bubbly little boy of fifteen years earlier. “It didn’t work out particularly well”, he told Pitman. “It didn’t make any money for EMI or for me. I mean I went through that experience and I had the power of a major record company behind me and it didn’t work out. It left me with a feeling of failure. It was a very strange thing for a young child to go through.” The whole 1973 venture had adversely affected him in the long run. He was obviously unhappy and not very pleased with the way things had turned out for him. Seemingly blaming his parents for the 1973 disaster at EMI, his last words on camera were: “I certainly wouldn’t allow one off my children to do that…should I ever have any.” But marriage and children were never to happen for Darren. He thereafter became a heroin addict and must have been desperately unhappy.



On Wednesday, October 30th, 1991, Darren, alone in his flat and unable to take the hurt and the pain any more, wrote a suicide down and took a fatal overdose of his Dotheipin anti-depressant tablets. His death was not a very pleasant one.



At the Inquest in January, 1992, the coroner recorded a verdict that Darren had killed himself. It was a terrible tragedy and a very sad loss of a wonderful, unique and talented person. It is a terrible shame that Darren died all alone and believing himself to be a failure, because he wasn’t in any way a failure. He and EMI had put everything they had into that 1973 venture, but no one knows why some excellent records become hits and others, just as excellent, don’t. No, it wasn’t through lack of talent that Darren’s records failed to take off as expected, it was just through plain bad luck.



Today, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" could be regarded as the documentation of a prelude to tragedy, capturing, as it does, the folly of trying to turn Darren Burn into a British version of Jimmy Osmond and the…in hindsight….whole sorry affair of 1973 which had been captured forever on film by the "Man Alive" team. Music critic Roy Carr, a contributor to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", seems, in hindsight, to have summed it all up when, referring to the record business, he said on the programme: "There are a lot of charlatans in this business who are out to make a quick buck and they don't care who they get it off!" Darren Burn was a tragic victim of that system.



Darren’s funeral was held on Monday, November 18th, 1991, at Enfield Crematorium in north London. After the cremation, his ashes were taken by his family to an unknown location. To this day, even after much research, I still don’t know the location of his last resting place.



Ever since he came onto the scene like a breath of fresh air in July, 1973, I was a huge fan of Darren and thought he was wonderful. It grieves me to know not only what happened to him, but that my dearest wish to visit his grave and pay my respects to him will now probably never be granted. I keep telling myself that if I had been with him to give him the love and support he needed, he would never have ended up like he did. But as usual, I was in the wrong place at the right time. I hope that wherever he is now, his spirit has found the peace and happiness that he so richly deserves.

[darrenburnfan]

The Brontes of Haworth

Was a superior drama serial in four episodes, made in colour by Yorkshire Television and originally transmitted on ITV between Sunday, September 30th and Sunday, October 21st, 1973. The first episode occupied an hour long slot and the remaining three episodes occupied a 75 minute slot.



Drink; drugs; unhappy love affairs; premature death: for the acclaimed authors, the Bronte sisters, their own painful lives were more tragic than the great literature they wrote. These were the three women who poured out their frustrations, failures and personal tragedies into the pages of Wuthering Heights; Jane Eyre and many other illustrious works. This powerful, dramatic series, written by eminent poet and playwright Christopher Fry, authentically recreates the Victorian era of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brilliant brother, Branwell, who each retreated from an austere upbringing on the Yorkshire moors into a fantasy world of their own creation. Hoping for success and fame, their extraordinary talents resulted instead in anything but a happy ending.



Starring Alfred Burke as their stern, but fair, father (a reverend in the church); Vickery Turner; Rosemary McHale and Ann Penfold as the sisters and Michael Kitchen as Branwell, The Brontes of Haworth is narrated by Barbara Leigh-Hunt, has music composed and conducted by Wilfred Josephs and is directed by Marc Miller.



Sample dialogue: Alfred Burke as their father, giving his Sunday sermon from the pulpit of his church after an earth tremor has struck Haworth. “We have just felt something of the mighty power of God. He has unsheathed his sword and brandished it over our heads!”

[jaycad]

name='darrenburnfan']

The Brontes of Haworth

Was a superior drama serial in four episodes, made in colour by Yorkshire Television and originally transmitted on ITV between Sunday, September 30th and Sunday, October 21st, 1973. The first episode occupied an hour long slot and the remaining three episodes occupied a 75 minute slot.



Drink; drugs; unhappy love affairs; premature death: for the acclaimed authors, the Bronte sisters, their own painful lives were more tragic than the great literature they wrote. These were the three women who poured out their frustrations, failures and personal tragedies into the pages of Wuthering Heights; Jane Eyre and many other illustrious works. This powerful, dramatic series, written by eminent poet and playwright Christopher Fry, authentically recreates the Victorian era of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brilliant brother, Branwell, who each retreated from an austere upbringing on the Yorkshire moors into a fantasy world of their own creation. Hoping for success and fame, their extraordinary talents resulted instead in anything but a happy ending.



Starring Alfred Burke as their stern, but fair, father (a reverend in the church); Vickery Turner; Rosemary McHale and Ann Penfold as the sisters and Michael Kitchen as Branwell, The Brontes of Haworth is narrated by Barbara Leigh-Hunt, has music composed and conducted by Wilfred Josephs and is directed by Marc Miller.



Sample dialogue: Alfred Burke as their father, giving his Sunday sermon from the pulpit of his church after an earth tremor has struck Haworth. “We have just felt something of the mighty power of God. He has unsheathed his sword and brandished it over our heads!”

i really enjoyed this yorkshire tv mini drama-well acted and shot at the bronte rectory,haworth village and surrounding moors-much better than the subsequent 'dickens of london' which had a much larger budget.

[cornershop15]

What a terrible tragedy about young Darren. His story has obviously really affected you. I remember Bobby Driscoll in the film The Window, which I haven't seen for a long time. He must have been one of the first child actors and singers whose lives were destroyed by drink and drugs - Frankie Lymon, Andy Gibb, Jennifer Moss, Jack Wild, many others. I can now, unfortunately, add Darren Burn to the long list.



He was four years older than me and I'm wondering if you and me are around the same age? I don't think I liked Little Jimmy Osmond or even brother Donny at the time but am sure David Cassidy and Michael Jackson (who've also had their problems of course) guaranteed my interest. It's so long ago now. I can remember there being a lot of attention to the young stars of Timeslip, Freewheelers and a few others but nothing at all on Darren - or Kevin Moreton for that matter - so it was a surprise to read that he was all over the media in 1973. I don't know how I missed him, but even the big stars of the day are just vague memories. If you'd said that Man Alive documentary had come out in 1974/75, or any of those magazines, I would have a clearer memory but all previous years of my life are worse than distant.



Your article there was extremely well-written, and very moving, and should really be the opening post of a thread dedicated to him. Earlier on, I asked the moderators if they could move a post I'd written on actress Elizabeth Weaver, and I wonder if they could do the same with ours on this subject (Darren Burn I mean!)? Thank you for taking so much time on that story of his short life. It made sad reading but I'm always grateful for any new names from the past and seeing their work acknowledged.



Regards,

Cornershop

[cornershop15]

I've never heard of this either. Would have thought Alfred the Great would have been too busy with Public Eye to be in this obscure-to-me series. Let's hope it gets a release ... although I don't like the thought of Alfred playing a preacher! :

[jaycad]

name='cornershop15']I've never heard of this either. Would have thought Alfred the Great would have been too busy with Public Eye to be in this obscure-to-me series. Let's hope it gets a release ... although I don't like the thought of Alfred playing a preacher! :

i bought this on region 1 dvd last year for £14 but it looks like it has since been deleted as the only mention of it now is on amazon for £97! madness!

[darrenburnfan]

Yes, I have the Region 1 DVD release of The Brontes of Haworth as well, that I bought off amazon a few years ago. I can't understand why it hasn't had a Region 2 release, with it being a British series and all.



A terrible tragedy what happened to Darren and I am trying to make sure that he is never forgotten. He deserves to be remembered. In a way, although we didn't think of it that way at the time, what Darren went through in 1973 / 1974 could be described as child exploitation these days, or as a form of child abuse. There are mysteries to the story, too. Such as why didn't his own father, who was in a high position at EMI, break the news gently to Darren that his contract was being terminated instead of leaving it to somebody else to tell him so bluntly and, during his latter years, why was a person with his mental and emotional problems and with suicidal tendencies, allowed to live on his own and where on earth were his family while all this was going on? His doctor can't have been much use, either. Darren should not have been left on his own and should have had regular supervision.



It's all very well to say that Ricky Wilde never made it as a child star either, but Ricky was a tough little cookie and a completely different person to Darren, who was an intelligent, sensitive boy who just couldn't cope with what happened to him.



I am very lucky to have both Darren's Man Alive and People films on DVD-R, sent to me by another fan five years ago and I am hoping that the BBC will eventually release the Man Alive film restored to its original glory on a professional DVD, if not on its own, then as part of a Man Alive box set.



At least, Kevin Moreton didn't go the same way as Darren...but then, Sam was a huge success and nobody at his school would have called him Top of the Flops.

[cornershop15]

I think 'child exploitation' fits the bill at least. What I forgot to say earlier was that your biography made more impact because you described Darren's earlier hope and enthusiasm. If you'd just focused on his later years and death, I'd have probably forgotten about it. What I mean is that we keep hearing about deaths of people we don't know on the news without any description of their personality or background, which you did more than well!



Going back to 'exploitation' of child performers, do you remember a girl of about 6 or 7 who won (?) that Britain's Kids Got Talent or whatever it is - the Piers Morgan-Amanda Holden one - with a version of Ben (Michael Jackson again)? There was a brief discussion about her on Loose Women* soon afterwards and Coleen Nolan had real fears that this could happen to the child. I think she may have had someone in mind as an example of childhood fame going wrong, the obvious example (of a little girl singer) being poor Lena Zavaroni of course. Should have mentioned her earlier. As for the little girl on that talent show, she delighted a lot of people a couple of years ago - and made Amanda Holden cry I remember - but I've heard nothing about her since.



*It's on ITV at the moment with special guest Jason Maraz! (Who he? )

[darrenburnfan]

Thanks, cornershop15. I copied and pasted some of it from parts I'd put on various Internet sites in the past few years, including boy singer sites and even Wikipedia...anything that will make what happened to Darren more widely known...plus I added on this thread more recent info that I've found out in my research. A pity that I don't know how to paste in a photo of him on this site, as I've got plenty of photos of him and what I've tracked down so far is just the tip of an iceberg as to what other material is out there. I've tried joining PhotoBucket and Image Shack and I can't get it to work.



Would things have been different for him if his records had shot to the top of the charts and sold millions? Who knows. Someone said to me that he looked a very "alone" boy and this can be seen even in the Man Alive film. When the camera is on him, he's all smiles and chirpy as any other eleven year old, but when he thinks no one is watching, his face drops and he looks very sad and deep in thought. Perhaps he was suffering from undiagnosed depression even that early on. If so, I think that he was very brave to go on stage at Edmonton in front of all those hundreds of people. You can tell on the Man Alive film that he looks like he thinks he's bitten off more than he can chew. But when his name is called, he goes out there anyway and performs like a real trouper. That must have taken some doing. Why did EMI choose the Sundown, Edmonton, for his first public stage appearence? Maybe they thought that if he could handle the crowd there, he could handle anything. These days, given the benefit of hindsight, the film is upsetting to watch.



No, I don't remember that little girl you mentioned, but I wonder if such child singers are doing it because they want to or because they're being pushed into it by their parents (no matter what the publicity in newspapers and magazines may say to the contrary).

[darrenburnfan]

Well, I'm just about to have another go at uploading an image from my PhotoBucket account. If this doesn't work, you'll see no image here and if that is the case, will someone please enlighten me on how to upload an image on this thread?



Oh, dear...back to the old drawing board.