STEVE HATCHER and ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON (plus guests!) on ACE OF WANDS and AN AUDIENCE WITH TAROT at DERBY QUAD.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 20th 2025.

On SATURDAY the 29TH of MARCH, our friend ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON along with his colleague STEVE HARDY organised an event at THE QUAD in DERBY to celebrate all things ACE OF WANDS, the popular (but largely now lost) children’s fantasy drama series created by TREVOR PRESTON which was made and broadcast by THAMES TELEVISION for three years across 46 episodes, and 14 stories from 1970 to 1972.

Two of the series’ stars, TAROT himself MICHAEL MACKENZIE alongside PETRA MARKHAM who played MIKKI DIAMOND in the surviving third season, were on stage to answer questions and available to pose for photographs with fans, and two complete stories - THE MEDDLERS and PEACOCK PIE - were shown on the big screen, and, by all accounts it all went down rather well and was something of a success which hopefully might lead to other similar Archive TV themed events.

I was unable to attend in person, but happily our old friend STEVE HATCHER was on hand and was able and willing to grab a few quick interviews with MICHAEL, PETRA, and co-organiser STEVE HARDY which will pop up during today’s show, in which I am joined by STEVE HATCHER and ANDREW-MARK THOMPSON to talk all about the enduring appeal of ACE OF WANDS, as well as their experiences of the event itself.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.