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story identification - Which 1970s UK fantasy kids TV show has an older brother die?


This is a tough one, it has eluded me for years!


It is a TV show which opens with two brothers, maybe in 17th or 18th century London. One is around 16, the other is 11 or so and he idolises his older brother. There is a fire, the older brother died but seems to return or summon the younger one to a magical land called something like "yanki-hola". They were transported to a village in, I think, medieval times. I think there were some adventures there against a local bad baron or duke.


I really just remember that it was sad and unsettling when the older brother died. Has anyone ever seen anything similar to this? I have tried for years to find an answer.



Answer




This is most definitely an adaptation of The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren, who is better known for Pippi Longstocking. The original Swedish title is Bröderna Lejonhjärta (1973).


A Swedish movie adaptation was made in 1977, which is probably what you've seen.



(...) a magical land called something like "yanki-hola".



The land in question is called "Nangijala".



Karl, a 10 year old boy, is bedridden and expected to die soon. His older brother Jonatan tells him stories about Nangijala, where all people go when they die. When a fire breaks out in heir home, Jonatan saves his younger brother by taking him on his back and jumping out of the window, giving his life for his younger brother and reaching Nangijala before Karl. When Karl dies some time later, he meets his brother in Nangijala.


But Nangijala isn't a happy afterlife. The valley where Jonatan and Karl end up, the Cherry Valley, is indeed a happy place, but the adjacent Thorn Rose Valley is controlled by the tyrant Tengil and a dragon named Katla, who is under Tengil's control by way of a special trumpet.
The two brothers play a crucial role in freeing the Thorn Rose Valley from Tengil's rule.



In the end, the story repeats itself, reversed, with Karl taking a wounded Jonatan on his back, jumping to their deaths in that world and onto the next world, Nangilima.


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