Ace of Wands

Ace of Wands is a fantasy-based British children’s television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972, created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television. The title, taken from the name of a Tarot card describes the principal character, called “Tarot” who combined stage magic with supernatural powers. Tarot has a pet Owl named Ozymandias, played by Fred Owl.

Ace of Wands ran for two seasons of thirteen episodes and a third season of twenty. Many, if not all, of the first 26 episodes are believed to have been wiped, although the final season is intact. In the first two series Tarot is assisted by Sam Maxstead, a reformed convict and Lillian Palmer known by her nickname, Lulli, an orphan. Lulli shares a telepathic link with Tarot, which enables them to communicate over great distances. After having to leave the programme because of prior commitments, in the final series this pair were replaced by brother and sister Chas, a photographer, and Mikki, a female journalist, who have very similar roles, she also sharing a telepathic link with Tarot. A character named Mr Sweet who runs an antiquarian bookshop often has the answer to Tarot’s questions. Sweet is based in a university for the last series. Mr. Stabs, played by Russell Hunter, is defeated by Ace of Wands’s lead Tarot, yet returns, again played by Hunter, in an episode of the anthology series Shadows. The character’s final appearance was in Dramarama, this time portrayed by David Jason. However, the Dramarama story was a prequel to the previous ones.