Famous Five actor publishes first novel after stroke

Marcus Harris previously as Wallingford's mayor

An actor known to audiences in the 1970s as one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five has released his first novel.

Marcus Harris played Julian in ITV's adaptation, which was filmed in the New Forest and Dorset in 1978 and 1979, and has also served as the mayor of Wallingford in Oxfordshire.

Mr Harris said he was driven to write his thriller, Running Away, two-and-a-half years ago after he suffered a stroke.

In doing so, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to get a book published.

"I have always wanted to write and I have always been writing and had a number of things rejected by various agents and publishers," Mr Harris told BBC Radio Solent.

"Two-and-a-half years ago I got out of bed on a Saturday morning and I hit the bedroom floor and luckily my wife got me into hospital within the hour because I had had a major stroke.

"I took five-and-a-half hours to come through it – my wife was told I was probably not going to make it and the family was assembled.

"As I woke up and come round having survived with no detriment at all, I thought, what are the things I haven't done with my life?"

Mr Harris said he looked back fondly on the summers spent filming the Blyton classic.

"To live in Exbury and to film in the New Forest and Dorset for two years was just an amazing experience," he said.

"To live in a hotel and be treated like celebrities – that we weren't at that stage – was just absolutely phenomenal."

He said once the programme ended, he suffered a "huge crash" – but that being recognised on the street "made for an interesting couple of years".