It was all too much for my mum. I might have been allowed to stay up late to watch Hammer films on TV, but the opening scene of The Changes, with it's visceral and sudden switch from domestic family life to violent chaos, exemplified by the smashing of a TV set was considered too much for an eight year old. The telly was switched off and the series forbidden to me. Of course, ten weeks is a long time in the memory of a parent, and so I was able to catch the final few episodes, which were less immediately confrontational in approach. Those episodes, and that opening scene from the first, stayed burned in my memory for years. That's how impressive this show is.
Made at the end of 1973 and finally broadcast in 1975, The Changes was certainly challenging for children's TV. The first episode came with no less than two warnings that emphasised it was aimed at 'older children' (it's essentially what we'd now call 'young adult' drama) and brought several complaints – though in those days, there was no OFCOM to enforce the views of the lunatic fringe. It's unsurprising that the series was considered unusual, even then, This was much more adult than most children's TV of the time – it came at a time when boundaries were being pushed, in style (the original, gritty version of Grange Hill came soon afterwards) and content (it's a contemporary of Children of the Stones, another pagan-flavoured horror series for kids), but had a harder edge than most. There's constant threat, violent (sometimes on screen) death and social issues galore in this series.