Vraag Gewoon om Diamant

Last time on my quest for the missing 1991 Diamond Brothers TV series, I mentioned I had some information I'd been sent by Giles Leigh about the show's broadcast in the Netherlands. Bearing in mind I already knew the show was a co-production with a Dutch film company, perhaps this is something I should've thought to look into myself before now. But anyway, since that last post was already earth-shattering enough, I decided to leave what Giles had sent me for another day and another post to avoid it all being a bit too much. And here we are.

This is an archived copy of the Leeuwarder Courant from the 25th of March 1991 -- with a photo and mini-feature on Horowitz and the SBSE TV series on page 2. Giles ran the relevant bits through Google Translate, and I can't really improve on that unless anyone out there reading this happens to speak Dutch:

HILVERSUM (GPD) - Tonight AVRO is broadcasting the first part of a new family drama by the English children's book writer Anthony Horowitz, with Monique van de Ven in one of the leading roles. The author was recently in the Netherlands to present his series South by Southeast about the detective Tim Diamond. The Boy Who Knew Too Much, Horowitz's book on which the series is based, will soon be published in a Dutch translation. The life of a children's author in England is not a bed of roses. Roald Dahl, who passed away last year, is a celebrity. But further? The Englishman Anthony Horowitz - Anthony Who, the pianist maybe??? - will probably never make it that far. Interest in children's literature, in literature in general, is low in the overseas kingdom. The climate for writers on the continent is healthier, says 35-year-old Horowitz. With translations into Portuguese, French and German, the author in Danish, Swedish, Spanish, now knows that there is indeed an audience for his work. He has also penetrated into the Dutch language area. Publishing house Facet in Antwerp will soon be publishing its thirteenth book. There go Frederick K. Bower, The Maltese Legacy, Public Enemy Number Two, Nuclear Power for the Devil, The Night of the Scorpion, The Silver Citadel, The Day of the Dragon are all fast paced action stories, laced with a dose of humor which may be typically English The recently published phenomed. Undels The Dogs of Aktaioon and The Ten Fingers of Sedna contain myths and sagas from ancient times with a modern twist. Until now, Belgium has been the country where adventure novels and thrillers for young people aged twelve and older have been most popular. Horowitz has not yet reached the general public in the Netherlands, although he did stand out at the beginning of this year during the prose festival Story International in Rotterdam, where he translated verses by Annie M. G. Schmidt into English.

[The next chunk is about other TV listings, I think - feel free to run it through the translator yourself too!]

As of today, AVRO is broadcasting the six-part series South by Southeast. The writer calls his product a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's films. For connoisseurs of the genre, the English title South by Southeast nods emphatically to the Hitchcock classic North by Northwest. Horowitz considers the TV series a classic family drama, in which blood-curdling scenes and comic scenes alternate. The story about the hunt for villain and master [of/in] disguise Charon, who wants to promote a new Cold War with the murder of KGB spy Kusanov, is set in London, Amsterdam and Flevoland. The recordings [filming] were also made there. A trip to Tilburg was necessary for the scene of the murder on the ice rink. Monique van de Ven has one of the leading roles, alongside Dursley McLinden and Colin Dale. Thom Hoffman is less prominent, but he finds his way in a charming supporting role. (TV2, 1 hour)

Some notes on this:

• The series aired under its original title in the Netherlands despite the book being retitled for publication there; Giles found this listing for a Dutch-language copy, albeit one that appears to be a 2005 printing. That's fascinating in itself, because it has a cover by Tony Ross which is completely different to the one used on UK copies between 1997 and 2002 (and again from the mid-2010s) -- was this specially done for it, or a rejected UK cover?
• Giles notes that it's unclear if the series was dubbed or not; he presumes it is, and that seems a reasonable presumption, but given the co-production nature of the series, and the use of several well-known Dutch actors, I think there's a chance that at least some of it might have been recorded in Dutch.
• The time is listed as "1 hour", but also a "six-part series" -- was this just two episodes back-to-back?
• Some of those books mentioned: "Frederick K. Bower" was Horowitz's first ever published novel, from 1979, which has been out of print for decades as far as I can tell; it was originally printed in the UK as "The Sinister Secret of Frederick K. Bower", and reprinted in 1985 as "Enter Frederick K. Bower". "Nuclear Power for the Devil" was better-known as "The Devil's Doorbell", and it and the next three books mentioned are part of "The Gatekeepers" series, which Horowitz later rewrote between 2005 and 2012 as "The Power of Five". (I have copies of the first two "Gatekeepers" books, and comparing them to the relevant "Power" books indicates that the level of rewrite varies from 'mild' to 'substantial', but are still recognisably the same basic story. Note that the planned final book of  "The Gatekeepers" was never written, and it wouldn't be until Horowitz rewrote them that the series would have a conclusion.) The last two are presumably the Dutch titles for his collections of myths and legends, which were printed as, er, "Myths and Legends" in the UK.

The final thing Giles had to share is this cover from a Dutch TV/radio listings magazine, featuring a rare image of a youthful Horowitz and the same publicity picture that the Radio Times used to promote the series:

Original image link: https://www.muziek-en-lectuur.nl/files/imagecache/large/Avrobode-1991-12.jpg