The premise in the first episode is that an 11th-century bumbling wizard named Catweazle (Geoffrey Bayldon) is pursued by soldiers through a wood, carrying only his magic charm and his toad familiar.

Catweazle arrives on a farm in rural England in the year 1969 and befriends a farmer's son, a ginger teenager named Edward Bennet, nicknamed Carrot (Robin Davies), who spends most of the rest of the series attempting to hide Catweazle from his father (Bud Tingwell) and the farmhand Sam (Neil McCarthy).

The first series was mostly shot on location at Home Farm, Ripley Road, East Clandon, (near Guildford) in Surrey, England in 1969.

[5] Television historians Alistair McGown and Mark Docherty wrote that "Catweazle became a highly respected children's series in its time".

The first series was released on Region 2 DVD in the UK in May 2005, with a short reunion documentary "Brothers in Magic" and audio commentaries on selected episodes by Carpenter, Bayldon, Davies and Executive Producer Joy Whitby.

Among several other additional features were a "Westbourne Museum" image gallery (named after a small local museum in the episode "The Curse of Rapkyn" starring Peter Sallis) featuring the most comprehensive collection of original Catweazle memorabilia and promotional ephemera ever assembled, sourced from The Paul Pert Screen Collection.

The release of the 40th Anniversary Special Edition DVD set was also accompanied by a commemorative publication, The Magic Book by Simon Wells and Paul Pert.

[8][9] The publication includes an article by Pert about the longevity of the Catweazle phenomenon, entitled "A Magical Spell in the Countryside," which contains Robin Davies's last recorded comments about the series that made him a star and about his special friendship with Bayldon.

The DVD image gallery also recorded the occasion of their last meeting at an annual commemorative event held at the farm in East Clandon, Surrey, where the first series was filmed in the summer of 1969.

Also featured in the article was an interview with Richard Carpenter in which he gave a frank account of his thoughts on modern television, and again expressed his desire to bring his writing career full circle with a Catweazle film for the 21st century.

[16][17] The film was mostly shot on location at Eberbach Abbey and Stolberg (Kupferhof Rosenthal, primary school Grüntalstraße, Oldtown) and the Katzensteine between Mechernich and Satzvey Castle.

[18] English professional wrestler Gary Cooper (1939-1992) adopted the ring name "Catweazle" and similar image to the title character of the programme.

Signed to Joint Promotions, he appeared regularly on the wrestling slot of World of Sport, including Mick McManus' retirement match in 1982.