The Bagthorpe Saga is a series of 10 novels by Helen Cresswell published between 1977 and 2001[1] winning two International Reading Association awards[2] published in the UK and the United States by Faber and Faber.
The first two novels formed the basis of a BBC TV comedy series in 1981.
The saga follows the farcical, satirical and blackly comic lives of the eccentric, ultra-competitive, friendless,[3] relentlessly self-absorbed and largely disloyal[4] Bagthorpe family, who live at Unicorn House in the fictional village of Passingham, near the small market town of Aysham.
The view of their stellar intelligence and conduct is not shared by their headmaster who leaves blank his comment boxes on their reports since "If he said anything complimentary he would be perjuring himself"[26] so the Bagthorpe children steam open the envelopes to forge flattery.
[27] The Bagthorpe Saga, a six-part adaptation of the first two novels (Ordinary Jack and Absolute Zero) was broadcast by the BBC in 1981.