Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield) is returning from boarding school for Christmas 1934 when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box.

The current owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings (Patrick Troughton) whom Kay meets at the railway station.

They develop an instant rapport, which leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a magician called Abner Brown (Robert Stephens) and his gang, which includes Kay's former governess.

The box allows the owner to shrink in size, to shapeshift, to fly, to travel to the past and to experience various magical wonders and creatures, and thus is sought for evil purposes by Abner.

During his travels, Kay encounters many characters drawn from English folklore, history and pagan mythology including Herne the Hunter, King Arthur, Father Christmas, unicorns, Roman soldiers and medieval monks.

[7] During December 1986 the series was repeated on BBC1 as three 50-minute episodes:[13] John Masefield was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom between 1930 and his death in 1967, but alongside his poetry he also wrote books for children.

It's an amazing and singular mixture of adventure story and poetic myth and the writing is packed with visual imagery...television is uniquely able to translate those qualities from one medium to another".

[16] Stone said in an interview with the Radio Times that this delay was "a blessing" since the story "call[ed] for feats of animation which television simply couldn't realise five, perhaps even two or three years ago.

[18] With a large number of effects shots, coupled with extensive location filming, the production was the most expensive children's drama the BBC had yet created, costing more than £1 million in 1984.

"[20] Railway station scenes were filmed at Bewdley and Arley on the steam heritage Severn Valley Railway;[23] Tewkesbury became the fictional Tatchester; the bishop's children's party was recorded at Kinlet Hall, Shropshire (the location of Moffats Independent School, whose pupils and staff served as extras); the interior of Hereford Cathedral and its choir were featured extensively in the final episode (although the exterior of "Tatchester Cathedral" was Tewkesbury Abbey).

"[18] The production featured an ambitious number of visual effects for its day, particularly the combining of real actors and hand-drawn animation in the Herne the Hunter scenes.

For example, the Ampex Digital Optics (ADO) machine was purchased for the studio shortly after post-production work began meaning that they would zoom composite video sources during flying sequences.

"[18] The opening and closing title music features an orchestral arrangement of "The First Nowell" extracted from the third movement of the Carol Symphony (Andante quasi lento e contabile) by Victor Hely-Hutchinson.

[25] Hely-Hutchinson wrote his Carol Symphony in 1927, and had a long association with the BBC, eventually becoming its Director of Music in 1944 until his death aged 45 during the harsh winter of 1947 when he caught pneumonia as a result of refusing to turn on the heating in his office.

A vague sense of menace threatens to overpower...The unsettling feeling doesn't last for long: it's resolved with the quietest of bassoons playing one suspended note transforming the moment into a quiet triumph and, the introduction of a familiar carol – The First Noel.

[30] In the mid-1980s the BBC made concerted efforts into making productions for international sale, and the success of The Box of Delights on PBS in the U.S. led to commissioning of further fantasy series, in particular The Chronicles of Narnia (1988–90).

[31] In 2015, Radio Times magazine reported that amongst its audience: The Box of Delights made a big impression on those who saw it when it originally aired more than three decades ago on BBC1.

Mainly because it somehow managed to be the image of snowy Edwardian chocolate-box perfection, and pretty bloody creepy at the same time...The incidental music and special effects — while nostalgic for those who revere, say, Peter Davison-era Doctor Who — do seem dated to 21st-century kids dazzled by CGI.

"[32]The children's author Piers Torday noted that the series was his first experience of "appointment to view" television, stating "The early special effects in the style of Doctor Who were as stardust to my young eyes...It wasn't only the state-of-the-art animation and the compelling performances that captured my imagination, but also the magic of the story.

in 2011 was of the opinion that although dated in some respects, the festive atmosphere and story contribute to its continued appeal: Inevitably, under greater scrutiny, it's not hard to see the Sellotape holding it all together in places.