Airing at the tail-end of the hottest summer in living memory, The Cedar Tree was one of those budget-friendly programmes (like Emmerdale Farm) which livened up the early afternoon on ITV for housewives, perennial students, the steadfastly unemployable and kids bunking off school. Also like Emmerdale Farm its reach very definitely exceeded its grasp, with the series becoming immensely successful - 108 half hour episodes over two series before it was reformatted to fit an hour-long primetime Sunday evening slot during its final run in 1978.