What would the Secret Seven do without Scamper the spaniel? First he discovers an unwanted visitor - then he protects the Seven as they spy on a thief late at night in the woods. Can the Seven find out who has stolen General Blanksome's medals, as well as guarding the birds' eggs in Bramley Woods from thieves...?

Look Out, Secret Seven is the latest Secret Seven audio release from the BBC. The Secret Seven have two cases to solve in this mystery read by Sarah Greene.

Growing up (I was born in the '70s) I was fed a healthy diet of Enid Blyton stories. I read all of the Famous Five, and pretty much all of the Secret Seven books. While I'm sure this will still appeal to young children, I'm afraid it's not a series that adults who grew up on it can revisit and come away with anything other than disbelief at how corny everything is. The Secret Seven live in a totally different United Kingdom than me, that's for sure.

I have to admit, on balance, that I found The Famous Five to be a much more exciting series at the time, with The Secret Seven being an adequate substitute for when I'd exhausted my supply of Famous Five books.

Sarah Greene, who I also grew on thanks to Blue Peter and Saturday morning kids TV, comes across a bit school mam-ish. In fact, I kept half-expecting her to stop reading and tell me to pay attention.

While personally this wasn't my cup of tea, I'm quite aware that it isn't aimed at people like me, but younger versions of myself. I'm hoping that today's younger generation are still being raised on stuff like this (the BBC are obviously hoping so too) because there's something great about forming secret gangs (and I don't been in a gang culture stylee either) and going on adventures.

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Nick Smithson