Cheap 70s/80s British sci-fi shows that had you ****ting it when you were a kid

Dudess

The ones that stand out for me are Day of the Triffids and Sapphire and Steel with Joanna Lumley. Fantastic! And truly terrifying!

constitutionus

sapphire and steel were bloody brilliant. they were released on DVD a while back but i only got the first set cause i didnt have access to the internet back then and the wonder that is virgin and hmv never bothered their arse getting the second edition in. pissed me off no end cause that was the one with the scariest character, the guy with no face in the bowler hat that murdered people in their pictures. that damn near fecked me up for life, and this on a kids show.
gas thing is as you said the effects were ****e but the hitchcock style direction made something like an intermittant light getting brighter under a door terrifyingly significant. i'll be honest since they redid doctor who ive been hoping someone would redo this as well

that was another one by the way. some of the old doctor who's were really creepy

edit: just remembered the one about the darkness, a villain which was all the pain and suffering of the dead soldiers from the first world war and the way steel sorted the situation. i'd forgotten steel was a bit of a bastard, didnt expect that in a kids show either. very cold

Dudess

constitutionus wrote:

the scariest character, the guy with no face in the bowler hat that murdered people in their pictures. that damn near fecked me up for life, and this on a kids show.

Oh good Jesus yeah! That absolutely PETRIFIED me!!! Saw it when I was six - probably not the best idea.

constitutionus wrote:

the effects were ****e but the hitchcock style direction made something like an intermittant light getting brighter under a door terrifyingly significant.

Totally. I think the cheapness actually lent to the sinister atmosphere. Everything was so cardboardy and grim.

constitutionus wrote:

i'll be honest since they redid doctor who ive been hoping someone would redo this as well. that was another one by the way. some of the old doctor who's were really creepy

Y'see, I don't have much interest in Dr Who now because, as I said, it was the cheapiness that made it so freaky. The Daleks, even though they were pitifully low-budget, had me absolutely cacking it.

constitutionus

i always remember one of the sapphire and steel episodes being set in a country house, two kids are playing at the table and everything seems normal suddenly their parents dissappear and then all the clocks stop. **** me but this stuff was creepy, i dont know how the hell they came up with it. the writing seemed to be a hell of a lot better back then than it is now.
i wouldnt be surprised if what your saying about the budget actually helped in this, after all it forced em to be innovative. i think your right , if they did redo it they'd probably make it too flashy and ruin the suspense

by the way do you remember "tales of the unexpected"? apparently they were all based on rold dahl stories or at least took inspiration from em, "royal jelly" is the one most remember involving a crackpot beekeeper who was feeding his pregnant wife royal jelly all through the pregnancy. im not certain but i seem to remember her looking in horror at her newborn baby swathed in towels at the end (we never get to see the baby, but its heavily hinted its fecked up) freaky stuff
the one i remember oddly enough was the one about a back yard inventer who invented a machiene that could hear any frequency. im pretty sure it dabbled in hearing people thoughts but the coup de grace was when it was damaged and the guy could hear the screams of flowers when his neighbour was pruning em. oh i swear, brilliant stuff

Dudess

Ah, good old YouTube. Forgot how freaky the music was too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNbca1Stzms

constitutionus

argh , im going fecking mad now. thats the one i always wanted to see!! guess i'll just have to get hunting again, by the way i edited my previous post to include a nod of the head to tales of the unexpected. check it out

Dudess

I remember Tales of the Unexpected all right but never actually watched it - think it was on too late or something. But it sounds genius. I have heard a lot of commotion about the Royal Jelly one all right - warped. Even brings David Lynch to mind. But Roald Dahl had a very twisted view on the world - even his kiddies' stories showed that. Great man.

constitutionus

just looking at that youtube clip again and isnt it amazing what atmosphere they generated just with the lighting, all the shadows on the wall just looked amazing and the bad guy! last time i saw something as creepy as him is the gentlemen in the buffy episode "hush". its impressive how a refined looking bloke can radiate such menace

Vokes

Dudess wrote:

The ones that stand out for me are Day of the Triffids

Hey, tell me more about this - was there an actual tv show of the film? What was it like?

When i was younger I remember watching the 1962 original (with Howard Keel i think) - twas a bit freaky alright.

Dudess

Edit: To Constitutionus: Yeah, I suppose the 70s and 80s was a bit of a golden era for British sci-fi/freaky surreal ****. Then in the 90s, it was American. But the British stuff was miles better and you can see how much it influenced the US stuff. Like, I love David Lynch but he must have drawn inspiration from some of the stuff we've been discussing for Twin Peaks.

Dudess

SofaKing wrote:

Hey, tell me more about this - was there an actual tv show of the film? What was it like?

When i was younger I remember watching the 1962 original (with Howard Keel i think) - twas a bit freaky alright.

There was indeed a TV show, SofaKing. Probably made in the 70s but shown on RTE (of course) around 1984. Really low-budget but so grim and absolutely terrifying. I remember finding it bizarre that the original was an American movie (I think) starring Howard Keel! He was JR's dad in Dallas, ffs! As with most stuff, I would imagine the British version to be a lot scarier - icier and more subtle, no hysteria. There was no "outer space" stuff either. It was all very close to home - ordinary suburban streets etc.

mike65

What about Quatermass? Nigel Kneale revived it in the 70s. He tried to get Q4 off the ground in 1974 but no luck then in '78 ITV said yes and sunk a decent wedge into a 4 part story with John Mills and Simon McCorkindale. I saw it at the time and it was'nt bad. They edited down into a TV movie for export.

Mike.

Dudess

Yeah, it seems fab all right. Nigel Kneale did some amazing stuff. The Year of the Sex Olympics is an exact prediction of Big Brother 30 years in advance. The Stone Tape looks petrifying. But I don't think those were on TV in the 80s when I was a little kid. Or were they?

mike65

Sex Olympics was 1968 the Stone Tape was about 1974 methinks.

Mike.

Dudess

Kneale also adapted Nineteen Eighty-Four for a BBC play. People were so shocked by it that questions were asked in Parliament and there were loads of complaints - old ladies having heart attacks etc.

mike65

The pity is there is no-one like him now, or if there is he ain't getting any commissions.

Mike.

ciaran76

Day of the Triffids and Tales of the Unexpected for me.

I remember in DOTT the plants used to make people blind and that scared the crap out of me. I wish I could watch them again and see does it hold up. Surprised none of the cable channels are showing them as they show everything else.

constitutionus

you'd think BRAVO or UKGOLD would be all over these things. hell you could make a case for SCI/FI to show em but no such luck. guess we'll just have to wait for the DVDs . incidently i went looking for sappahire and steel again, no luck. only site i could even find em on was play.com and that was for the first pack and its sold out. you can get em on amazon but i dont fancy that site, dont know why just rather buy em using my credit card and dont like the fact you have to trust someone

mike65

Its strange how these programme get locked away, but there could be copywrite/repeat fees issues that hav'nt been resolved.

Another thing to do is send em an e-mail. We could start a Cheesy Brit Sci-Fi
campiagn.

Mike.

Dudess

Good call, Mike. Some channel did show Day of the Triffids recently all right. Don't think it was UK Gold. Might have been Granada Plus - now ITV3.

Kolodny

Loved Sapphire and Steel!

"All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned."

Would love to see them all again.

constitutionus wrote:

edit: just remembered the one about the darkness, a villain which was all the pain and suffering of the dead soldiers from the first world war and the way steel sorted the situation. i'd forgotten steel was a bit of a bastard, didnt expect that in a kids show either. very cold

That was one of my favourites - Sapphire was taken over by the 'Darkness' and went all weird. Really creepy.

Loved Day of the Triffids too and I found Chocky quite disturbing in places. John Wyndham sure had a warped imagination.

Earthhorse

I don't ever particularly being scared of any of these shows when I was younger. You know, hiding behind the couch and all that. I think I actually found kids programs creepier when I was younger, a la Chocky.

SofaKing wrote:

Hey, tell me more about this - was there an actual tv show of the film? What was it like?

It was really a TV show of the book though wasn't it? Rather than a TV show of the film. The noise the triffids used to make was quite scary.

mike65

Does anyone recall a "mystical" series which was aimed at children about a stone circle?

Mike.

Dudess

Earthhorse wrote:

You know, hiding behind the couch and all that.

The only show that made me do that was The Incredible Hulk!

Earthhorse wrote:

The noise the triffids used to make was quite scary.

That was one of the scariest things about the whole damn show!

Mike, the name is in your question. It was simply called Children of the Stones. Don't remember it but it was featured on some nostalgia programme (love those shows). Twas well spooky apparently.

Here's one for you all: Anyone remember The Witches and the Grinnygog?

Or a really creepy programme RTE used to show - don't know what it was called. All I remember was it had a boy in it called Simon and there was a rock that used to whisper to him. Scared the ****e out of me!

Oobie

The music from Tales of the Unexpected used to scare me but I had to pretend it didn't so my parents would let me watch it!

Dudess

Ah, bless your childish little heart! The music from Tales of the Unexpected was one of the happiest theme tunes ever!

nlgbbbblth

edit

nlgbbbblth

mike65 wrote:

Does anyone recall a "mystical" series which was aimed at children about a stone circle?

Mike.

Yes.
Children Of The Stones.
Made by HTV West in 1976.

Released on DVD a couple of years ago. Is around £7 from Play. Well worth it.

constitutionus wrote:

you'd think BRAVO or UKGOLD would be all over these things. hell you could make a case for SCI/FI to show em but no such luck. guess we'll just have to wait for the DVDs . incidently i went looking for sappahire and steel again, no luck. only site i could even find em on was play.com and that was for the first pack and its sold out. you can get em on amazon but i dont fancy that site, dont know why just rather buy em using my credit card and dont like the fact you have to trust someone

Sapphire and Steel on DVD.

All six assignments on six DVDs.

Region 4.

Click here!

AUS$37.99 plus postage. Took just five days to get from Australia to Ireland. Site says "3 DVD" but what you get is a box containing three DVD amaray cases which have two DVDs in each case..

Tales Of The Unexpected - 25 Roald Dahl stories were filmed. He did introductions for four more. Acorn Media have released three box sets in the US while Network in the UK have started releasing the series a few months back. The quality of the tales varies.

Nigel Kneale - Two good DVD releases just out. Kinvig and the anthology series, Beasts.

Dudess

There was another one - again more children's than adult but still dead spooky - The Gemini Twins. About twin sisters who were separated at birth and had some sort of telepathic connection. Class.

constitutionus

what was the one with the bording school type kids all around 11 set in the english countryside. the only one i can remember is about these stone dinosaurs that came to life, i seem to remember the kids hiding in the belly of one of em. for the life of me thats all i can remember about it cept it was quite menacing. it wasnt called box of tricks was it? it was a bit of a period peice

BrianD3

constitutionus wrote:

sapphire and steel were bloody brilliant...the one with the scariest character, the guy with no face in the bowler hat that murdered people in their pictures. that damn near fecked me up for life, and this on a kids show.

I saw that when I was only about 4 and I agree it was terrifying. I had nightmares about the The Man With No Face for years afterwards. I also find that everyone who saw that programme when they were a kid remembers it and thinks it's by far the scariest thing they've ever seen in a TV series.

Don't remember any of the other Sapphire and Steel episodes though. Probably too young or they weren't as memorable.

There was another show that I barely remember where someone was sucked down into the ground by a tree or something . That was scary too. It was definitely an early 80s low budget British TV series. Ring any bells with anyone?

BTW Sapphire and Steel appeared in one of those "top ten" programmes on Channel 4 a couple of years ago. David McCallum and PJ Hammond (writer) were interviewed. Hammond came out with a great description of the show

No spaceships, no rayguns, no men in silver suits; it was about atmosphere, fear, and creaky stairs

Dudess

Sounds ace but can you remember any more details?

andy1249

Children of the stones was the spookiest one for me , it was about a family that moved to this creepy town , the Mayor ( or head of the town or whatever ) invited people to dinner , and the following day they would have changed completely , going around wishing each other "happy" day etc.
It was all tied in with the standing stones in the village and the music for the program was a spooky kind of chanting.

tj-music.com

The time machine , the original film mind you, scared me ****less and I was so afraid that the moddocks would come up to the surface from their underground caves or whatever it was they lived in.

cushtac

Dr. Who & Blake's 7 did it for me, excellent stuff.

While not exactly Sci Fi, BBC did a mini-series called Threads which was about the effects of a nuclear war on Britain. I thought it was really disturbing but compelling stuff.

Abdiel

Dudess wrote:

Here's one for you all: Anyone remember The Witches and the Grinnygog?

Or a really creepy programme RTE used to show - don't know what it was called. All I remember was it had a boy in it called Simon and there was a rock that used to whisper to him. Scared the ****e out of me!

Is that the one with that Popcarrock (sp?) thingy in it? Little gargoyle type creature that used to talk to the kid ? Think it had the words stars or organ in the title...

Somebody mentioned the gemini twins or something there - remember that too, they each had one half of a yin-yang pendant or something.

Dudess

Abdiel wrote:

Somebody mentioned the gemini twins or something there - remember that too, they each had one half of a yin-yang pendant or something.

That was, yet again, me. You're absolutely right about the yin-yang thing.

Yeah, Cushtac, Threads is absolutely petrifying and sort of related to a lot of the stuff being mentioned here - Day of the Triffids in particular. Had the whole British grim thing going on too. Here's a thread on it from the film forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=162623&referrerid=59211

Ruu_Old

tj-music.com wrote:

The time machine , the original film mind you, scared me ****less and I was so afraid that the moddocks would come up to the surface from their underground caves or whatever it was they lived in.

I think I remember seeing it on TCM not that long ago, is that the one where he meets this crowd of people and asks them for some books which turn out to be so old that they fall apart into dust?

pork99

This 1960 adaptation of HG Well's "The Time Machine" doesn't quite fit the criteria of a cheap 1970s/80s sci-fi show but I did see it on TV as a small child in the 1970s and it scared the bejaysus out of me. (Appocalyptic war, cannibalistic Morlocks, sort of like living in Ballybrack.) Looks cheap and tacky now but to my childish imagination it looked quite plausible.

aidan_dunne

cushtac wrote:

While not exactly Sci Fi, BBC did a mini-series called Threads which was about the effects of a nuclear war on Britain. I thought it was really disturbing but compelling stuff.

I never saw all of 'Threads' but, what I did see of it, scared the living shít out of me. At a time when we had the likes of Ronnie "What day of the week is it?" Reagan in charge and everybody was wondering when, not if, we were all going to be vapourised in a blinding flash of white light, 'Threads' just seemed to reinforce the fear a lot of us had at that time and leave us even more terrified at the thought of the inevitable nuclear war that seemed to be just around the corner. Ever since seeing the few bits of 'Threads' I did manage to catch, I've had quite an almost unhealthy obsession with all things of a nuclear nature since then! It left me morbidly wishing that I would be one of the "lucky" people who would be instantly vapourised straight away should a nuclear war start rather than be one of the survivors because, after watching 'Threads', it looked as if the survivors truly were the unlucky ones. :eek: