Imagine Star Trek designed by Stanley Kubrick and inhabited by a plethora of familiar (or soon to be familiar) British actors, led by three American TV stars. It's a SF show that mixes big imaginative concepts with foam machines and alien babes in tight costumes. It looks amazing, with one of the most iconic spaceships that ever flew across the small screen. And for a while, it was one of the biggest SF series on TV. The Moon has escaped orbit and gone warping across the galaxy. Each episode the survivors face new aliens and new terrors. The time, the place? Space: 1999! Space: 1999 ran for 48 ..read more

Seasons greetings! Stingray is the iconic children's television series that captured the imagination of Sixties viewers. Created by the legendary Gerry and Sylvia Andersonthis pioneering show set new standards for their Supermarionation process, as well as being their first in colour. The series follows the adventures of the crew aboard the futuristic submarine known as Stingray, designed for undersea exploration and defense. Led by the valiant Captain Troy Tempest, his partner Lieutenant George Lee "Phones" Sheridan, and the enigmatic Marina, a mystical undersea woman, the trio works for ..read more

A fascinating curio from producer Gerry Anderson's peak period, made in between seasons one and two of Space: 1999 and featuring many personnel from that programme. The spaceship Altares, with a photon drive capable of accelerating it to the speed of light, leaves an Earth-orbiting space station. The Altares crew, two families of trained specialists, journey at light speed to Alpha Centauri, experiencing time-dilation. After launching several satellites to transmit information on the Centauri star system back to Earth, guiding future vessels exploring the star system, the families vo ..read more

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham is one of the best known science fiction novels in Britain. For many viewers, the 1981 BBC adaptation remains the best and closest version. The series follows the story of Bill Marsden, a farmer living in a post-apocalyptic world after a meteor shower has rendered most of the population blind. The disaster also allows a species of mobile carnivorous plant called Triffids to escape and multiply. Bill is a young man who has retained his sight due to being protected by bandages, ironically after a Triffid attack. As he navigates the dangers of the new ..read more

Chocky was a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, the final one published in his lifetime (1968). It tells the story of an 11 year old boy named Matthew, who begins to exhibit strange behavior and abilities that concern his parents. They learn that Matthew has an imaginary friend named Chocky, who is actually a highly advanced alien being with a mission to help humanity. Yet the alien knows enough about humanity to know that if people discover the truth, Matthew's life will be in danger from groups who want to exploit Chocky's knowledge for their own wealth and power. The novel was adap ..read more

It wouldn't be claiming too much to say that George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 is one of the key books of post-war Britain and its influence is still with us today. Big Brother, newspeak, double-think, thought police, are all concepts used in politics and social media. However, the book might not have broken into the mainstream without the help of a BBC television adaptation in 1954. It created controversy in the newspapers and even the Houses of Parliament, whilst gripping the nation at a time when the BBC was still the sole broadcaster in the UK. The story is set in a futuristic world whe ..read more

Who hasn't dreamed of stepping into a time machine and whizzing off to an exciting historical destination? Dominick Hide certainly has, but he's under strict instructions to only observe from the air, never land, never get involved. But Dominick is insatiably curious about the wild heady world of 1980 and his long lost ancestor, so one night he does touch down, stepping into a romantic adventure with a beautiful shop owner called Jane. How long can keep up his illegal excursions? What will be the consequences for his wife Ava and the future itself? One of the best remembered productions of BBC ..read more

Season 2 kicks off with E4's seemingly little remembered comedy drama about extra-terrestrial immigrants - The Aliens. UK in the near future and humanity has made its first contact with alien life. Instead of changing the world, the survivors of a crashed spacecraft from the 1970's have become Britain's latest despised underclass. Heavily policed, carrying out menial jobs and being forced to live in a walled ghetto called Troy. Lewis is one of the border guards and shares the common prejudices about the 'morks', until an accident reveals he is something allegedly impossible: a human-alien hybr ..read more

Outcasts followed the trials of humanity's first, and it would seem, last colony on a new planet. A new frontier of hope for a better world, but dogged by human weaknesses of the oldest kind. A major new BBC adult science fiction series for the 21st century. At least that was the pitch. Kudos were one of the coolest TV companies around, with dramas like Life on Mars and Spooks under their belt. Writer and producer Ben Richards had made his name with the latter and had recently written cult drama Party Animals. The cast was filled with talents like Liam Cunningham, Eric Maibus and Hermione Norr ..read more

Des Kinvig's small world is turned upside when he discovers one of his customers, sexy Miss Griffin is in fact an alien from Mercury, fighting a secret war with the Xux. Is he really the only man who can help her save the Earth? Or is he just a desperate fantasist who's been listening to his UFO-mad friend Jim Piper for too long? Nigel Kneale, creator of Quatermass, writer of TV classics such The Stone Tape, 1984, and Beasts, took an unexpected turn into situation comedy for 1981's Kinvig. Starring Tony Haygarth, Patsy Rowlands, Prunella Gee and Colin Jeavons. A science fiction parody that moc ..read more