Very British Futures – Details, episodes & analysis

A for Andromeda is a BBC science fiction TV series that originally aired in 1961.

It was the first adult BBC science fiction series since the Quatermass trilogy of the Fifties. Created by reknown (and controversial) astronomer Fred Hoyle and television writer and producer John Elliot, and directed by Michael Hayes (Replaced by John Knight for the sequel). One of the earliest mainstream British TV dramas to explore the themes of artificial intelligence and realistic alien contact.

A for Andromeda follows a group of scientists who receive a radio signal from the Andromeda galaxy containing instructions for building a powerful computer. Once built, the computer reveals a formula for creating a new life. Meanwhile a multinational company called Intel are stealing information from the project via a mole. Shockingly, one of the team, Christine, is hypnotised and killed by the computer. Her body is then used as a blueprint for a newly grown beautiful woman who is christened Andromeda. However, as Andromeda grows more self-aware, she begins to be torn between the agenda of the alien AI and her own humanity.

The series was a great success at a time when the BBC had been losing audiences to its new rival ITV. Unsurprisingly a sequel was commissioned.

The Andromeda Breakthrough was originally broadcast in 1962. It picks up directly where the previous one left off, with Andromeda and Dr John Flemming, the scientist who has treated the computer with suspicion almost from the beginning, having escaped from the island where it was created. Soon they are abducted by Intel and taken to the Middle Eastern country of Azaran, where the alien computer has been recreated. Too late, the humans realise that the computer has a ruthless plan for human civilisation, and only the dying Andromeda can save them.

Both series were groundbreaking for television in mixing scientific concepts with contemporary politics and a more cynical view of business and political institutions.

For this episode I was delighted to be reunited with writers Nigel J Anderson and Brian M Clarke, who had been my very first guests when we covered Pathfinders in Space. We also take a few minutes to discuss the BBC4 remake in 2006. I must also mention Michael Thompson, who helped with the glossy production values on this particular podcast.

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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 episodes across two seasons between 1975 and 1977. Made by ITC and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, although Star Trek producer Fred Freiberger took over day to day running of the second season. Brian Johnson headed the special effects modelwork and would later gain acclaim for The Empire Strikes Back and The Neverending Story.

Very British Futures host Gareth Preston invites nostalgic Ian Taylor and recent fan Kara Dennison to examine one of ITC's biggest undertakings. They'll be taking an especially close look at "Dragon's Domain", "Earthbound" and "The Beta Cloud".

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Find out more about Kara Dennison's work at https://karadennison.blogspot.com/

Find out more about Ian Taylor's horror anthologies at https://twitter.com/BHF_books

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 mocked many of his fans, it has remained one of the curios of Eighties television. Could it ever have worked? Is funny now and was it even then?

Taking a closer look at with Gareth Preston, in one person's case against their will, are Tim Reid and Charles Auchterlonie, hosts of The Randomiser podcast.

Music by Chatri Art

Produced by Gareth Preston

Follow the podcast on twitter at @FuturesVery and for more information and reviews, visit garethpreston.blog 

Deep space explorers encountering strange new dangers. Mutant powers hidden among us. Futuristic societies with surprising moralities. Cutting edge technology bringing unexpected dilemmas for the people who use it. Created by the pioneering television producer Irene Shubik and featuring some of the leading talents on television on both sides of the lens, Out of the Unknown remains one of the BBC's best science fiction series. Drawing on stories from SF masters such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, John Wyndham and John Brunner, as well as original scripts, it remains one of television's most sustained attempts to adapt the mood of literary science fiction.

Gareth Preston is joined by Stephen Hatcher and Dylan Rees to discuss the series, which sadly is missing half its episodes, yet what remains is still thrilling and challenging. Along the way they pay particular attention to three key episodes: The Dead Past, Some Lapse of Time and The Machine Stops.

Music by Chatri Art chatriart.bandcamp.com
Produced by Gareth Preston

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The tourist season is over and Inverdee Island is closing down and preparing for the winter. But when the body of Shelia Anderson is discovered, seemingly torn apart by a killer with inhuman strength, the islanders must join together to fight something terrifyingly unknown.

Broadcast only once in 1981, The Nightmare Man has achieved cult status as rare but expertly made piece of primetime SF/Horror from the BBC. Looking into the roots of this drama and Child of Vodyanoi, the original novel it is adapted from, Gareth Preston is joined by writers Ian Taylor and John Isles. Can it be compared with Doctor Who of the time? How well does Cornwall stand in for Scotland? How scary is it for a modern audience?

Produced by Gareth Preston
Music by Chatri Art ( chatriart.bandcamp.com )

Ian Taylor's book on the career of Jenny Agutter All Sorts of Things May Happen is available from We Belong Dead books.

It's just another day in Sheffield, everyone going about their own affairs, when suddenly the unthinkable happens - a nuclear strike. When the survivors scrabble out of the rubble, that is just the beginning of a waking nightmare, as modern society quickly crumbles into starvation and suffering.

The BBC2 TV play Threads was a television landmark that is still as powerful today as it was in 1982. Written by Barry (Kes) Hines and directed by Mick Jackson before he went to Hollywood, it is a polemic, extensively researched attempt to depict the true horror of life after a nuclear conflict.

Joining Gareth Preston to discuss this memorable production are author Rik Hoskin and lecturer Andrew Roe-Crines.

Follow Very British Futures on Twitter @FuturesVery and find out more at garethpreston.blog

Bystander 27, Rik Hoskin's latest novel is available at all good bookshops.

You can read Selecting Starmer, one of Andrew Roe-Crines' recent articles on left-wing politics, for free at tandfonline.com

Mankind is busy colonising the solar system. Space stations in orbit, a busy moonbase, and pioneers on Mars. A new frontier however brings new opportunities for crime: industrial, political and personal. That's where the International Space Police Force (ISPF) come in, known sardonically as the Star Cops. Now career cop Nathan Spring has been reluctantly sent into space to shake up the volunteers and turn them into a real police service.

Created by Chris Boucher, writer for Blake's 7 and Shoestring amongst other shows, Star Cops was broadcast to little acclaim in 1987, but has built up a cult following over the years and is widely regarded as one of great lost opportunities of British SF television. Taking an appreciative look back with host Gareth Preston are Peter Grehen, Kevin Hiley and Dr Rebecca Wray.

Music by Chatri Art chatriart.bandcamp.com

Produced by Gareth Preston

Follow us on Twitter @FuturesVery or visit garethpreston.blog for more information

For more information on Peter Grehen's novels and other writings visit petergrehanwriter.weebly.com

For more information on Kevin Hiley and Westlake Films visit westlakefilms.blogspot.com

Somewhere in the world, sometime in the future where television is the only growth industry, star reporter Edison Carter is on the track of hot new story about a new kind of advertising, unskippable, unavoidable and for many people - fatal. When boy genius Bryce sets a lethal trap for him, Edison is left in a coma, but a copy of his mind is about to become something unique - the world's first computer generated lifeform - Max Headroom!

Catch the wave with us back to 1985 when for a few months pop culture went M-M-M-Max mad. The TV film, the pop videos, the fizzy drinks, the legend that was Max Headroom. Joining Gareth Preston from their own personal TV studios are talking heads Amy Elizabeth and Steve Noble. Blade Runner, Ultravox, Shakespeare and early Eighties computing are all in there, along with a bonus chat about the Red Dwarf Smegazine.

Music by Chatri Art ( bandcamp.chatriart.com )

Produced by Gareth Preston

Follow us on Twitter @FuturesVery and at garethpreston.blog

When retired photojournalist Steve Blake sees a man die in a car explosion, then meets the same man the next day apparently unscathed, it is the beginning of a terrifying journey. The thread leads Blake and a woman called Melissa Gates to the mystery of the disappearance of Sweet Hope beneath the sea, a village whose population was miraculously rescued that night by Constable Philip Gates. Or were they? After a horrific discovery underwater, Steve and Melissa realise they have uncovered a secret alien invasion. Who can they convince? Who can they trust? Including each other?

Made in 1997, by Zenith Entertainment for ITV, The Uninvited was a alien conspiracy thriller firmly in the tradition of Sixties US television series The Invaders, with nods to John Wyndham. Starring Douglas Hodge, Leslie Grantham and Sylvestra Le Touzel. Join Gareth Preston, John Isles and Nicky Smalley as they go back to an era where the internet was still a strange new medium for most people, mainstream SF was a rare sight on British television screens, and ITV seemed to want every drama to be a prestige murder mystery.

Music - Chatri Art ( www.chatriart.bandcamp.com )
Producer - Gareth Preston
Follow us on Twitter at @FuturesVery and visit garethpreston.blog for more reviews and news.

The rogue planet Medusa arrives in our solar system. Beneath its surface is an advanced alien civilisation where women rule and men are slaves. Adam and Shem steal a space yacht and travel to Earth, a paradise where it is rumoured that men are in charge and women obey. Hot in pursuit are Security Chief Octavia and Councillor Fulvia, Adam's owner.

A space adventure series, a satire on the battle of the sexes, a SF parody, or a seriously intended rival to Gerry Anderson's Century 21 productions? Star Maidens is a mass of contradictions wrapped in Seventies disco futurism and C&A fashion disasters. Joining host Gareth Preston to try and untangle this British/German patchwork is Dr Rebecca Wray and Kevin Hiley.

Music by Chatri Ahpornsiri ( www.chatriart.bandcamp.com )
Production by Gareth Preston

You can follow us on @FuturesVery on Twitter for photos, previews of upcoming episodes and discussion.
Or take a look at garethpreston.blog for more information and reviews.