Events

Previews of forthcoming events and reviews of past events.

Science Fiction Britannia

31 October 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Science Fiction Britannia



There’s a great big sci-fi season coming to BBC4 in early November. As well as interviews with Iain M Banks and Terry Pratchett, there’s a dramatisation of John Wyndham’s Random Quest, a three-part documentary on UK sci-fi writers and all sorts of goodies from the archives (allegedly).

There’s also going to be a series called The Cult Of… that focuses on cult British sci-fi series: Blake’s 7, Adam Adamant, Doomwatch, Star Cops, The Survivors and Tripods. I can understand all those obsessions except Tripods – Star Cops and Doomwatch were brilliant, Blake’s 7 had its moments as did The Survivors, and Adam Adamant was fun. But Tripods? Lines from the books such as “And then they went into a village and stole some bread” turned into an entire episode? Dismal. Have you noticed that loving Doctor Who is no longer considered a cult pursuit by the Beeb, though? Interesting.

To coincide with the season, BBC4 will be opening up (from today) a web site called My Science Fiction Life, where you can deposit your memories of sci-fi shows and books, some of which might be used in a “new TV programme”. They don’t mention whether that’ll be The Cult Of… or not.

Saturday night ITC fun at the NFT

30 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Tickets may already have sold out, but if they haven’t and you’re not off to a fireworks display like me, there’s a couple of tele events at the NFT this Saturday that look interesting. Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, et al is going to talk about his days at ITC. To get you up to speed with ITC, preceding that will be a Gallop Through the Archives, with clips from various ITC shows, as well as a full episode of The Buccaneers. Both sound fun, so book if you can.

BFI events

Jane Eyre and Charley at the NFT

1 September 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Charley says: go to the NFT
A couple of tele-related things to watch out for at the NFT this month. The first is a season of Central Office of Information (COI) films starting on the 21st and running through to the 30th. COI films? You remember Charley Says, right? Think Before You Drink Before You Drive? Course you do. Basically, a week of those films, grouped by theme onto individual nights.
The other thing that might be worth catching is a preview on the 15th of the Beeb’s new adaptation of Jane Eyre. It features Toby Stephens as Rochester, Francesca Annis as Lady Ingram, and newcomer Ruth Wilson as Jane. It’ll be a four-parter when it appears on tele, but the NFT is showing the first two hour-long episodes.
If you feel the urge, get booking now!

Events

More spies? No

23 August 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

British Spies season

As suspected, the British Spies season seems to end on Tuesday 5th with the final episode of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Either that or the very BBC4-sounding Meetings with Remarkable Trees has a very deceptive title.

‘Clive’ from the Beeb’s press office still hasn’t got back to me to confirm this though. This isn’t wholly surprising. If you’ve never dealt with PR people, you probably won’t be aware of this, but “I’ll get back to you with that information” or “I’ll email it through to you” is pretty much code for “You will never see or hear from me again. You will not will be able to find me. I do not exist. I am Jason Bourne. I am a ghost.” Clive probably isn’t even his real name.

Which is ironic for a spies season, isn’t it?