#Doomwatch

[weirdlookindog]

THE GHOUL SHOW!

Grave of the Vampire (1972), Island of the Ghouls (Doomwatch, 1972) & Garden of the Dead (1972)

[mater-argento]

The horror films of Peter Sasdy.

[kwebtv]

Simon Oates, Joby Blanshard, John Paul, Robert Powell and Wendy Hall in "Doomwatch"

[downthetubes]

Doomwatch comes to Talking Pictures

The BBC series Doomwatch arrives on Talking Pictures TV this week – a rare scheduled outing for the surviving episodes of this thriller series…

[helmstone]

Doomwatch TV series coming to Talking Pictures TV

Doomwatch TV series coming to Talking Pictures TV

Back in 1970, Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis created the series Doomwatch for the BBC. It ran for three series, and while I was too young to watch at the time, it had a lot of impact on the British psyche, and one of those shows people watched who didn’t watch science fiction. It’s a good test for my what exactly is science fiction? (#weisf) — it’s what we might now call an eco-drama series, and the…

[raurquiz]

#remembering #shelaghfraser #actress #AuntBeru #starwars #anewhope #AFamilyatWar #MasterofBankdam #TheSonofRobinHood #TheWitches #TillDeathUsDoPart #TheBodyStealers #ATouchofLove #Staircase #TwoGentlemenSharing #Doomwatch #NothingButtheNight #Persecution #HopeandGlory

[culttvblog]

Doomwatch: The Logicians

Spoiler warning: this blog post gives away the conclusion of the episode.

This post is heavily reliant on the much superior post about this episode on the Archive TV Musings blog which can be found here: https://archivetvmusings.blog/2016/05/08/doomwatch-the-logicians/

This episode of Doomwatch is a rollicking tale of public school life in the UK and is very much of the genre where the boys get out of hand and do things like make a nuclear reactor or riot, or something. I LOVE its depiction of the boys stealing a top secret formula from a pharmaceutical conpany where they're lucky enough to have had outings. I love the depiction of the boys planning this using a paper map in the dormitory. I love the way one of the boys gets trapped in the pharmaceutical company's office because the repeat visit on which he was supposed to have been rescued has been cancelled after the theft of the formula. Basically, this episode is the Famous Five force fed a handful of LSD and let loose on an unsuspecting world.

I am stressing the boys' school story aspect because honestly I think this is the best aspect of this show. Unusually for Doomwatch the ethical aspect in question is not to do with the stolen formula, which is for a newly discovered antibiotic, but is, as the title suggests, about the question of logic, which is where the intended theme of the show rather goes off the rails and makes it best to focus on the show as a rollicking school story.

The problem with the logic theme is this. I just cannot believe that the subject of youngsters taught supposedly in a completely logical, scientific way, would be as disturbing to Doomwatch or anyone else as it is supposed to be in the show. Obviously I may be biased since we live in a world where the lack of reason and logic has become epidemic and we could do with far more people operating with simple logic and unemotionally, in my opinion. In addition to the depiction of logic as more concerning than it would be, we also have the problem that the school is run far from logically. Even the boys themselves comment that there is literally nothing in the way of discipline or order, and beyond the computers in the classroom, the school comes across far more like the legendary Summerhill school. The episode also shoots itself in the foot by making out that the boys are being taught by computer, and yet has a scene where they are clearly being taught by a teacher and the computers are doing little more than a multimedia presentation. I must stress that these mammoth contradictions in the show do not mean I don't think you should watch it, it's great.

It turns out that the reason the boys have stolen the formula is for the utterly endearing one that they want the company to pay a ransom to get it back which they will then donate anonymously to the school, which they know has been struggling financially. This is a striking level of loyalty to the school, given that as far as I can see it's a complete shambles, even by the boys' own estimation.

I think this episode could have been improved by focussing on the way both the school and one of the boys' fathers have rather absented themselves from the role of a parent and instead expected the boys to discipline themselves and hand over the role of teacher to the computers. This would still have allowed the episode's focus on a concern about pure logic by contrasting the logic with the parental and teacher's role.

An excellent adventure, though, and one well worth watching.

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[cultfaction]

Preview- Doomwatch (Bluray)

After the waters surrounding the remote island of Balfe become over-polluted by chemical dumps, some of the inhabitants begin to exhibit extreme behavioural and physical changes as they transform into violent and deformed creatures -enter Doomwatch! Directed by Peter Sasdy (Taste the Blood of Dracula, Countess Dracula, Hands of the Ripper) and based on the successful BBC science fiction TV show…

[cinemaquiles]

Metáfora sobre a ignorância em filme que envelheceu mal: A ilha da radiação (1972)

[tenth-sentence]

The first programme depicted animal to human heart transplants, and later episodes were to feature genetic engineering in rats, and a scientist secretly keeping aborted foetuses alive in incubators for his experiments.

"Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture" - Jon Turney

[pynkhues]

You mentioned nickis cruelty, taking them away to Paris to die together and it mighhhht be a stretch but it sort of reminds me of Gabriells cruelty. Of keeping Lestat by her side. What I mean but that is, she could’ve given him those jewels a long time ago but she only does it when she’s about to die. It wasn’t out of being malicious and intentionally trapping him like his father and brothers but Lestat became a lifeline for her, without him she would’ve gone back to being lonely and rotting away. Lestat is a part of her, one that she wanted to keep near even if that meant he would struggle even though she had the means to free him and I think that in itself is a little cruel. Thoughts?

I don't think it's a stretch at all, anon, in fact, I think you're spot on.

I love Gabrielle as a character, but both Lestat's parents are abusive, albeit in different ways (although not entirely). Her emotional withholding when Lestat's a small child is fundamentally neglect, she denies him an education despite being well-educated herself, her enmeshment of identity with him denies him his personhood, and while she never goes out and drags him home like the Marquis does, she holds him as much hostage in that house for many years, like you said, as she has the resources to get him out.

In a lot of ways, it's actually pretty reflective of this throughline with Lestat where people do want to possess him entirely, even those who love him. Nicki wants him dead beside him in Paris, Gabrielle can't let him go until she knows she's dying, the Marquis keeps him under his thumb, Magnus steals him and keeps him in a tower for a week before turning him, Armand wants him under his control and keeps him prisoner in the theatre, Louis wants him dead, he wants him all to himself, and gets both in Dreamstat, and Akasha abducts him to have him too.

It's a really significant part of Lestat's arc, and it's unique in some ways for a male character, but also a lot of it goes back to the fact that Anne is ultimately an author of the Female Gothic. As a subgenre, that is inherently about female anxieties, even if they are depicted by male characters, and entrapment, autonomy and agency are pretty big staples of that. Lestat never really getting to live for himself and being desired to the point where others seek total possession of him - and that being depicted both as something deeply sensual and deeply sinister, depending on the character doing the desiring - is really I think pretty central to the overarching story.

But yes, I do think there's an element of shared cruelty there with Nicki and Gabrielle, which is kind of why it's so interesting too that Gabrielle is so gentle with Nicki. I've mentioned it on here before I think, but I'm forever fascinated that Gabrielle's the one who teaches Nicki how to hunt, given she never teaches Lestat anything at all.

[kwebtv]

Doomwatch - BBC One - February 9, 1970 - August 14, 1972

Science Fiction (38* Episodes)

Running Time: 50 minutes

Stars:

John Paul as Doctor Spencer Quist 

Simon Oates as Doctor John Ridge

Robert Powell as Tobias 'Toby' Wren

Joby Blanshard as Colin Bradley

Wendy Hall as Pat Hunnisett

John Barron as The Minister

Jennifer Wilson as Miss Willis

 Vivien Sherrard as Barbara Mason

John Nolan as Geoff Hardcastle

John Bown as Commander Neil Stafford

Jean Trend as Dr. Fay Chantry

Elizabeth Weaver as Dr Anne Tarrant

Moultrie Kelsall as Drummond

[idrawtoomuch-gw2]

So unless Anet adds an actual Ice-Covered Chest skin and (icy) Hoof Boots Grim is about as complete as he's probably ever going to get.

[culttvblog]

Doomwatch: Public Enemy

High time I blogged about Doomwatch again, since I haven't posted about it for about five years, to my surprise. Briefly to recap the history: Doomwatch (1970 to 1972) was a science fiction show about the titular agency, which investigated various scientific and environmental dangers. The show gained a reputation at the time for being able to predict the future because of its depiction of things which then happened. I hope it played a role in educating the public to the reality that you can predict what will happen and this is only what bookies do on a daily basis.

The premise is that a company called Carlingham Alloys are not managing their chemicals and emissions properly, and this has resulted in a hugely raised death rate from pulmonary disease in the area and a child's death resulting from climbing on the roof of the factory to rescue a ball. The episode represents Doomwatch's investigation into this situation, demanded by the local councillor.

The episode is essentially about a moral quandary, to my mind, although there is a scientific aura given to this debate by the fact that Carlingham are working on a new substance which will revolutionise everything, pretty much. We are therefore already in the familiar 1960s TV territory of the wonders of technology and what happens when these new developments go wrong.

Doomwatch tell Carlingham that they need to get on top of what we would now call Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, and need to take action which will cost more than they are prepared to pay. Carlingham react by announcing that they are therefore going to pull out of Carlingham completely and concentrate all their work in Leicester, which would mean closing essentially the only employer in the town, and this is what causes the moral quandary.

The alderman who demanded Doomwatch's intervention was elected (obviously by the townspeople) on a platform of tidying up the town, and in fact we see residents commenting that it's like the entire environment is poisoned and there is obviously some public opinion that something has to be done.

On the other hand, when Carlingham announce that they are leaving, the employees of the factory of course don't want to lose their jobs or relocate elsewhere and suddenly there is a groundswell of opinion that they would rather chance it and risk that they won't be the ones who get the pulmonary disease. This gives rise to one of those scenes which feel like they occur so frequently in Doomwatch, where the public are up in arms about safety precautions intended for their own safety.

Despite Doomwatch's magical repute for predicting things that were going to happen in the future, I think the series was as good at paying attention to what was going on in the world and presenting issues like this one in a dramatic form that the public would take to. In fact I think this is a very good example of the show presenting these issues. The matter of health and safety must have been in discussion in the UK at this time in preparation for the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974, which unified and simplified a lot of previous regulations for individual industries. This episode must essentially be based on the discussions going on in Westminster and trade journals in the years before that act.

If I have perhaps made it sound a bit didactic, I should stress that the episode doesn't at all feel like a textbook of ethics or health and safety, while still being guaranteed to get you arguing about it if you were the sort of family that discuss the telly as you go along. My personal opinion is that you take a risk by living in an area with really only one employer because if they move or go bust this is exactly the sort of situation that happens, and also that the parent company which decides to close the factory are clearly terrible employers, whose only interest is their own profit and not the health of their employees.

I just have a couple of criticisms: one is that Dr Lewis in the factory is played by Trevor Bannister, an actor who I'm afraid I can never take seriously in a straight role. He is however perfect as the voice of the anti-health and safety brigade. My other criticism is that the show depicts no trade union activity at all in a factory which is such a death trap that it is a caricature, and I wonder whether this is credible for the time.

This episode is a solid example of Doomwatch taking an issue of the day, expounding the issues involved, and plugging in to how things would develop in the near future.

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