DOOMWATCH, which debuted on BBC television in February 1970, was one of the boldest and most inventive dramas of its time.
Currently getting a rare re-screening on Talking Pictures TV as part of their Friday night Cellar Club strand, it was an ecologically aware series that tackled scientific threats that could potentially have a devastating impact on the human race.
Thrilling and thought-provoking, Doomwatch pulled in impressive audiences of around 12 million at the time and continues to build a cult reputation that’s up there with the very finest televisual treats of the era.
Its stories of technology going wrong and mankind driving itself to the point of oblivion through blind faith in scientific advancement mean it’s also an oddly prescient production, and many of its themes still resonate powerfully today.
Named after a fictional Department for the Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work, the show tells the tale of a group of individuals who come together to monitor and, if at all possible, control major advances in science and technology.
Read more
For the first series that aired in 1970, the team is led by Dr Spencer Quist (played by lantern-jawed Brit character actor John Paul), a grumpy, middle-aged Nobel Prize winner who refuses to bow down to the pressures from money-grabbing politicians and other interested parties.
Beneath him are fresh-faced researcher Toby Wren (played by future Jesus Of Nazareth Robert Powell) and office lothario Dr John Ridge (Simon Oates in an array of eyeball-burning 70s shirts and multi-coloured cravat). Completing the gang are Joby Blanshard as rough and ready researcher Colin Bradley and Wendy Hall as office secretary Pat Hunnisett.
Many of the plots were rooted in something more akin to science fact rather than fiction and all played out with the kind of earnestness you only get from dramas of that period.
Unfortunately, the fact that it was made by the BBC means that a whole chunk of Doomwatch remains missing and believed wiped thanks to the famous purge on videotape that Auntie undertook in the 1970s.
Sadly, much of what remains is left looking a little cheap and careworn thanks to the minuscule budget that the BBC allocated to such productions at the time.
However, if you can get past the flimsy sets and the sometimes dubious attempts at special effects on show, there is much to love in the series.
If you only watch one episode, make it Tomorrow The Rat, a genuinely disturbing study of a world where the rat population suddenly acquires an insatiable appetite for meat which leads to all kinds of horrific results for the team and possibly mankind in general as well.
There are other memorable episodes, including ones that feature bombs in seaside resorts, drug-induced advertising and outbreaks of rabies, but it’s the rats that really do it for me.
Chilling, intelligent and with plenty to say Doomwatch ran for three successful seasons and even spawned a full movie spin-off
Chilling, intelligent and with plenty to say Doomwatch ran for three successful seasons and even spawned a full movie spin-off in 1972, but it’s the early episodes that really hit home.
Make a date with Talking Pictures TV tonight and experience the magic for yourself.
