Season 7 - contemporary sci-fi

[Anthony Williams]

The 1970s were pretty much the "golden age" for British sci-fi, and it wouldn't be until the late 2000s that British-made sci-fi would be so prominent on the small screen again.

As has become our custom, let's take a look at contemporary Sci-Fi from 1970.

On the BBC, we had:

Doomwatch - a collaboration between Gerry Davis and Dr Kit Pedler, which started up during Doctor Who and the Silurians

And that was about it on the BBC. On ITV, there was also:

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - while it didn't start during Season 7 of Doctor Who, its final episodes of its original run were on TV during the early part of Season 7.

Timeslip - a children's sci-fi show dealing with the uses and abuses of sci-fi.

UFO - a Gerry Anderson creation (his first live-action thing), and it ran in September 1970, after Season 7 had finished running.

At this point, American sci-fi was pretty much non-existant on TV.

On the big-screen the following big movies were released:

The Horror of Frankenstein - one of many Hammer Horror productions.
Colossus: The Forbin Project - a giant computer becomes sentient and tries to take over the world (sound familiar?)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes - the second of the Planet of the Apes movies.

What are your favourite pieces of science fiction from 1970? Have I missed anything out? We want to know YOUR thoughts!

[Stephen Morgan]

The 1970s were pretty much the "golden age" for British sci-fi, and it wouldn't be until the late 2000s that British-made sci-fi would be so prominent on the small screen again.

As has become our custom, let's take a look at contemporary Sci-Fi from 1970.

Timeslip - a children's sci-fi show dealing with the uses and abuses of sci-fi.

UFO - a Gerry Anderson creation (his first live-action thing), and it ran in September 1970, after Season 7 had finished running.

I was going to mention those two, they started roughly at the same time and ran concurrently with season 8.
Timeslip is pretty good, the acting is very wooden in parts, but its basic premise and story telling are very good, particularly some of the issues it covers, global warming, cloning etc. ahead of its time you might say.
UFO is excellent, I haven't seen it in many years though, I should maybe indulge in the DVDs.
Ed Bishop as Commander Straker, the white haired leader of SHADO combatting alien invaders, makes this filmed series outstanding and memorable, again, some of the issues covered in the series are ahead of its time. Sci-Fi certainly came of age in 1970.

[Anthony Williams]

I'm going to be honest. Most of these shows, I've never seen. When I have time, I plan on catching some Doomwatch and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - I've heard great things about both.

[Stephen Morgan]

I'm going to be honest. Most of these shows, I've never seen. When I have time, I plan on catching some Doomwatch and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - I've heard great things about both.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) is marvelous, created by Dennis Spooner is a mix of comedy and drama. Kenneth Cope as ghost Marty Hopkirk is just superb while Mike Pratt as Jeff Randall proves a great foil in their comic capers and misunderstandings. Annette Andre, who appears in many ITC series of the times, provides lovely eye candy as Marty's widow.
Doomwatch I don't remember much about, I've seen clips and have two episodes on video,it seems a typical studio based seventies series, but it's a series I'd like to see released on DVD, I just wish the BBC would sort out their rights issues.

[SiHart]

Doomwatch has a great concept, but most of the actual episodes are terribly dull. Worthy, but dull.

Randall and Hopkirk(Deceased) is one of my very favourite ITC shows. Great fun, nice cast and some good stories.

[SiHart]

The best of them all is one that didn't make your list- the first season of Catweazle, with the mighty Geoffrey Bayldon. Excellent stuff, especially the first run.