is there a name or a phrase for or anything much written about that distinctly British CREEPY VIBE prevalent in TV shows and movies of the '60s/'70s? (e.g. The Prisoner, Sapphire and Steel, Baker-era

I treated myself to a couple of 80s kids shows that are minor players in this/Scarred For Life scene in the recent Network sale.

King of the Castle is very Baker & Martin, with a surreal version of a boy's life after moving to a tower block where there are bullies and the workshy nature of his jazz musician dad jars against his 'ideas above his station' (which seem to amount to singing in a choir), all played out in a broken lift shaft and/or medieval tower. Talfryn Thomas and Milton Jones as the main players should tell you a lot about it.

Raven is bang in this territory, or Alan Garner land, with Phil Daniels as someone who may or may not be King Arthur reborn investigating and trying to stop nuclear waste being dumped in a cave system mapped to the zodiac while letching after Debbie Out Of EastEnders. It's definitely missing something, hence the relative obscurity, but worth the limited runtime.

The Clifton House Mystery, I hate to say, doesn't actually have that much going for it except when Peter Sallies turns up. For fans of This Sort Of Thing it's utterly predictable - and fails to go The House That Bled To Death when given the opportunity, probably because of being screened in the middle of the afternoon. The girl of the children is sidelined in favour of briefcase wanker Justin Bennett Out Of Grange Hill but most annoying of all THE HOUSE IS CLEARLY IN HOTWELLS AND NOT CLIFTON.

Into The Labyrinth was the most fun of all though, at least for the first two seasons with Ron Moody - although the third lets the wonderful Pamela Salem chew the scenery without competition. A sort of Quantum Leap performed as a pantomime, the kids go on a fetch quest while the adults dress up in period costumes and Rep-approved regional accents as they pretend to be ignorant of the plot. There's a genuinely amazing episode where Moody is Holmes and Salem is an 'actress' in Victorian London that's more camp than Duncan Norvelle slap fighting with Charlie Hawtrey. I'm not convinced it's for everyone though...

i am still haunted by a barely remembered scene from King of the Castle which i can't elaborate on right now probly cos it's Friday pub time but there's a weird incestual scene that burned into my head at time of broadcast, couldn't even remember what the show was called for decades after

There was a sampling platter of these shows on my DVD of Children Of The Stones. Months later I saw a kid proclaim themselves king of the castle and was like "oh fuck they're still at it".

https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/the-magic-box-viewing-britain-through-the-rectangular-window/

From the author of Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music comes a riveting journey into the psyche of Britain through its golden age of television and film.

Growing up in the 1970s, Rob Young’s main storyteller was the wooden box with the glass window in the corner of the family living room, otherwise known as the TV set. Before the age of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, YouTube and commercial streaming services, watching television was a vastly different experience. You switched on, you sat back and you watched. There was no pause or fast-forward button.

The cross-genre feast of moving pictures produced in Britain between the late 1950s and late 1980s – from Quatermass and Tom Jones to The Wicker Man and Brideshead Revisited, from A Canterbury Tale and The Go-Between to Bagpuss and Children of the Stones, and from John Betjeman’s travelogues to ghost stories at Christmas – contributed to a national conversation and collective memory. British-made sci-fi, folk horror, period drama and televisual grand tours played out tensions between the past and the present, dramatised the fractures and injustices in society and acted as a portal for magical and ghostly visions.

Dunno, I'm going to be overly skeptical from the start and say I've read a lot of these (not least Johnny Mains' excellent Scarred For Life). It's bait for me so I'll probably still get it but..

A Canterbury Tale is 1944-ish so maybe somebody could've done some research

Hopefully book is more accurate than blurb.

I had ordered and just received Scarred for Life volumes 1 & 2, and...dear god, I somehow failed to notice the page count on these things. They're massive! Something like 1300 pages between the two of them? I'll be exploring their riches for some time to come.

Also vol 2 is part 1 of vol 2, he realised there was too much for one volume.

Do not go on Network dvd after reading the TV sections, especially when they have a sale on.

I've been hip-deep in the first book for weeks now. Soooo many public information films watched, soooo many shows added to the must-see list.

I just tonight found an American analogue that ticks many of the boxes and must've absolutely traumatized a lot of '70s youngsters on our end of the ocean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWN3tSsgF8

(I've watched a lot of In Search Of and it's mostly very dated and mildly ooky cheese but this is a rare instance where they likely succeeded in freaking young viewers out.)

I only had vague memories so it took me a while to find, but it seems the 70s version of The Phoenix and the Carpet was verily terrifying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kECGc79rek

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Factor

starts on Forces TV (ch96) on monday. i don't remember anything about it, only that it gets recommended on amazon when you buy things like tomorrow people and children of the stones.

i remember being v into it as a kid and i think i read the novelization at least once, i never remember to tune in to Forces TV consistently tho

Been watching all of the Quatermass TV series with a friend, just finished the last season, and jeeeesus. So much better than the Hammer films. That last one is a fantastic blend of apocalyptic dystopia, sci-fi and folk horror, and surprisingly bleak.

that last one is one of my v favourites. but yes, an incredible set of tv series.

Do you mean the last one made in the late 70s? Not seen it but always been curious about that one.

Yep, Quatermass IV. It is brilliant, I highly recommend it.

(with added toyah)

Is that only on DVD? I see that some of the episodes are on YouTube

It was on my old Netflix DVD queue for several years, but never materialized

it is also, for any fall fans, where the LAY LAY LAY LAY intro to Lay of the Land comes from.

i think it may be my favourite of the quatermass series too. brings together a lot of pastoral and science fiction elements. also has simon maccorkindale bawling all his lines at point blank range to his interlocutors ofc.

There's a Region B Blu-Ray of Quatermass IV that includes the chopped down 'TV movie' version:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47546/the-listeners

I'm coming down to London in a couple of weeks for this Nigel Kneale centenary celebration:

https://www.nigelknealecentenary.com/

heh - wrong link!

https://networkonair.com/all-products/2248-quatermass-blu-ray-pre-buy

Yeah I scored that blu at a second hand store recently - but was assuming Andy meant "DVD only" as in "not streaming anywhere".

I watched Quatermass and the Pit yesterday (the original serial). I knew the bit about finding the insectoids in the ship but I thought that was the climax of the whole thing, not the cliffhanger of the middle episode - possibly I watched that episode when it was shown by itself in 1986 - so that was a surprise. The top brass being the bad guys was also unexpected.

Started on IV and wow this is a different thing altogether, heavy Riddley Walker vibes - a book I found hugely depressing.

The initial entry into the Academy might be the hardest part? Or at least the most chaotic (that outdoor area with all the skeletons and dogs).

There's a Region B Blu-Ray of Quatermass IV that includes the chopped down 'TV movie' version:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47546/the-listeners🕸

I'm coming down to London in a couple of weeks for this Nigel Kneale centenary celebration:

https://www.nigelknealecentenary.com🕸/

There's a Region B Blu-Ray of Quatermass IV that includes the chopped down 'TV movie' version:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47546/the-listeners🕸

I'm coming down to London in a couple of weeks for this Nigel Kneale centenary celebration:

https://www.nigelknealecentenary.com🕸/

This YT channel is a good little resource for obscure TV from past decades, found some mad Canadian sci-fi series with Kier Dullea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCk78MjZcIF

Okay fuckit, it's called - 50's Sleaze, 60's Ease & 70's Cheese From London

That's a shame Fizzles, would've been v cool to see you there. You don't mention The Stone Tape in your note, which is possibly my favourite because it really does foreground folk tradition v modern technology so well, and Jane Asher being there to introduce it on the Saturday was enough to sell me a ticket.

BFI are just about to reissue his 1984 adaptation on disc:

https://shop.bfi.org.uk/nineteen-eighty-four-dual-format-edition.html

And I keep meaning to pick up The Crunch disc from Network, which rounds up three different one-offs:

https://networkonair.com/features/2019/10/31/lesser-known-nigel-kneale/

It occurred to me today that Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End (1953) has a couple of elements seen in Quatermasses Pit & IV - racial memory of demonic looking aliens, and a kind of alien induced mass hypnosis of children.

Also was surprised to see the figure in The Pit with sixfold symmetry (sevenfold in the film) described as a pentacle - then was delighted to learn (via Wikipedia) that traditionally a pentacle can be any kind of magical symbol and is probably etymologically related to pendant (and [pit and the] pendulum!) , not greek penta/5.

I was going to say 'The Crunch is excellent although you probably don't need' then reminding myself what's on it I remembered all three are great in their own way. The Gentlemen's club one is the most predictable, the gentrification one the most contrived but they're all very watchable.

The Stone Tape is probably my favourite Kneale and The Witches is his best adaptation.

Is that only on DVD? I see that some of the episodes are on YouTube

Quatermass IV is easily findable on archive.org, as is Quatermass and the Pit. Otherwise finding some of this stuff to stream, legally or otherwise, is annoyingly difficult, I would have thought that some of the ones released on DVD in the last few years (Penda's Fen, Robin Redbreast) might be available somewhere but apparently not.

The Stone Tape is of course also a parable about the superiority of physical media.

Ha! Maybe he was bitter at the loss of the first Quatermass serial.

One final Quatermass IV thing - watch out for a poor extra getting seriously knocked over by the van when they try to escape the stone circle in Ep 1, 47 minutes in.

_Is that only on DVD? I see that some of the episodes are on YouTube_

Quatermass IV is easily findable on archive.org, as is Quatermass and the Pit. Otherwise finding some of this stuff to stream, legally or otherwise, is annoyingly difficult, I would have thought that some of the ones released on DVD in the last few years (Penda's Fen, Robin Redbreast) might be available somewhere but apparently not.

And I think Artemis 81 is available in its entirety on youtube? yep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rn7LmYfiD8

Ah right, I did look on the BFI site - definitely not available there - and I tried to look on Amazon but for some reason it's not easy to search these things if you're not signed up. Penda's Fen may be available on Britbox via Amazon but I couldn't confirm this either.

it does puzzle me that they think people will sign up before they can see what they're signing up for.

i can only find britbox US links, nothing in the UK. as you said it was reissued a couple of years ago, i think mine was £5 from fopp. (just don't ask me where it is)

pendas fen isn’t available there afaict. odd about robin redbreast, it comes up when i search but… i’m not sure if it’s *actually* via the BFI catalogue or just a general “available to buy” thing.

anyway still amazes me how patchily available a lot of these things are.

and yes, got The Stone Tape on dvd - it’s v strong in terms of the themes, though for some reason it didn’t quite do it for me overall. maybe a rewatch is due.

that last bit a belated response to ward fowler!

The Stone Tape is verrry hammy in places, more so than the usual amount of charming ham you get with most of these pieces. But the good bits make it incredibly special, imo.

I was looking at a blog that focuses on this kind of thing but with a broader remit - http://www.wyrdbritain.co.uk/ - and found two shows I'd never heard of before: Leap in the Dark (BBC) and Shades of Darkness (ITV), the former featuring Russell Hoban and Alan Garner as writers, the latter dramatising classic tales and probably more straightforwardly supernatural than the stuff in this thread. Perhaps forgotten for good reason, certainly I'm not particularly keen to give them a go, but maybe of interest to others here.

Hoban and Garner??? OK, am intrigued.

Here's a more helpful link: http://www.wyrdbritain.co.uk/search/label/Leap%20in%20the%20Dark

the Hoban and Garner episodes are on youtube

Artemis 81, um, not for me. Far far too deeply embedded in its niche, too ponderous and obscure and too much unsaid for my liking - of course what is left unsaid can be a major aspect of this genre and what can seem to one person vague or empty can to another seem loaded with implicit or potential meaning. I did lol when i was wondering what, if anything, it all meant, and Harlax said "a story is a sequence of fictitious events! how can it mean?" - and then Gwen proceeded on a long expository speech explaining precisely what it meant - well, one aspect of it anyway.

The strange city probably the best bit, though unfortunately too dark in the youtube version. Reminiscent of Lanark I think, though it's a long time since I read that. Note that if you do watch the youtube version, there's a somewhat important scene missing at 1:54, which can be found on another full version on youtube in even worse quality.)

I watched the first half of Artemis 81 at original broadcast but it annoyed the fuck out of my dad, o got sent to bed and I've never watched the second half

I mean he was probably otm but this is my memory

quatermass xperiment on tptv tonight

i liked artemis 81 but it is ponderous af. the simultaneous suicides is a good sinister opening, and the alternate city also good. there are many laboured bits and im not sure it really makes any sense but the whole thing seems so wild as a thing to get from mind to screen im delighted it exists.

Yes, any air of mystery it has for me is nothing to do with the content and all to do with "how did this ever get made?", and though I didn't particularly enjoy it I don't mean that at all disparagingly.

When I get back from hols I'll start on the other Nigel Kneales on youtube, and see about getting hold of Robin Redbreast, and Penda's Fen for a second viewing.