Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Children of the Revolution

Before we go on, I've some bad news for fans of British SF. Quatermass creator and writer Nigel Kneale has died. The man who lead the British side of the 1950's science-fiction/fantasy revival died after a series of strokes on Sunday evening. His work not only influenced millions of viewers, but much of 1970's Doctor Who. It's not an exageration to say that most modern day "alien on Earth" stories have a touch of Kneale about them. Even Torchwood in its own small way reads like a classic Quatermass series. Ladies and gentlemen, we've truly lost a master. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

It's a gratifying thought to think that there's a whole legion of new Nigel Kneales out there: people within the television/film industry with a deep love of science-fiction, with enough industry influence to get sci-fi on our screens every week. Infact, many of them are creating the new Doctor Who series! It's great to know then that at last, some of the younger crew members are being given an opportunity to broaden their skills.

BBCi reveals:

"Forget trick or treating or bobbing for apples. If you can get BBC2 Wales on your telly, the only place to be tonight is watching Sacrifice.

Starring Camille (Jackie) Coduri, and written by Doctor Who script editor Simon Winstone, it's a one-off spookfest from members of both the Doctor Who and Torchwood production crews.
There's a dark secret in the village. Will a single mother have the courage to defeat a savage monster, or will she become the sacrifice?


First time director Matt Savage worked with Camille and a host of other Doctor Who and Torchwood staffers to create this horror short for BBC 2W. Shot in a rare week when neither series was filming, it was a big chance for many junior crew members to step up and test their talents as film-makers.

Sacrifice was edited by Ceres Doyle (assistant Editor on Doctor Who) and produced by Brian Minchin (script editor on Torchwood).

Sacrifice starts at 9.45pm on BBC 2W tonight. It's bound to be a bit scary, so might not be suitable for younger fans."

In years to come, these will be the guys and girls in charge of shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood.

As you can probably tell, we're all in good hands...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'd like to know if sacrifice will be shown on normal bbc1 because it sounds really good yet it was only shown in wales

Anonymous said...

I wish BBCi had posted that article earlier in the day... I didn't see it until today, would have liked to have watched it (does the digibox do Wales? I know I have a load of regional variant channels I never look at...) Ah well!

And RIP to Mr Kneale. I've not had much exposure to Quatermass, but liked what I saw!