The Day of the Triffids (1981 TV series)
| The Day of the Triffids | |
|---|---|
Title card
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| Genre | Drama |
| Based on | The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham |
| Written by | Douglas Livingstone |
| Directed by | Ken Hannam |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | David Maloney |
| Running time | 26 minutes (per episode) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 10 September – 15 October 1981 |
The Day of the Triffids is a British television series which was first aired by the BBC in 1981. An adaptation by Douglas Livingstone of the 1951 novel by John Wyndham, the six half-hour episodes were produced by David Maloney and directed by Ken Hannam, with original music by Christopher Gunning.
It premiered simultaneously in the UK and in Australia on ABC Television.
The series takes place in late 20th century Britain. A spectacular meteorite shower unexpectedly renders most of humanity blind, leading to the breakdown of society literally overnight. Totally unaware of this, Bill Masen (John Duttine) has retained his sight by virtue of being in hospital with his eyes bandaged at the time of the shower.
Bill works on a Triffid farm, where the mobile and carnivorous plants are cultivated for their oil. Prior to the story beginning he was stung by a plant, and even though he was wearing protective clothing, some of the poison gets into his eyes. In the hospital he tentatively removes the bandages himself and gradually discovers the catastrophe around him.
He rescues Josella "Jo" Playton (Emma Relph) from her blind captor and finds that she had slept through the meteorite shower thus keeping her own sight. They eventually come across a small band of similarly lucky survivors who have decided to leave London and establish a community elsewhere to begin rebuilding civilization.
They are initially opposed by sighted Jack Coker (Maurice Colbourne), who wants them to stay in London and help the blind, not abandon them. When the others reject his scheme, he and a few sighted helpers capture some of the group, including Bill and Jo. He assigns each to a different group of the blind. Bill is handcuffed to two of his charges to prevent him leaving them.
Meanwhile, the Triffids get loose and run amok amongst the helpless blind human population, slaughtering and feeding on them. Between the Triffids and a mysterious disease, most of Bill's group eventually die; the rest scatter. Bill starts searching for Jo, and teams up with Jack, who admits his plan did not work as he had hoped.
They drive through the English countryside and encounter part of the group that had left London. The group had split after a disagreement over morality: the ones who stayed behind, led by Miss Durrant (Perlita Neilson), refused to accept that polygamy would be necessary to repopulate the world. After more fruitless searching, Jack decides to return to Miss Durrant's community.
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