agentorange [Cathode Ray Mission 11.27.08] post apocalyptic news



Great news for fans of John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic book Day of the Triffids today! BBC Vision director Jana Bennett announced that, in the wake of their success with Survivors, the BBC 1 will be producing a new Day of the Triffids for broadcast in 2009. The announcement was made at the Media Festival in Manchester today.

This classic sf novel traces the fate of the world after a comet shower blinds most of the world's population. The few with sight must struggle to reconstruct society while fighting mobile, flesh-eating plants called triffids.


The new project will consist of two 90-minute features, scripted by Patrick Harbinson (ER, Wire in Blood, Dark Angel).

There have been a number of adaptations of The Day of the Triffids made by the BBC before. They made versions for radio in 1953, 1957 and 1968 while BBC tv followed with productions in 1971, 1973, 1980 and 1981. However, according to Bennet; "The new series will be a combination of the familiar and the new" and will apparently be a 5 minutes in the future affair taking place in 2011 "when the hunt is on for alternative sources of energy after the planet’s fossil fuels dry up". My only request to the BBC would be to please not have the Triffids come down in the meteor shower!! The best part about the novel is the fact that the Triffids just exist in the world.

Thanks to Quiet Earth reader Frankieinstein for passing along the news.

zenseeker (3 years ago) Reply

So, all the worlds oil will run out in 2 years? Is that really likely?

agentorange (3 years ago) Reply

Umm, don't follow. Triffids doesn't have anything to do with the world losing oil but rather mass blindness... or am I missing something?

xlordsummerislex (3 years ago) Reply

I re-read the book recently, the triffids themselves would loan themselves to some kind of GM gone wrong sceanrio fairly easily.
The 80s serious still holds up too, wish they'd lay off the re-makes and try some original series for a change!

Paul (3 years ago) Reply

"The 80s serious still holds up too, wish they'd lay off the re-makes and try some original series for a change!"

I have to agree with xlordsummerislex. The Survivors remake has been a disappointment so far and I fear that the Triffids remake is going to be glossy and glib.

Also, did the BBC really remake the same series four times in ten years? I remember the 1981 series but, for the rest, I suspect that someone at the Guardian needs to be a bit more careful about their fact checking.

Cyberhal (3 years ago) Reply

from what i recall of the book, the Triffids were bred to be some kind of bio fuel, isn't that right

rek (3 years ago) Reply

In the book, Triffid oil replaces vegetable oil, whale oils, peanut oil, etc.

Anonymous (3 years ago) Reply

Oh god another remake. Science fiction is about new Ideas. get some please.

BBC = OAP

soma (3 years ago) Reply

we're good at comedy. but the UK can't do one thing and that's make good dramas for tv. Especially the BBC.

We should leave that for the Yanks

Anonymous (3 years ago) Reply

Cracker, Doctor Who, Prime suspect, The Naked Civil servant, I Claudius, Brideshead Revisited, Dennis Potter, Life on mars... I mean I could go on. All the BBC (and other UK drama have to do is take Genre TV seriously. The Americans may be attempting to remake a lot of our shows, but you can bet that all of the successful programs had to survive a fair bit of interference and executive incompetence. Then again, I suppose thats TV in general...

Anonymous (3 years ago) Reply

I don't have a problem with this remake. The original movie wasn't very good and had very little to do with the book. The mini-series was okay but the rubber plant limited the scare factor. Hopefully, with CGI, a decent script, and good actors this great book will finally get the presentation it deserves. As to the BBC being unable to create good dramas that's a ridiculous assertion as the previous commenter more than aptly pointed out.

Anonymous (2 years ago) Reply

IMDB ... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1332653/
BBC PRESS ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/11/triffids.shtml

Anonymous (2 years ago) Reply

Regardless this is my favorite movie and book. I remember as a child reading it and seeing the very campy american version in 1962. I was awestuck. I am waiting for this remake and would love to see it. Brits by the way make the best mystery and dramas in my opinion. I and my partners are always watch and discuss this at the video store.

Anonymous (2 years ago) Reply

'Cracker, Doctor Who, Prime suspect, The Naked Civil servant, I Claudius, Brideshead Revisited, Dennis Potter, Life on mars... I mean I could go on. All the BBC'
Err Cracker and Prime Suspect were both ITV

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