THE history of British telefantasy is littered with examples of television series that have been treated atrociously by the BBC. From Dr Who down the Corporation has wiped tapes, lost episodes and generally mismanaged some of its finest product since the 1960s. In this seemingly bottomless pit of archive incompetence where there are endless examples of great, ground-breaking telly that’s been mislaid down the decades Doomwatch makes for a particularly depressing case study.
A thought-provoking ecologically aware science-fiction series that tracked the adventures of a team of investigators who deal with potential global disasters, it was years ahead of its time. Running for 39 episodes between 1970 and 72, it made cast members like Robert Powell, John Paul and Simon Oates proper TV stars and pulled in almost 15 million viewers at its peak. That didn’t stop the Beeb cancelling the show before it reached its third series and destroying or losing 16 of the episodes down the years.
Such was the show’s impact at the time that a big screen adaptation was commissioned in 1972, and while the cinema version lacks the strange magic of the series that spawned it, at least it gives us an idea of just how different Doomwatch was.
Watching the movie today, in a fresh high-definition transfer from Screenbound Entertainment is an odd experience.
The first thing to note is that while the horror elements are all there, this is a film that couldn’t be further removed from the early 70s horror boom. It’s released by Tigon films (who gave us such bloodthirsty delights as Witchfinder General and Blood On Satan’s Claw) and directed by Hammer veteran Peter Sasdy (whose CV included Countess Dracula and Hands Of The Ripper) but this is a slow burning sci-fi concept that is low on thrills but big on mood.
Stars of the TV series are used sparingly early on but for this story the lead role is taken by Scottish actor Ian Bannen. He plays biologist Dr Del Shaw who is sent to a remote island to see how a recent oil spill has affected local bird life. What he finds though is an unwelcoming human community harbouring a grim secret. Realising there’s something genetically wrong with them, Shaw himself comes under threat and he must find out why the locals are living in fear before it’s too late.
There’s a fine, mature script from Clive Exton and Sasdy knows how to build the tension without resorting to cheap shock tactics. To beef the plot out to film length there’s a role for 70s glamourpuss Judy Geeson and a fairly needless supplementary tale of a secretive military officer played by George Sanders, who would sadly take his own life a few months later.
The end result is a slow moving but interesting study of how ecological issues and the matter of what we pump into our seas affects our communities and quality of life. As an adult thriller, it sticks in the mind and works in its own right but as a reminder of how ground breaking that almost-forgotten original TV series really was, it’s particularly poignant.
