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A Quiet and Dreadful Terror
This much superior 1981 television adaptation of John Wyndham's novel has always been well remembered,
and justifiably so. To start off with this version of Wyndham's 1951 classic sci-fi novel is far more faithful to the
book than the absolutely terrible 1962 film version. The world wakes up blind, with a few sighted survivors left
to work out a future for humanity, and see off the threat posed by the flesh devouring Triffids
John Wyndham's deeply humanistic stories were a popular choice for television in the 1980s. ITV developed Chockey in
1984, and three years earlier the BBC turned in this successful six-part adaptaion of The Day of the Triffids.
Wyndham's
classic tale of evil plants taking over the world, as we have said had been filmed before, as a melodramatic mess of
a film in 1962. The TV version was more low-key, almost sober in its approach, bringing out the author's main theme of
mankind's response to a holocaust. So now you know, and we here at Timeslip recommend you read the book first and then track
down the BBC production.
Production.
Production Companies:
Australian Broadcasting Complany/ BBC/ RCTV inc.
Producer:
David Maloney
Director:
Ken Hannam
Script:
Douglas Livingstone
adapted from the novel by John Wyndham
CAST
Episode One: 10 September 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Jonathan
Newth [Dr Soames]
Ian Halliburton [Grant]
Steven Jonas [young Bill]
Edmund Pegge [Walter]
Robert Robertson [Palanguez]
Keith
Alexander [newsreel voice]
Cleo Sylvestre [nurse]
Morgan Sheppard [Bill's father]
Episode Two: 17 September 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Jonathan
Newth [Dr Soames]
Stephen Yardley [John]
Emma Relph [Jo Payton]
Chris Gannon [patient]
Bonita Beach [blind woman]
Alan
Helm [blind man]
Max Faulkner [Jo's attacker]
Caroline Fabbri [Tina]
Christina Schofield [Shirley]
Albie Woodington
[gang leader]
Andrew Paul, Mario Renzullo [gang members]
Susie Fenwick [blind girl]
Lindsey Moore [singer - uncredited]
Elizabeth
Chambers, Morris Barry, Bernie Searle [car attackers]
Episode Three: 24 September 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Emma
Relph [Jo Payton]
Maurice Colbourne [Jack Coker]
David Swift [Beadley]
Desmond Cullum-Jones [Tom]
Beryl Nesbitt
[Tom's wife]
Donald Pelmear [university gateman]
Andrea Miller [Dr Vorless]
Elizabeth Chambers, Morris Barry, Bernie
Searle [car attackers]
Denis De Marne [Major Anderson]
Episode Four: 1 October 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Maurice
Colbourne [Jack Coker]
John Hollis [Alf]
John Benfield [Ted]
Eva Griffiths [teenage girl]
Jean Perkins [hotel manageress]
Jon Rumney
[manager]
Terry Andrews [Frank - uncredited]
Gary Olsen [red-haired man]
Sally Lahee [woman in street]
Gordon
Case [dying man]
Episode Five: 8 October 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Perlita
Nielsen [Miss Durrant]
Christopher Owen [vicar]
Emma Relph [Jo Payton]
Jenny Lipman [Mary Brent]
Emily Dean [Susan]
Desmond
Adams [Dennis Brent]
Maurice Colbourne [Jack Coker]
Season Six: 15 October 1981
John Duttine [Bill Masen]
Emma
Relph [Jo Payton]
Lorna Charles [Susan]
Denis Gilmore [David]
Claire Ballard [Alice]
Jenny Lipman [Mary Brent]
Desmond
Adams [Dennis Brent]
Gary Olsen [Torrence]
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from The Day of The Triffids
by John Wyndham
" I whipped round to find a triffid towering
only a few feet behind me. In one automatic movement I had my hands over my eyes. I heard the sting whistle as it slashed
out at me -- but there was no knockout, no agonizing burning, even. One´s mind can move like lightning at such a moment; nevertheless,
it was more instinct than reason which sent me leaping at it before it had time to strike again. I collided with it, overturning
it, and even as I went down with it my hands were on the upper part of the stem, trying to pull off the cup and the sting.
Triffid stems do not snap -- but they can be mangled. This one was mangled thoroughly before I stood up."
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Number of Episodes: 6
Based on the novel by: John Wyndham
Date(s) of Broadcast:
10 September 1981 - 15 October 1981
TV Channel: BBC 1
Related Links
The Day of the Triffids
a review of the BBC
television series
this page from
International Carnivorous Plants
Society
a review of the novel.
the webpage at
screenonline
with film clips
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