The Omega Factor

This is an excellent TV series that clearly inspired The X-Files with its secret government paranormal unit, claustrophobic atmosphere of distrust, sexual tension between the male and female leads, and clandestine testing by the military on the unfortunate public. There's even a gifted boy who becomes a pawn and potential weapon, a la Gibson Praise. Although episodic in nature, across the series there are allusions to a higher authority within government, the shadowy Omega group, and with each episode the plot thickens. It's all delivered with a sort of downtrodden gloom that only BBC Scotland can deliver and feels distinctly British, with echoes of spy thrillers and Hammer horrors resonating through the screen.

Naturally, some episodes are stronger than others as Tom Crane investigates various paranormal goings-on, but they are mostly pretty gripping and I was completely absorbed by the overarching story, ripping through the whole series in a few days. Unlike The X-Files, it is all brought to a dramatic, logical and satisfying conclusion in the final episode, with the writers also opening further doors on an even greater conspiracy. The fact that no second series was made is a huge disappointment.

I've only just recently been able to prize the tremulous fingers away from my fear blanched boat-race after watching show runner George Gallaccio's anxiety-inducing, pioneering small screen spook show 'The Omega Factor' again, which actively remains some propah old school creepy telly, mayte! This has the kind of insidious 'creeps-under-the-skin', 70s freak-beard weirdness you just don't see manifested today! And our handsome proletariat hero Tom Crane (James Hazledean) still remains one of my favourite truth-seeking TV psychic protagonists! And the delectably lithe, foofy-haired Crane is ably assisted in his increasingly dark conspiratorial travails by the deliciously dynamic, no less aesthetically appealing scientist Annie Reynolds (Louise Jameson), whose radiant beauty is readily matched by her inquisitive, equally luminous mind!

The Omega Factor's starkly beauteous, majestically moody Edinburgh setting adds a grim, palpably ominous veneer of inclement atmospheric despair, with its dizzyingly eclectic, mind-warpingly wicked terror tales of morbid body snatching, malign government conspiracies, demoniacal displays of terrifying telekinesis, macabre black magic rituals, weird flights of astral projection, deadly duplicity, Machiavellian brainwashing, and old fashioned, black-handed murder! The persistently paranoid, oppressively sinister series that dared to venture far beyond the nebulous veil of reality and eerily expose mad, disturbingly alien, nightmarishly vivid vistas to terminally quake the stoutest heart, unhinge the most resolute of minds, 'The Omega Factor' may even have those fearless, fright-loving boys and girls of all ages anxiously peeking into the dusty voids under the bed before lights out! Don't say I didn't warn you!!!!!!!!!

I never saw this before until I purchased the DVD recently. Very interesting, even more so for seeing the combination of Louise Jameson AKA Leela from Doctor Who, teamed up with what to me is a Tom Baker lookalike, and the fact that his name in this series is _Tom_, seemed kind of funny. Rather like watching an alternative version of Dr Who and Leela, OK, it was maybe mainly the character Tom Crane's hair that made me think of Tom Baker, but I can't believe I'm the only one to have noticed a similarity, and maybe it's just me, but I think the similarity is more than just his hair, his face too bore a look of Tom Baker to a certain degree. Anyhow, that bit of trivia out of the way, I really enjoyed the series for the story too, very thought provoking with it's tales of mind control and secret organisations and not knowing who to trust. A shame they never made another series. Apparently another one looked likely, but the rumour is that Mary Whitehouse and her listener's association complained, (she did the same with Doctor Who, "The Deadly Assassin" story mainly, maybe she had an aversion to curly haired men! Or Tom Baker and any lookalike! LOL) and the series had loose ends that would maybe have been dealt with in a second series. How Mary Whitehouse came to have so much sway over what got shown on TV, is anyone's guess, but Doctor Who had to be 'toned down' on her say so, cuz the makers got fed up with her complaining about it. Nice to see these much loved series getting DVD releases now, this one, along with the Saphire and Steel series, and the complete set of "Timeslip", and now the Armchair Thrillers being put out on DVD too, have been well worth waiting for and praise be to whoever is responsible for them seeing the light of day now.

A man with psychic powers is recruited by a secret department devoted to the rum and uncanny. Good fun and very atmospheric and creepy at times. The first main villain is described as 'The man Crowley refused to meet... just in case.' I wonder if the spooky recurring symbol motif from 'Watchmen' was unconsciously borrowed from the very similar one in the early episodes of this?

In some ways it was ahead of its time and it's a shame a second series wasn't made. Re the other reviewer who suggests Mary Whitehouse put the kybosh on it - this seems unlikely as I found an interview with Louise Jameson online where she says that whenever Whitehouse attacked the show everyone involved was delighted as the ratings would go up.

Saw this when it was first broadcast (when I was 12) and I found it truly disturbing. I don't think the BBC ever repeated this but it was a show which has lingered in my memory ever since. It built up quite nicely and the use of urban locations added a certain realism to the whole proceedings.

The story revolved around investigations into a number of paranormal incidents which are eventually revealed as part of a satisfying over-arching conspiracy - with a lot more plot coherence than, say, the X files or Millennium.

I would be very interested in getting this on DVD - even if it was only to compare the reality to my hazy memories.