The Invisible Man

It's been over 40 years since I've read the novel by wells, but as adaptations go this is very faithful, with the Universal 1933 classic being perhaps the only other version that I've reasonably enjoyed. The rest of the Universal series and the many TV movies and series have always, for me, been simple adventures that use the invisibility theme as a means of inventing generally poor story lines.

What I enjoyed about this BBC serial is that the invisibility plays almost second fiddle to the drama as it unfolds. It's only during the later episodes that they are very cleverly, and mostly successfully, inserted into the ensuing drama. Finally let me add that Lila Kaye, as the pub landlady, gives Una O'Connor a good run for her money in the hysterics department.

Atmospheric, scary little series brings the Invisible Man into the modern era through Donaghy's revision as the scientist who discovers the secret to transparency, then loses the ability to reverse the procedure. The series is devoted to his desperate attempts to identify a cure, before his mind deteriorates. Donaghy spends the series cloaked in a trench-coat, hat and bandaged face, his voice the only clue to his identity.

This series ran on the ABC in Australia in the mid eighties and while the staging was a little claustrophobic by virtue of the theatre like set design, the music was haunting and the tone was always tense and nightmarish. While it only lasted a dozen or so episodes, the ending was both fitting in resolving Donaghy's affliction, and equally, somewhat shocking in deciding his fate. Not the upbeat climax some might expect, yet appropriate of the rather dark mood that prevailed. Brief but memorable and worth a look.

Good adaptation from the book, perhaps the most faithful to H.G. Wells.