The Day of the Triffids

A vivid adaptation of John Wyndham's classic novel. Nearly everyone in the world has been blinded, and humanity is at the mercy of the triffids, a genetically engineered breed of carniverous plants. The last time this was shown on television was back in 1987, when I was in Grade 6. I taped each episode and watched the serial so many times I knew the script off by heart. Regrettably, it was taped over a few years ago. I enjoyed the programme so much I read the novel, which I still have (in fact I have two copies), and I've also collected John Wyndham's other books. "The Day of the Triffids" was the first story that got me thinking about the end of civilisation. For once television can't be blamed as a medium that stops people reading.

When I was seven years old, Day of the Triffids scared me so much that my parents sent me to bed early, and banned me from watching later episodes. With a lifetime of memories of a few images, I was stunned to find the show rerun on British satellite telly, and nervous about watching it again.

As so many have commented here, the joy of DOTD is its concentration on the breakdown of society. With humanity rendered blind, there are some nasty images here: a starving woman struggling to open a box, unable to see that it's washing powder; another woman struggling to get into a tin of coffee; a crowd of blind people surrounding a car, desperate to grab hold of the sighted people inside it. Nasty, unsettling, realistic stuff.

The Triffids are kept to a minimum, and wisely so, as their appearance is a bit early-80s-BBC. They look a bit plastic. Careful camerawork highlighting their roots, shadows, lethal stinging "tongues"; and the eerie Triffid soundeffect, are supremely effective in keeping the horror of death by walking vegetable on the edge of screen throughout. With horrendous disease sweeping the land, a dictatorial self-imposed government planning to seize control, the breakdown of modern society is uncomfortably close. The first meeting of the group Bill meets up with, explaining that "women will be expected to have babies, men will be expected to work", could be real.

A few scary Triffid moments, and a lot of very believable "what if" issues ensure that DOTD is as special now as it was when I was sent to bed early, and woke with nightmares, all those years ago.

Imagine my surprise one day in 1990 when I turned on Arts & Entertainment Network expecting to see the 1963 movie "The Day Of The Triffids." Rather surprised it would turn up on A&E, I still was thankful for the bit of luck. Never would I have guessed it wasn't "The Day Of The Triffids" I knew.

While I still like the generic monster movie version, this apparently made for TV adaptation is much more faithful to the novel. The movie is forced to sacrifice a lot of the human commentary in exchange for a resolved ending. This TV version keeps the focus on the character interaction, and, through their reaction, commentary on society. As with so many British TV shows, "Day Of The Triffids'" few faults are monetary.

Near as I can tell, in the United States, there were very few chances to see this production, which is a real shame. As, also, I have yet to hear of it ever being released on home video formats. A&E seemed to be the only outlet. And, I only know of 3 times it aired. Once in 1990, and twice again in 1991, which was when I taped it, and, I'm glad as I did, as I've yet to see it air anymore. However, A&E's broadcast quality was terrible at that time, notoriously dropping out signal. Plus, A&E always ran it over the course of 2 separate days, never advertising when the next part would be broadcast, and, the next part wasn't always in a logical fashion. One time, they showed it over two consecutive weekdays, once over a Saturday and Sunday weekend, and once Part 1 one Saturday and Part 2 the next Saturday. So, some company needs to release this rare gem, hopefully on DVD.

I'd wanted to see this BBC version of DOTT ever since I read about it in a sci-fi magazine. I first saw it on TV a few years ago. I recently bought the DVD and the series remains as great as ever. The three main performances of John Duttine, Maurice Colbourne and Emma Relph are very good and they are helped by a great supporting cast. Thwe Triffids themselves do look a bit plastic but they were realised brilliantly. The music by Christopher Gunning compliments the story very well.

The Triffids themselves are meant to be a secondary threat as the main problem is the breakdown of society as most of the populace is rendered blind. The hysteria is shown in full detail and the writer adds a nice conspiracy theory in the final episode. I'm glad that the series is now available on DVD for a new audience to see. Having read bits of the book I can tell that the adaptation is very faithful. I strongly recommend DOTT to sci-fi fans everywhere.

This is the best ever version of this famous science fiction novel. Even the choice of John Duttine as Bill Masen is very close to how I imagined him to look like. An average 36 year old man, who is lying in hospital, with his eyes bandaged up. This was the result of a Triffid sting. In the 1962 film, we do not find out why Bill Masen has this treatment! The triffids themselves are spot on! in detail and you see the sting lash out about 10 feet long.That is how John Wyndham describes them. So the BBC and Douglas Livingstone ,got this spot on! and we see Bill Masen as a child experiencing his first Triffid in his back garden. This DVD that I now have, has been eagerly awaited by myself. The opening music, is composed and conducted by Christopher Gunning. and is very stirring. every part of the dialogue was also as spoken in the book, (Yes I have read the book) and I know just how the story should unfold on the screen. It is a pity that widescreen TV's did not exist in 1981! as this would of been a great widescreen production. This series was in 6 parts by the way. You get a collector's booklet and all 6 parts on the DVD! Number BBC DVD 1152!