Beasts

I agree with zoothorn's review to the extent that 'Baby' is, by some distance, the scariest and most disturbing of the six and 'Murrain'– kind of a Straw Dogs/Wicker Man hybrid with Jarvis Cocker as a grumpy James Herriott – is the most satisfying dramatically. Probably not uncoincidentally, these episodes also have the most location filming.

However, I don't believe this is grounds to entirely dismiss the other episodes in the series. 'The Dummy' is, I think, a successful blend of satire and horror (although with Hammer and the rest of the British film industry on its last legs in 1976 it must have seemed a bit belated). Special Offer has the great premise of Carrie transferred to a tacky British supermarket. Also a fine central performance from an unfeasibly young Pauline Quirke and, despite ATV's limited budgets, very effective FX – no shoestring in evidence anywhere in fact.

On the other hand, 'What Big Eyes' ends up rather short changing the viewer and, despite its skillful escalation of tension,'Barty's Party' has been, I agree, somewhat overrated. The concept is too derivative of Hitchcock and James Herbert and doesn't really evoke any wider significance for the unfolding horrors.

Finally, I can see why 'Buddyboy' is so well-remembered as it must be one of the weirdest pieces of drama I've ever seen on British TV. I can only assume Kneale's remit to make each episode as distinct as possible eventually propelled him down this bizarre blind alley, but trying to extract chills out of a storyline involving a telepathic dolphin (which we never actually see) was always going to be tricky. The most disturbing thing here is the close-up of Martin Shaw's sleazy porn cinema manager 'on the job' – you may never see Judge John Deed in the same light again.

So, yes, by modern standards, these episodes are slowly paced, wordy and cheap. They were made at a time when TV drama was still largely derived from theatrical models and, at their worst, they are marred by OTT acting, lengthy expository dialogue and the constrictions of the set-bound productions. At their best, however, the acting is tremendous, character's and plot lines are given room to breathe, suspense is built gradually and the sheer ordinariness of the videotaped, studio-lit environments (and almost complete lack of a musical soundtrack) actually increases their creepy power.

I think it is salutary to remind ourselves that there was a time when TV producers had faith in audiences to sit down and engage with an hour's worth of challenging, original drama broken by only one ad break. In these hyper-stimulated, mayfly attention span times, that makes this series a strange and oddly compelling beast indeed and, IMHO, this DVD release should not be dismissed as a mere footnote to Kneale's better known work.

"Beasts" (1976) Nigel Kneale is perhaps best known for his Quatermass series of writings and also some Hammer films. Here he has gathered a delightfully varied group of stories, that to this viewers eye seem like an extended Amicus production, some of them would not be out of place in such a film. What is good about this one off series is that they are written with an obvious passion for mystery and the macabre, Kneale delights in telling us his stories with one eye firmly placed on examining the science of these mysteries, as a result, the final films are that much more sinister and perhaps scarier. All these films are very talky and rather slow, but ultimately they all have features that will reward the patient viewer.

Special Offer(1976) Richard Bramall 5/10 The every day workings of a supermarket are thrown into disarray when stock mysteriously begins to explode and get thrown from the shelves. This coincides with the arrival of a new member of staff, a dowdy, spotty teenager Noreen Beale, who is immediately disowned by members of staff and customers alike who don't care much for her. Is she responsible or is the store being haunted by an its own invisible mascot? Special Offer has some good ideas that are reminiscent of Horror classics Carrie and Poltergeist, we are never really sure who or what is responsible, a slow but steady start to this series.

During Barty's Party(1976) Don Leaver 8/10 A businessman Roger Truscott, returns home to his secluded home to find his wife Angie in a state of terror, she doesn't know why, but puts sit down to a dream she had, of a couple of amorous lovers being killed and their yellow car being abandoned? Very soon they hear scratching noises under the floor boards, they put it down to rats, but the noises seem to be following them around the house, Angie turns up the radio to drown out the sounds, the broadcast is interrupted by news reports of thousands of gigantic rats that have caused chaos and have been sighted in the area. The Truscotts soon realise they are trapped in their home by thousands of intelligent rats. This is a rather unsettling story, the foe remains unseen which builds up the tension tremendously, its slow to build up but the finale is quite terrifying.

Buddy Boy(1976) Don Taylor 6/10 A playboy (Martin Shaw) decides to buy an old Dolphinarium and turn it into a Night club/sex shop, the owner seems desperate to get rid of it in a quick deal, believing the premises are haunted by the spirit of a dolphin, the famous "Buddy Boy" who was killed in mysterious circumstances years previously. Lucy is a former employee who now squats there, she believes the owner Crisp killed him. Novel idea, that drags a little, but the performances are decent and keep you interested. The ending is a little abrupt and open to interpretation.

Baby(1976) John Nelson 8/10 A vet and his pregnant wife, peter and Jo Gilkes, move to the country to start a new life in a busy country practice. While renovating their farmhouse they find a large urn hidden in an alcove in a wall,seemingly there for a long time, inside they find the dried out remains of a "creature", is it a lamb? A pig? A monkey perhaps, they can't quite tell, Peter decides to have it taken to a lab for testing, the workmen in their home tell them to get rid of it, stating it could be an evil charm to bring harm to its recipient. But before Peter can do this, Jo begins to hear strange noise around the house, she investigates further and soon believes her child may be at risk. Spooky tale, we are never sure what is going to happen until the end, the creature is unsettling too.

What Big Eyes(1976) Donald McWhinnie 8/10 Bob Curry is a very dilligent RSPCA officer who inquires into the illegal importation of rare animals, in this instance its Romanian Wolves. His snooping leads to him to a seemingly innocent looking family pet shop. Here he is given shirt shrift by owner Leo Raymount (Patrick Magee) who tells him its none of his business what he does with them, Curry persists and Raymount regales him with tales of his secret scientific experiments into Lycanthrophy. Curry is dismissive at first, but soon begins to question whether or not there is any credence to his claims. This is an excellent scientific exploration of werewolves, again its very talky, but the dialogue is enthralling and the performances are excellent.

The Dummy(1976) Don Leaver 7/10 A down on his luck actor Clyde Boyd, on the verge of a nervous breakdown after the collapse of his marriage, becomes more disturbed on the set of his latest Horror film, when he realises that the man who stole his wife is also starring in it. After some speedy counselling from the producer who will stop at nothing to keep the production going, Boyd begins to believe he is becoming the monster he is portraying. The costumes in the film within a film are third rate as you might expect, but it's a fine exposition on the horror film business.

My abiding memory is of some chap incarcerated in his living room, ringing into some radio show and having something nasty getting nearer and nearer...and nearer. You never saw anything, but then again you never had to.

Even the word 'beasts' takes us all back there doesn't it? I try and be objective. I saw this in late 1976, and never since. I was 9 years old, hardly capable of critical reasoning. Yet, across the gulf of time, images and thought processes immeasurably superior to adulthood come back to you.

I'd like to watch it now, provided it don't ruin it.

All of these were entertaining to some degree; 'Baby' was genuinely scary, with a creepy build-up and a final scene that made me make an incoherent noise of terror. I remember kids at school who were somehow allowed to watch that one coming in traumatized the next day, huddling together wide-eyed in a sort of support group. I quite understand now: it almost did for me as a grown man.

I vaguely remember the "Baby" episode of Beasts, which someone describes really above. But it is the opening "Special Offer" episode that stuck in my mind more, mostly because the setting was so mundane.

Like most throwaway 70s telly, I only saw it once, but I vividly remember Pauline Quirke playing a checkout girl in a supermarket who became obsessed with the store's cartoon mascot (a rabbit, I think) called Brightway Billy. She started hallucinating about seeing the rabbit in the shop. I was 12 when it was shown and it totally creeped me out, and created an atmosphere of insanity and hysteria in a very bland setting. At school the next day, every was imitating Pauline Quirke's moon face calling out for "Billy!".