They Came from Somewhere Else

This is very surreal but actually very funny if you have been lucky enough to see it.

Sadly a DVD is unlikely as the company that produced this series, TVS Television were taken over in 1993 after they lost their ITV franchise.

Since then the programme archive has been passed about from company to company and is held in several different locations. To make matters worse the official documentation to say who actually owns the archive has been lost which means its even more unlikely that this series will ever get a DVD release or even a TV repeat.

For the record I think I am right in saying that Disney now technically own this series.

They came from somewhere else is one of the truly groundbreaking alternative comedy shows from the early 80s, when alternative comedy was something new. The series concerns surreal goings on in a small town with a secret. As the other reviewer stated, we are treated to killer prawns in the sewers, raining liver, tinned crabs cutting themselves out of tins, all kinds of really weird stuff.

I have seen this recently again, and I can confirm that it is as funny now as it was back in the early 80s. It hasn't aged at all.

I actually contacted C4 to see if there was any plans to release this and they said no.

I was also a bit concerned that this might have suffered from junking as so much television has. I contacted C4 to ask if they still have a copy in their archives and they were unable to confirm this. So if it was chucked in a skip at some point then we definitely wont get a DVD release.

Definitely worth watching if you can track down a copy of this rare and essential comedy show.

I have very fond but very vague memories of They Came From Somewhere Else; even though I co-wrote and was in it, (I was Martin) - but I do not have a copy of it myself, even though I am trying to trace one through various channels. And will furnish it when I am successful. Am glad to hear it hasn't dated. In fact, I have a glimmering feeling to wanting to produce a sequel. The idea of the show was described in Germany as - "too serious to be joked about", but they do take their sci-fi very seriously. Let's face it, times haven't changed, and we're all still living on a prison satellite, and its about time maybe that we re-discovered that all over again. It is what Pete McCarthy (Colin / Professor Oblinski) would have wanted, but sadly Pete is no longer with us.

I remember very vividly watching this programme each week, and then horror of horror taping Doctor Who 'The Trial of a Timelord' over it expecting to get a repeat showing, and now twenty three years later you guessed I'm still waiting. I remember the ultimate question being asked 'what kind of a car do you have?' and a rather dazed 'human' responds 'erm a red car' followed by manic laughter. Excellent stuff. I also remember a settee that ate people and then they turned up in the sewer with the giant prawns. I also think that the place was surrounded by dense fog that took away your memory, well I think a few memories need to be jogged down in the vaults,come on channel four put it out on DVD,I don't want it, I need it :)

It's odd that Channel Four seem to have completely forgotten about this gem. A DVD release would be most welcome. It's such a long time ago since I've seen this that my memories are a bit jumbled but salient points: Giant prawns in the sewers, liver raining from the skies, more Donald Sutherland references than you can shake a stick and and possibly the only time in history that a TV programme - A TV PROGRAMME FOR GODS SAKE - has received a spontaneous standing ovation at the commercial break - not even the end of the programme! - by the assembled viewers in the grotty shared house I was living at when it was first aired......

I have a nasty feeling that it won't have aged gracefully, but for the memories and excitement it produced at the time 10/10.

DVD? Pretty Please?

Tap dancing through the liver.....