The Changes

I remember watching this as a child during the 1970;s and it scared the livings daylights out of me!

It was very ahead of its time when it was made and was completely different to anything else around at that time. I can remember the lead actress walking down the street and everyone has gone crazy and they were bashing their cars, and then wandering around like nomads. can't remember the middle episodes much, just the lead character trying to find her parents I think. I vaguely remember her meeting up with other people. I remember the end episode where everything appears to go back to normal again, and the girl, Nicky I think her name was, emerging from some sort of cave or hiding place and there was a shot of a train running over head which indicated everything had returned to normal. It didn't really explain why everyone rebelled against all things electric etc and why it turned everyone crazy. It would be great if the series could be repeated again, and to see if it still held the power to scare children today. Its a pity that another series was not made at the time as I feel there was scope for another series, to see if the madness returned. What a great children's TV classic!

I first came across The Changes three years ago during 2022 in the summer and I started to become interested in it after I had been looking up the actress Vicky Williams who's in the series as I had seen her in a commercial quite a few years before but for the longest time I never knew who she was really and then I found out that she made minor or sometimes major appearances in a lot 1970s and 80s tv programmes including Crown Court, A Raging Calm, The Mallens, Coronation Street, Rooms, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and most importantly The Changes. From ever since I first watched The Changes I've always felt that's it's just a great tv series that I've throughly enjoyed and I remember when I first watched that I was just captivated and I enjoyed it from start to end and I think the plot and the story is acted out very well by all the actors who appear in the series especially Vicky Williams and Keith Ashton who play Nicky and Jonathan in the series because with Vicky Williams, you can tell she doesn't seem like a precocious or impressionable in the way she plays Nicky and she doesn't try too hard or overact dramatically as well for me and Keith Ashton is the same too he doesn't overact dramatically and you can tell both of the actors including other child and adult actors were taking the roles seriously as they were acting the parts out. I also like the fact that none of the series has ever seemed boring to me and even if there are some slower more conversation type scenes in the series, those scenes don't lack the energy that the rest of the series has and the series keeps moving at a decent pace throughout with no padding as I far as I've ever been able to tell through watching it over the last few years. I honestly think all in all, the changes is one of the best tv shows I've seen and I don't think there's really any other tv series from that period of time or now that matches up to it and though there's other tv series that were made around that time like Children of the stones, Into the labyrinth and Sky I don't think they capture my attention and interest me as much as The Changes. A definite 10 out of 10.

Watch out for pylons and telegraph poles out there people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I saw this show in the late 70s on the ABC, I was only about 8 or 9 at the time. I remember vividly the scene where everyone goes wild and smashed up everything (notably cars), the comparative kindness of the Indian family compared with the stupid rednecks who seemed to dot the countryside and the big rock at the end. The Changes was very much a product of the environmental push that took place in the 70s. I would be curious to see how the show would be presented today. This show was one of many fine British television dramas for children from the 70s.

I was poking around on the internet, and found this for download, just billed as "1970s sci-fi, very good". I had never heard of it before, but much of what comes out of the BBC in that era was quite good, and this one did not disappoint. As with most British shows, it did not scream "I WAS MADE IN THE SEVENTIES!", like most American shows do. Certainly you can tell, but it was made well enough that it can stand the test of time.

As some have commented on the ending being Merlin, that was true. Nicky explained it as Merlin had found the force and had become one with it, so it was Merlin, and more; it was sort of a focal point for nature's "mind" (my language, not the show's).

I am now going to track down copies of the three Peter Dickinson novels that the series was taken from.

If you can find yourself a copy of this floating around the internet, it's well worth the download. Hopefully they will release it in a proper form some day.

I find it interesting, though, in the cast list here, that they do not list Nicky; the main character in the cast list. Even curiouser is that if you search for Vicky Williams, it is listed in her credits. A bug?

Hello, i was only 8 years old when i watched the changes, it invokes powerful memories as images of series remind me of Berkeley power station where my father worked most of his life. More recently i have been playing computer game called half life 2, and only just realised some of the in game environments have a similar feel and atmosphere to images that i remember from the changes episodes.

No wonder i like the game so much, desolate landscapes filled with electricity pylons making that buzzing noise. I hope the series will be released, it will be amazing to watch it again after all these years.

I would be very grateful for any feedback related to the comments i have posted.