The Changes

I remember watching this series when I was 6 years old, and I found it absolutely terrifying. After the first episode, as soon as the title page appeared I begged my mum to change channel because I really thought the TV was going to explode, or everyone outside in the street was really going to freak out and smash up everything while it was showing. At that age I just couldn't take this sort of programme. I had nightmares about "the noise" and school lock-outs, power blackouts and people rioting in the streets for years after. Actually it was almost an omen for late 70's Britain in many ways.

I couldn't remember the name of the series, until one day just idly surfing the net I happened to search for: "disturbing BBC1 children's series 1970s" to see if a well-known search engine could help me find it, and here it was.

I don't know what made BBC programmers think this apocalyptic stuff was suitable viewing for kids: young teens maybe, after Top Of The Pops or something similar, but I was still at the Paddington Bear level.

But I must admit I'd quite like to see it again now that I'm 38!

I first watched this when I was 8 and I blame it for my tinfoil hat mentality today; I still won't have an electric cooker or kettle or a TV in the house! I bought the DVD and, if you are able to suspend disbelief in certain scenes, you will enjoy watching it again. Very much in the 'Survivors' mode, it would likely scare the pants off children today.

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?

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 remember this from the 70's. I only saw the middle episodes but still had vivid memories of it years later. UK Gold recently screened the whole series and I finally learned what had happened. They don't make children's drama like this anymore, pity. One other thing I noticed, when a threat was dealt with, it was over. These days unless you see the bad guy die you just know he will be back to plague the hero's due to a lack of imagination by the scriptwriters. This series however fell into three subplots which followed on from each other as we followed Nicky through the often Violen and very menacing Changes caused by the Stone.