The Day of the Triffids

As a child in the 80s, watching this on VHS, DOTTT scared the bejibbers out of me. I actually started avoiding the lilies in our garden (I thought they looked like the beeb's well-realised, if plasticy, rendition). Rewatching The Triffids in my 20s, I was disappointed; it seemed dated and flat to eyes that were at that time wowed by early CG, and disinterested in practical effects. I don't think I made it through the 1st episode. Fast forward a decade or so, and this time around, watching on @plex, I quite enjoyed the mini-series, and appreciate it as a well-crafted product of its time. The sound design & score are awesome, and the acting spot on. Smart and artful storytelling, that was aware of its own production limitations and worked creatively to excel within its capabilities. A 'what-if' for the ages. And I still call lilies Triffids.

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!

I remember watching this on TV when I was little and being terrified of the triffids. I watched a lot of sci-fi but this stood out. I've always liked those survival stories like dawn of the dead or 28 days later. If you like those kind of movies you'll probably enjoy day of the triffids. When I saw it was now available on DVD I ordered it with plenty of enthusiasm and a little trepidation. Often those shows you watch and enjoy as a kid just don't hold up and watching them as an adult kind of takes the shine off those memories. I mean, how good do those special effects in Doctor Who look now. But, in this case I need not have worried. I've just watched all six episodes of Day of the Triffids in a row and I loved it. Yes, the special effects do look a little dated but all things considered, they're not that bad, and they don't interfere with your enjoyment. The story is great, well written and well paced, you never know what's going to happen next. Plus it throws up lots of little ethical questions. Also, the acting by all of the main cast is excellent. Forget about the old movie version, read the book or watch this mini series. 8/10.

A night of wonderful meteoric activity wows all on Earth, until that is, it blinds most of the population, the disruption allows the manufactured plants, The Triffids to take over.

Forty years after it was transmitted, it still manages to entertain, wow and chill. Set over six episodes it gets more and more bleak with each episode, and a mounting death count adds to the feeling of doom.

The Triffids still look good, and still cut a menacing figure, they bring terror to all that come across them.

Very atmospheric, it features some great shots of a run down country, they manage to create a very bleak environment. It's similar in tone to The Survivors series, there are several parallels.

Very nicely acted, John Duttine as always is first rate. It features a good cast, I was impressed by Maurice Colbourne.

Still the best adaptation, miles better then the film before, and The BBC's later remake.

Very good still, 8/10.

When an asteroid shower passes over the earth, most of the world stops and watches the "once in a lifetime" spectacle. However the vast majority of the world find themselves blinded. This leaves the world at the mercy of the Triffids – a strange species of plant that can move and attack humans, but whose value as an oil resource has seen them farmed and controlled around the world. In a London hospital, Bill Masen is confined to his hospital bed with his eyes bandaged up after a Triffid sting at work. The day after the shower, Bill wakes to find everything quiet with seemingly nobody around to take the bandages off. He stumbles out into the day to find the population blind and, with society quickly crumbling, Triffids seem like just one of the problems to contend with.

I quite liked the film version for what it was but it was quite different from the book. This BBC mini-series though, is much more faithful to the source material and produces three hours of television that are more about the people than the plants of the title. If you consider the six episodes, the Triffids are not present throughout and sometimes they are no more than yet another thing in the background. The main thrust is actually about the breakdown of society, the choices the seeing survivors have to make at the early stages and the later stages. As such it is a very British piece as of course there is the polite indecisions and stiff upper lips that see survival accompanied by a certain amount of shame and frustration.

Hannam's direction is good as he works well with the sets and effects he has available to him. He has a good script to work with that puts food for thought onto the table consistently, while he also maintains a fairly constant sense of fear in relation to the lack of everything we would expect. In this regard the early episodes were the stronger. Of course the effects are limited but the Triffids themselves are actually pretty good and, if walking, man-eating plants did exist then I imagine they may look like this. The sets are quite cheap and have dated as badly as the clothes etc but this is not really a problem since the material is what is interesting, rather than the effects. The cast mostly work well, with Duttine solid in the lead with Relph doing OK work alongside him and Colbourne a strong presence with a character that asks a lot of moral questions of the viewer.

Overall then, better and more faithful to the book than the film version. It looks dated and of course the effects are not brilliant but it is the complexity of a crumbling society and the choices to be made that keep it interesting more than the action of Triffid attacks.