Let's be honest, there's a lot of dross on television at the moment. In a land of the crazy, the sane are mad - perhaps. But in the 1970's there were innovative programs - even on children's television. And this, Sky, was the best - hence my 10 out of 10 rating.
Marc Harrison, as the time traveller, was outstanding, with amazing blue eyes which the extremely new special effects emphatically delivered. The theme of the series - an alien presence disrupting nature, causing it to revolt, was an apt precursor to HIV and its effect on anti-bodies and Covid, which similarly caused horrendous problems, agitating defensive mechanisms within the body, causing severe illness and death.
I'm not sure the writers foresaw all of these things, but their excellent scenario of nature fighting an unnatural presence, was an amazing and precise precursor.
Marc Harrison in the lead role is superb, sensual, vulnerable, preoccupied with problems of his age and situation, Stuart Lock and Cherrald Butterfield as the teenagers who help him, are equally good.
I missed the last episode in 1975 and have only just viewed it, now the series is available on dvd. Sure, it's dated, but as an ambitious foretaste of things to come unless we change our ways, it is unsurpassed. True, Denis Potter wrote great plays, Out of the Unknown was a super 1969's/70's series and contemporary green background special effects make Sky look somewhat anachronistic, but the essence of the series, the conflict between an interloper and nature, the destruction of most of the human race during the chaos and search for the famous, inimitable Juganet (I asked about it in a pub last night) with its' ultimate discovery at Stonehenge, is imaginative and awesome.
Sky is a unique, fabulous, prediction-laden series which Nostradamus may not have mentioned, but we should never forget.
