Fields of Gold

'Fields of Gold': Science fiction. For many commentators the science used here was nonsensical. According to the Independent newspaper, the Science Media Centre's director, Fiona Fox, was not impressed by this movie. "It's a fairly safe bet that if the authors of Fields of Gold, the drama about GM crops screened on BBC 1, are asked to produce a sequel to their "conspiracy thriller", they will write in a new role for a sinister, biotech-funded media centre. The real-life Science Media Centre (SMC) found itself cast in its own conspiracy by the drama's authors - Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, and his co-author and Guardian colleague Ronan Bennett - after a row about the plausibility of the science in the anti-GM storyline. In a series of newspaper articles and television interviews, the writers described the new SMC as a "lobby group" for big biotech companies, and accused the centre of orchestrating an ugly, secret campaign to discredit the programme and "dump on" The Guardian and the BBC. The truth about the SMC and its role in this story is less sinister" (quoting from the Independent newspaper). Rumour has it that Rushbridger later blocked Fox's sister Claire from writing a column in the Society (social services) section of his newspaper the Guardian. Subsequently Guardian gossip columnists ran a series of attacks and innuendos about Fiona Fox. Touchy...

I can not think of a more chilling film. It is a pity that this movie is not available in the United States. I had the luck of watching it in a hotel room in London during a week long trip. I intensely admire the BBC for their intellectual programming. This film would almost never be shown on any American network, sadly. Yet it is a wakeup call to the world of the serious need for drug regulations to be tightened. It is perhaps the most serious call for action in the cellular science era. The warning contained in Fields of Gold cannot be missed, nor avoided by any stretch of the truth. Perhaps one of the most true-to-life depictions in the movie is the portrayal of dazed, confused, elderly people being raped by pharmaceutical companies. The film conveys a mistrust of drug companies I have not left behind in the 3 years since I watched the film. While the movie is admittedly terrifying to adults and children, having seen it when I was 14, the movie put into context many things that all citizens should know. I would wish that everyone could see and learn from this movie.

Pseudo-scientific scaremongering rubbish, only made faintly plausible by Anna Friel and by Phil Davis's turn as a veteran journalist. The dialogue is crude and, once it gets away from the newspaper office, incredible.

If an unknown writer had turned up at the BBC with this, he would have been shown the door sharpish.

A talented enthusiastic young journalist, and an unhealthy, grumpy journalist begin looking at deaths at a small Cottage Hospital.

This gave me a scare back in 2002, and I was fortunate enough to recently get hold of a copy of it, it has the same kind of vibe and effect of a show like Threads.

Was it preachy, or were they absolutely bang on the money? I think the latter.

In 2021 we have had Covid 19, we have mass obesity, and we have an alarming rise in the numbers of diabetes cases. The cause, surely has to be dietary, who knows what kind of junk is in our food, needless to say we all carry on regardless.

I'm one of those people that have had to give up wheat in any form, I instantly bloat and feel ill, I'm not sure wheat now has any resemblance to what it did 200 years ago.

It tells you one real life thing, these pharmaceutical companies are massive, and have a huge control over our lives.

Enough of my preaching, it's a very long drama, but it does hit hard, it's impactful, it's thought provoking, and very well produced and acted, Phil Davis and Anna Friel are both great.

Excellent, brave drama, 9/10.

This is a very chilling moving and definitely worth seeing. Well ahead of it's time, it gives insight into what Big Pharma, Big Business and governments can and will do to protect profits over lives. If anyone thinks this isn't happening in today's world of chemicals, genetically modified organisms, they are delusional. When the movie was produced in 2002, it was considered science fiction. In 2018 it's now science and the concept is no longer fiction.