Doomwatch Series 1-3 The Remaining Episodes (1970-1972) Review
This cult TV series was the brainchild of Kid Pedler and Gerry Davis, the men responsible for Doctor Who’s iconic Cybermen, and follows government agency The Department of Measurement of Scientific Work AKA Doomwatch, as they fight to protect mankind from all manner of horrifying technology and experiments gone wrong.
The team lead by Dr. Spencer Quist (John Paul – A Countess from Hong Kong), alongside Colin Bradley (Joby Blanshard – The Brothers), Toby Wren (Robert Powell – The Detectives), and Dr. Fay Chantry (Jean Trend – Z Cars), must battle hyper intelligent rats, toxic waste, plastic eating bacteria, mind destroying sound waves and genetic mutations from day to day – all the while confronted with volatile corporations, their own unsupportive government superiors and ever changing dynamics within the team.
Doomwatch originally aired on the BBC from 1970-1972 and at its peak attracted in excess of 13.6 million viewers, for the episode Invasion, and spawned two film adaptations. Although in huge demand, it has never before been available on DVD, until now. With some episodes unavailable (it was the BBC’s practise at the time to wipe master tapes soon after transmission) this seven-disc set gives us the available episodes along with unseen episode ‘Sex and Violence’ and the BBC documentary ‘The Cult of Doomwatch’.
What makes Doomwatch sparkle is the writing. Sure, it’s dated in terms of its filming, fashions and sets but it’s still fresh in terms of ideas and plo
t-lines that still resonant now over forty years later. The characters are well-drawn and believable and there’s less of the spoon-feeding that comes with latter day TV viewing or the risible clashes in personality that permeate proceedings in programming now.
The acting is first class and there’s an added value in spotting other well-known faces in each episode’s supporting cast. We believe in these characters and invest in them accordingly. There’s no underlying strand or plot arc that links each episode, which you tend to get in TV series nowadays, which I must admit to finding tedious. I’ve always been a fan of the standalone story – that’s where The X Files fucked up for me, by veering away from the wonderful standalone’s into conspiracy territory.
Many of the episode writers will be familiar with genre fans – for example Gerry Davis, Louis Marks, Robert Holmes – and whilst they vary in quality – there’s a brief decline in the standard following Robert Powell’s departure – it’s brave and challenging stuff. The episode concerned with inadequate accommodation, and its effects on those that live in such squalor, is outstanding. Sure, the microphone boon is often in shot and, due to the long takes required in filming of the time, the performances occasionally wobble but all can be easily overlooked given the quality story-telling.
Set in a time of public fascination with the perils of science and technology, Doomwatch offers a glimpse of real scientific concepts, that are still relevant today, and explores the moral dilemmas faced by those left to pick up the pieces when things inevitably go wrong. Described in the press release as ‘a must for any discerning sci-fi and classic TV fan’ I, for once, will have to concur that this not just hyperbole. Buy it.
