Sometimes the candle that burns twice as brightly only burns half as long, sometimes a TV show leaves a huge impact on your viewing life and it's gone never to return for whatever reason. Lists like this are relatively common but the following shows are more personal to me for various reasons. Every show is one I have watched multiple times and have drawn inspiration from in my writing of multiple LRP adventures over the years. They are presented in order of transmission.
Star Cops (1987)
"Spacemen a ten-a-penny, what they need is a good copper?"
Science-fiction has had an illustrious history at the BBC, from early days with Quatermass, through to Doctor Who, Survivors, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc. However, in the late 1980's things started to go sour on the genre; Blakes 7 had ended (memorably) in 1981, the second series of Hitch Hikers was mired in disputes and would never get produced and Doctor Who had endured its transmission times and series format being changed and would be out on hiatus for 18 months. Chris Boucher (Doctor Who writer & Blakes 7 writer/script editor) had pitched his "Science-Faction" series that would be more realistic than the previous series he had been involved in. Boucher would immediately clash with appointed producer, Evgeny Gridneff, in his own words "things started at the bottom and worked their way downwards". Boucher disagreed with a lot of the choices made for the series, from the choice of the song that played over the opening credits, the decision to shoot on video as opposed to film and actual production choices in the series itself.
The most well known of these occurs in the first episode, two characters are eating in a restaurant, the script (as written by Boucher) called for them to be sitting in a booth with an appropriate visage playing behind them that could be keyed in later via CSO. The main character (Nathan Spring) is alerted to a tv transmission he wants to see, and the idea was that the visage behind them would change to this broadcast, again keyed in via CSO. The reality was that the scene was played at a table and when Nathan needs to see his transmission, waitress wheels in a "telly on a trolley", Boucher makes this point on the DVD commentary of the episode.
The series is set in the year 2027 where there are multiple space stations, a moon base and exploration missions to the asteroid belt. Crime is not unknown on this new frontier and justice is handled by volunteers who form the ranks of the International Space Police Force otherwise known as the "Star Cops". The main character is a career policeman who is thrust into a new career against his wishes.
Much like Blakes 7 before it, production values varied tremendously from some great model work of shuttles and space stations, to some incredibly cheap looking set design and a lot of Casio calculators being used as control panels. The series had two directors in Christopher Baker who directed the first half of the episodes and the rest were done by Graham Harper; Baker lit the sets brightly but Harper was more subtle and dropped the lighting in an attempt to generate atmosphere and largely I think he did. Aside from some relatively bad racial stereotyping and almost-comedic acting in places the writing is consistently good throughout and even the weaker episodes have something to offer. Subjects tackled included cyber attacks (I know Max Headroom had mentioned ICE before but even so), electronic snooping, bio-weapons, etc. all make an appearance. Things we take for granted now such as video conferencing, voice controlled technology make early appearances and the main character uses what can only be a nth generation Siri like device.
The one series of Star Cops aired in the summer of 1987, going out on BBC2 at 20:30, BBC support included a press pack (that occaisonally turn up on eBay) and the cover of that weeks Radio Times. Boucher would go on to write 5 of the 9 produced episodes with John Collee and Phillip Martin penning two each, a tenth planned episode was never produced due to industriual action at the BBC. The series was not renewed with the ubiquitous reason of that it "failed to find an audience", Boucher would claim that the series had effectively been cancelled before transmission.
Doctor Who would be cancelled in 1989 and the sci-fi flag would then be carried by comedy series Red Dwarf, until Bugs would start on BBC1 in 1995. Science Fiction would return to the BBC in 2005 with the return of Doctor Who and then again in 2010 with The Deep and then again in 2011 with Outcasts. Where those last two series had high production values, they were both sorely lacking in the writing department and suffered the same early cancellation as Star Cops.
Although attracting mixed to negative reviews at the time, the series has gone under re-evaluation in recent years with praise being given for its writing.
Earth 2 (1994)
"Next time I volunteer for something, remind me how unsuited I am for this kind of stress."
An expedition from a dying Earth lands on a distant planet to try and make a new home. Sound familiar? It's almost the same as the previously mentioned BBC series, Outcasts. The expedition is sabotaged and ends up crashing to the surface far from their intended landing point, the series then chronicles their trials and tribulations as their journey starts. Various themes are weaved throughout the series such as the social classes that they left behind, what to do when crimes are committed on the new world, etc. The series could be accused of being a little 'preachy' at times but I don't feel that affected the series as a whole.
There was a glut of sci-fi series debuts around the early 90's, Babylon 5, Space Rangers, MANTIS, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek : The Next Generation would end this year after seven successful years.
Like Firefly that would follow 8 years later, the episodes were not shown in the intended order (at least they didn't have to effectively film a new pilot) and as such events happened in a different order and didn't flow as they should have. Like most series, it had a high production budget and was shot almost exclusively on location and various stories tried to flesh out the characters back stories, not always successfully it has to be said but as with most series on this list, I think there are more hits than misses.
Ultraviolet (1998)
"So thats it? Two Hail Mary's and don't shoot any more civilians?"
Whilst TV series about Vampires of have Vampires in them are quite commonplace now, the late 1990's was a different time. Back then there was only Buffy The Vampire Slayer, i wasn't a fan, I hadn't drank the Joss Whedon Koolaid and blamed him for the mess that was Alien : Resurrection (although in these more enlightened times I realise how little of what he wrote then made it to the screen). In the midst of this came a little Channel 4 show, that arrived and then departed with little fanfare.
The basis is that Vampires exist and there is a Government department to investigate and where necessary, to also "neutralise" them. Never referred to as Vampires, they are called either Code 5 (which is V in Roman numerals) or Leeches, they are shown as highly intelligent and manipulative and dangerous in the extreme (with the almost overwhelming force this is used against them). In a nod to myth, they cannot be seen in mirrors or observed using electronic surveilance, when using phones, they have to use a computer and a voice synthesizer.
The humans can use carbon tipped bullets, garlic gas grenades and video camers with monitors that attach to their guns to aid with detection. All six episodes were written and directed by Joe Ahearne (who would go on to work on Strange and the series of Doctor Who) and as such they have a very stylistic look that is consistent across the series. Elements of it haven't aged well, each character uses a Motorola Star-Tac, all of the computer graphics are hilariously chunky, mini discs are the recording medium of choice, etc. Each show was relatively well contained but elements of a story arc emerge early on and these come to fruition by the end but could also have easily led to a second series. With subjects such as abortion and paedophilia, the series was quite adult in nature and was also keen to show the toll on the characters as the series goes on.
Unlike the other shows on this list, Ultraviolet was never cancelled, Channel 4 never asked for any more to be produced. There was an attempted US remake in 2000 with Idris Elba reprising his role of Vaughn Rice but this never got past the pilot stage and one of the producers would go on to comment that they "messed it up".
Firefly (2002)
"Just once I'd like things to go according to the gorram plan."
Greatest cancellation travesty in the history of TV.
Rubicon (2010)
"There's no trust, no faith, no honesty in men."
Premiering on AMC a month before The Walking Dead, Rubicon attempted to show a different side to the war on terror, showing us the analysts who analyse data and then offer judgments and advice based on that data and also the pressure and toll making potential life or death decisions has on those analysts. As an example, an early episode has some of the characters debating over new intelligence as to whether or not to recommend a drone strike but with the potential of civilian collateral damage. Against all this, some of the characters are pursuing their own agendas and running their own investigations but in such a high pressure environment, how long is it before "the codes break them"? The series also features high level conspiracies with governments being manipulated by a select few is positions of power.
With several overall arcs running throughout the series, it's potentially not the easiest of things to watch and is easily best watched in as few a hits as possible to get the most out of it. Drawing upon 70's films such as Three Days of the Condor, The Conversation and The Parallax View for its inspiration, it showed ordinary people trying to deal with immense pressure. This wasn't like 24 and isn't what you would call action packed, its very much a "slow burn" serial with the stakes gradually getting higher as the series comes to a head and whilst there is a degree of conclusion, there was certainly plenty of scope for another series.
Like other shows, it achieved early high ratings but these waned and the show was not renewed.
Camelot (2011)
"Fate can go begging, Destony has to be won."
I am a big King Arthur fan, with the exception of Monty Python I've probably watched most King Arthur films (The 2004 Clive Owen film is a guilty pleasure) so I was looking forward to this. With Eva Green as Morgan and Joseph Fiennes as Merlin and written and produced by Chris Chibnall (Torchwood / Broadchurch), it boasted a great cast and high production values. Chibnall allegedly based the series on the classic La Morte d'Arthur, the classic telling of the myth and the series featured the well known parts of the story with a little twist inserted here and there, often to the betterment of the story. This wasn't an early evening show like BBC's Merlin, with nudity and violence on the same levels as a cable tv series (it was co-produced by Starz).
A lot of the well known characters ffrom the myth are mostly present and correct and the series attempts to portray Arthur is his very early days (similar as the BBC Merlin). Production values are high, the cast good, a couple of the episodes are weaker than others but mostly I feel its a good attempt at not just the story but the fantasy genre as a whole.
People seem to have mostly forgotten about this series as the fantasy behemoth, Game of Thrones, would premiere a month later. The series was was not renewed with production and scheduling difficulties given as the reason, if Game of Thrones had not premiered a month into it's run and arguably taken a lot of it's glory then I think a second series was definitely in the offing and the ending to the final episode certainly hinted at some story threads that could have continued into a second series whilst staying true to the Arthurian legends it was trying to follow.
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