Damien's Irishperson in Exile Diary

The rabid and almost comprehensible meanderings of a software engineer and psychology student moved to Cambridge from Ireland.

Archive for the ‘Television’ category

I blame Maggie Philbin for having to learn second-order integration.

September 14th, 2009

Image by Damien Ryan via Flickr

It’s safe to say that Tomorrow’s World was responsible for the careers of most of this generation’s scientists in the UK and Ireland.

The show was oftentimes ridiculed for being out of touch and it was joked that having your product featured there meant it would never be seen outside of a research lab, but that half-hour on Thursday evenings gave a love of science to myself and many others over the years and is sorely missed.

While rumors of its return turned out to be nothing more than a cynical branding exercise, the BBC has finally released some old episodes from its archives. Unfortunately, the SDI simulation that I mistook for reality isn’t one of them.

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Posted in Education, Television, Video

Doomed to repeat its mistakes

April 15th, 2008

Image via Wikipedia

Skins in its present form had its
final episode last night. True to form it was a rather stylised
presentation of an A-level results day with some smashing music and a
hard hitting performance from Larissa Wilson.
Next year’s series will feature a while new cast of rowdy teenagers with
Sid and Cassie popping in occasionally. I’m not sure how it’ll work
as, for me, it was the characters that made the show, but I’m prepared
to give it a chance.

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Posted in Reviews, Television

And I looked, and behold a pale horse

September 20th, 2006

Image via Wikipedia

I would encourage everyone to check out The War Game, a BBC fictional documentary by Peter Watkins which was never shown due to governmental pressure. Appearing to be the first of what is now a genre of “aftermath” movies from Briggs’s sublime When the Wind Blows to ABC’s The Day After Guttenberg-fest, it’s in equal measures frightening, harrowing, and an ultra-realistic depiction of what might have been.

I grew up in the 80’s of Reagan, Thatcher, and Haughey and remember the all pervasive fear of nuclear war. Survivalist books were on the best seller lists. Chernobyl gave us in Europe an idea of the widespread damage a nuclear detonation could do. Even Tomorrow’s World got in on the act with a special programme simulating a Soviet Nuclear attack being repelled by Reagan’s fantastical SDI programme (if anyone can find something on this please let me know).

Of course, since I was only nine years’ of age, I truly believed there was a nuclear attack. Thankfully Mr. Tulié put me right the next day in school.

UPDATE: Ferg pointed out Threads, an eighties documentary which is just as harrowing.