Starring Leonard Rossiter, Suzanne Neve, Tony Vogel, Brian Cox, Vickery Turner
Directed by Michael Elliott
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
In a future where a controlled society has led to sex becoming a sport covered by television, a program director becomes obsessed with discovering the thoughts and feelings that existed in the past.
Acclaimed screenwriter Nigel Kneale, known for the Quatermass productions and other British teleplays, wrote this television movie with parallels to
Brave New World, concerning a future society where imagination and personal achievement has been curtailed, and a television network airing sex programming is what remains to entertain the masses. Drinking a beverage called "lightener" to keep their moods under control, the men and women behind the programming have forgotten or never learned many of the thoughts and words integral to the society's past existence. That changes when program director Nat Pender (Vogel) meets the boyfriend of his ex-partner, who has been creating horrific pictures, a media that no longer exists, and spurs Pender's desire to learn about the past. Vogel gives a distinctive performance as our protagonist, using a wide-eyed stare whenever his obsession overtakes him, and his supporting cast are fine as well. Eventually Pender and his old flame Deanie (Neve) commit to a new kind of TV program, and as my friend Troy Howarth mentioned to me, it's rather prescient on Kneale's part in anticipating our current reality TV cycle, although the stakes are much greater and ultimately more tragic. In truth, the sexual content of the story serves as a hook to pull the audience in, but it's not what the tale is about at its heart. That makes the production all the more worthwhile.
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