Seemingly never-ending ‘improving’ sci-fi saga of dubious scientific veracity from the pen of Nicholas Fisk, concerning futuristic boarding-school children who go off exploring space on a whim. Phenomenally popular, especially with present-buying relatives who’d heard that you liked ‘space’, but in truth little more than a traditional children’s adventure yarn with a couple of ‘meteorites’ bolted on for good measure and of scant use to anyone who’d been suckered by the imaginative flair of The Tomorrow People.
Starstormers
1980
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Trad Jazz Britannia
Friday, 21.00, BBC4It always amuses us when we see clips of Double Your Money and notice the category board includes both “jazz (traditional)” and “jazz (modern)”, though it is true that at that point trad really was big news, the nascent Pick of the Pops spinning off from Trad Tavern being just one example of its hold on the nation’s teens in the early sixties, despite it being influenced by music some forty years old at the time.
I don’t remember this at all! Which channel was it on? 1980 would’ve been my zenith for kidz tv, but obviously this has passed me by.
It’s a book. Nicholas Fisk wrote loads of sci-fi books in the 80s, including A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair and Grinny. Our primary school Book Club had to read both of them. Quite passable sci-fi.
I rememer reading The Space Hostages (it was also adapted as a play script) & Trillions.
Both fairly interesting & sometimes creepy I seem to remember.
I read a few of these and enjoyed them at the time. The first volume has a rather grim ending that makes it look like they’re all doomed, and it took me ages to find a library copy of the next book to find out that they escaped. “Glory, glory, glory,” as the followers of the Octopus Emperor chillingly intone…
It did actually end up on TV but not as a conventional series. It was read out weekly by Tom Baker on Book Tower.
Yes it was on and I was 13 and played the girl VAWN the irish girl in space…what a fab time i had with yorkshire television and with the other space kids… x wish i could find the series as we did not have a video recorder. x
I LOVED these books. I’ve still got all 5.
Fiona – I remember watching it and wishing Id played Ispex!
I’ve got all the books and remember catching one episode of this ‘accidently’ on TV back in the 80s. Would love to see it again, but can’t find it anywhere – it was hard enough getting the books from ebay. Loved it when I was a kid. It’s a bit silly to read now, but put on the rose-tinted glasses and you’re back in the 80s! :) I’ll stick a note on my blog…
I remember reading these and loved them as a kid and yes there definitely was at least a few TV episodes, I remember watching them. Impressive that Fiona Conor (previous poster above) was the actress who played Vawn – well that proves I’m not having false memories :) Wish I could find them too but the Yorkshire TV archives would be the only place that might have them now.