British television science fiction

HOME

TheInfoList

Click Here for Items Related To - British television science fiction

OR:

British television science fiction on: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Amazon]

British television science fiction refers to popular programmes in the genre that have been produced by both the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

and Britain's largest commercial channel, ITV. The BBC's '' Doctor Who'' is listed in the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world as well as the "most successful" science fiction series of all time.

Early years

The first known

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

programme was produced by the

...
's prewar

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

service. On 11 February 1938, a thirty-five-minute adapted extract of the play ''

R.U.R. ''R.U.R.'' is a 1920 science-fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. "R.U.R." stands for (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English versions). The play had its world premiere on 2 January 1921 in H ...

'', written by the Czech playwright

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal ...

, was broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios. Concerning a future world in which

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

s rise up against their human masters, it was the only piece of science fiction to be produced until the BBC television service resumed after the war. Only a few on-set publicity photographs survive. ''R.U.R.'' was produced a second time on 4 March 1948, this time in a full ninety-minute live production, adapted for television by the producer Jan Bussell, who had also been responsible for the screening in 1938. The BBC began producing more science fiction, with further literary adaptations such as ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'' (1949) and children's serials like ''Stranger from Space'' (1951–1952). In the summer of 1953, the six-part serial ''

The Quatermass Experiment ''The Quatermass Experiment'' is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells th ...

'' was broadcast live. An adult-themed science-fiction drama specially written for television by BBC staff writer

Nigel Kneale Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British S ...

, its budget consumed the majority of the finances reserved for drama that year. This successful serial ultimately led to three further '' Quatermass'' serials and three feature film adaptations from

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

. ''The Quatermass Experiment'' is also the first piece of British television science fiction to partially survive, albeit only in the form of poor quality telerecordings of its first two episodes. The second serial ''

Quatermass II ''Quatermass II'' is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the ''Quatermass'' series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entire ...

'' (1955) is the earliest BBC science fiction production to exist in its entirety. Kneale could not rely on sophisticated special effects to convey his narratives. Instead, he based his stories around characterisation and characters' reactions to the strange events unfolding around them, using science fiction themes to tell allegorical stories such as paralleling real life racial tensions with the

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...

"infection" of '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59). On 12 December 1954, a live adaptation of George Orwell's ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...

'', produced by the ''Quatermass'' team of writer Nigel Kneale and director

Rudolph Cartier Rudolph Cartier (born Rudolph Kacser, renamed himself in Germany to Rudolph Katscher; 17 April 1904 – 7 June 1994) was an Austrian television director, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer who worked predominantly in British television, exc ...

, achieved the highest television ratings since the

coronation of Queen Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

on 2 June 1953. It was so controversial that it was debated in Parliament, and campaigners tried to have the second performance the following Thursday banned. The BBC's Head of Drama Michael Barry refused to concede. Science fiction productions were rare and almost always one-offs. '' A for Andromeda'' (1961) (which starred a young

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...

) and its sequel ('' The Andromeda Breakthrough'', 1962) were exceptions.

Creation of ''Doctor Who'' and ITV

Britain's first commercial television network ITV initially explored science fiction for programming purposes in the early 1960s. A proponent for such experimentation was Canadian-born producer

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

, who had become Head of Drama at ABC. At ABC, Newman produced the science-fiction serial '' Pathfinders in Space'' (1960) and its sequels ''Pathfinders to Mars'' (1960) and ''Pathfinders to Venus'' (1961) and oversaw the science-fiction anthology series '' Out of This World'' (1962), the first of its kind in the UK. ITV also made an attempt at children's science fiction, with its short-lived programme '' Emerald Soup'' (1963), which coincidentally aired the same night that '' Doctor Who'' premiered. Two important events for the future of the British television science fiction occurred in 1962. The first was that the BBC's Head of Light Entertainment, Eric Maschwitz, commissioned Head of the Script Department Donald Wilson to prepare a report on the viability of producing a new science-fiction series for television. The second was that Sydney Newman was tempted away from the ABC to take up the position of Head of Drama at the BBC, officially joining the Corporation at the beginning of 1963. The BBC developed an idea of Newman's into Britain's first durable science-fiction television series. Taking advantage of the research Wilson's department had completed, Newman initiated the creation and along with Wilson and BBC staff writer C. E. Webber oversaw the development of this new series, which Newman named "''Doctor Who''". After much development work, the series was launched on 23 November 1963. The importance of ''Doctor Who'' to British television science fiction cannot be overstated. It lasted for twenty-six seasons in its original form, through which first emerged many of the writers who until the 1980s would create most of the genre's successful British shows. One of the few science fiction series to have become part of the popular consciousness, its success led the BBC to produce other efforts in the genre, of particular note being its own science fiction anthology series ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...

'' (1965–71), which ran for four seasons. Some of the ITV companies were imitating American styles of production, shooting some of their series on film rather than in the multi-camera electronic studio for lucrative sales in the 'international' market. One producer who was keen to make science fiction for the commercial network was

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

, who initially used puppets for his shows. His science fiction shows in ' Supermarionation' include ''

Supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

'' (1961–62), ''

Fireball XL5 ''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5' ...

'' (1962–63), '' Stingray'' (1964–65), '' Thunderbirds'' (1965–66), ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ...

'' (1967–68) and ''

Joe 90 ''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, AP Films#Century 21, Century 21, for ITC Enterta ...

'' (1968–69). Their success led his backers ITC to finance the live-action shows he most wanted to develop. The first of these was ''

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

'' (1970–71), which featured American actor Ed Bishop as the head of an undercover military organisation with responsibility for combating aliens who came to Earth in the eponymous space craft. A planned second season was delayed and eventually reformatted as a new show, entitled "'' Space: 1999''" (1975–77), which ran for two seasons and was a moderate success.

Television science fiction in the '70s

The 1970s is viewed by fans of the genre as a 'golden age'. '' Doctor Who'' was going through its strongest period with first Jon Pertwee (1970–1974) and later

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...

(1974–1981) in the leading role, already firmly entrenched in the public consciousness. Various former '' Doctor Who'' alumni had moved on to produce their own acclaimed genre programmes as well. The series' former scientific adviser Dr Kit Pedler and former script editor Gerry Davis collaborated to create ''

Doomwatch ''Doomwatch'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist ...

'' (1970–72), a series which recounted the story of a governmental scientific group formed to investigate and combat ecological and scientific threats to humankind. In the ''Quatermass'' tradition of allegorical storytelling (

was invited, but declined to contribute scripts to the programme), it used its science-fiction basis to try to convey real warnings about the state of the world, as well as telling tense, dramatic stories and not being afraid of shocking its audience, such as in the killing off of popular lead character Toby Wren (played by

Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...

). Writer

Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a British screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for ''Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Surviv ...

had created the

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...

race for ''Doctor Who'' in 1963, and thus assuring much of its early popularity. For the rest of the 1960s Nation had concentrated on writing for ITV film series, but in the early 1970s he returned to science fiction, contributing Dalek stories to ''Doctor Who'' again from 1973 to 1975 and in 1975 creating his own science-fiction show, '' Survivors'' (1975–77). '' Survivors'' was a post-apocalyptic tale of a small group of people who were the only humans left after a plague caused by biological warfare lab accident has wiped out most of humanity. It ran for three seasons and was generally well received. Nation followed it by creating ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ...

'' (1978–81). Pitched by Nation as "

the Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy ...

in space", ''

'' originally revolved around righteous freedom fighter Roj Blake, his battle with a corrupt Galactic Federation and the rag-tag group of pirates, criminals and smugglers who are reluctantly forced to work with him after an escape from a prison ship. Running for four seasons, the early evening series had a hard edge. The moral ambiguity of the leading characters made them interesting, and as with ''

'' it was not afraid of shocking the audience by killing off leading characters, climaxing by wiping out the entire crew in its final episode. ITV was continuing to produce science fiction in this era. Keen to catch some of the young audience who followed ''Doctor Who'', some of the ITV companies sought to create their own youth-oriented genre programmes, such as the 1970's cult classic sci-fi drama series, ''

Timeslip ''Timeslip'' is a British children's science fiction television series made by ATV for the ITV network and broadcast between 1970 and 1971. It was first broadcast on Friday evenings at around 5:10-5:15pm in the ATV region with the other ITV r ...

'' (1970), and the original ''

The Tomorrow People ''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979. The theme music was ...

'' (1973–79). Although it presented some intriguing (if bizarre) storylines, it never rivalled ''Doctor Who'', possibly because unlike the

...
programme it attempted to identify with children by featuring children, thus making the crossover appeal to an adult audience much more difficult. A much more respected show, produced by ATV in a similar production manner to ''Doctor Who'' (i.e. on videotape using a serial form) was ''

Sapphire & Steel ''Sapphire & Steel'' is a British television supernatural sci-fi/fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network. The series was created by Peter J. ...

'' (1979–82). The tale of two "time detectives" played by

David McCallum David Keith McCallum Jr. (born 19 September 1933) is a Scottish actor and musician. He first gained recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E''. In recent years, McCall ...

and

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

, ''

'' was a superbly atmospheric piece of television, although its production run was often hampered by the unavailability of its two leads.

1980s

Longer-running science-fiction series became few and far between. Although '' Doctor Who'' was still running, in terms of audience it was struggling to compete with US imports in the genre which began to re-emerge following the box-office success of contemporary films like the Star Wars franchise. For the television channel controllers, these had the benefit of transmission rights having a lower cost than any domestic productions. ''Dr Who'''s place in the Saturday schedule was briefly lost when it was moved to a weekday slot. Nonetheless, in the early part of the decade there were several serials produced, albeit mainly by the BBC; the bought in series mainly aired on ITV. Adaptations of novels such as ''

The Day of the Triffids ''The Day of the Triffids'' is a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent meteor shower, an aggressive species of plant starts killing people. A ...

'' (1981), ''

The Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. Originally serialized in '' Pearson's Weekly'' in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a scientist who has devo ...

'' (1984) and '' The Nightmare Man'' (1981, from the novel ''Child of the Vodyanoi'') were produced, and the BBC began an adaptation of ''The White Mountains'' novels, under the name ''

The Tripods ''The Tripods'' is a series of young adult novels written by John Christopher, beginning in 1967. The first two were the basis of a science fiction TV series, produced in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Synopsis The story of ''The Tripods'' ...

'' (1984–85). ''The Tripods'' had run for two of its planned three series when it was cancelled by the Controller of

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...

. At the same time Grade abandoned a whole season of '' Doctor Who''; the series was on hiatus for eighteen months. It appeared to be generally felt at the BBC that science fiction was more expensive to produce than other types of programme but did not return any higher audiences for the outlay or particular critical acclaim. Some BBC popular and critical successes such as ''

Edge of Darkness ''Edge of Darkness'' is a British television drama serial produced by BBC Television in association with Lionheart Television International and originally broadcast in six 55-minute episodes in late 1985. A mixture of crime drama and politica ...

'' (1985) had science-fiction as a secondary element. The industry's shift in drama productions being entirely mounted on film rather than using the old film/video 'hybrid' form, with increased costs edged out genre's thought marginal. Perhaps the last original series of its kind in the multi-camera era of BBC science fiction was '' Star Cops'' (1987), which ran for only nine episodes to poor viewing figures on the corporation's second channel, BBC2. It was written by Chris Boucher, who had contributed scripts to '' Doctor Who'' and ''

'', and was script editor for the later series entire run. The 1980s also saw the arrival on the BBC of two science fiction comedy series both of which had their origins on radio. The first was ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...

'' (1981) by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...

which amalgamated aspects of the original radio series with that of the subsequent novel. The second was '' Red Dwarf'' (1988–99, 2009–present), created and originally written by Rob Grant and

Doug Naylor Douglas Rodger Naylor (born 31 December 1955) is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer. Life and career Naylor was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and studied at Chetham's School of Music ...

. It parodies most (if not all) of the subgenres of science fiction but is first and foremost an 'odd couple' type comedy (the couple in question being the characters of Rimmer and Lister). Running for more than eight series, the idea was originally developed from the Dave Hollins: Space Cadet sketches introduced on Grant and Naylor's 1984

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

show ''Son of Cliché''.

''Doctor Who'' revival and other developments

The original version of ''Doctor Who'' lasted until 1989. Apart from a television movie in 1996, ''Doctor Who'' did not re-emerge in a bigger budget version until 2005. Affected by rights issues for some years, many of those behind the new series were fans of the show when they were younger. ''Doctor Who'' returned to television screens on 26 March 2005, gaining a profile reminiscent of the earlier series at its peak. Perhaps the most high-profile of those behind the movement to return ''Doctor Who'' to the screens is writer

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include ''Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scien ...

, who initially worked in the BBC children's department earlier in his career and contributed to British TV science fiction there. Davies' first sci-fi serial was the six-part '' Dark Season'' (1991), which co-starred a young Kate Winslet as well as former ''

'' star

Jacqueline Pearce Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981), ...

. Two years later Davies wrote a second, much more complex serial called ''

Century Falls ''Century Falls'' is a British cross-genre series broadcast in six twenty-five-minute episodes on BBC1 in early 1993. Written by Russell T Davies, it tells the story of teenager Tess Hunter and her mother, who move to the seemingly idyllic rura ...

'' (1993). ITV contributed a new version of ''

'' (1992–94) made as an international co-production with US and Australia companies, and there were various other child-oriented sci-fi type series such as ITV's ''Mike & Angelo'' (1989–99) and the BBC's ''Watt on Earth'' (1991), although these lacked the crossover adult appeal that Davies' shows had possessed. The interest in making British TV science fiction seemed to return to broadcasters towards the middle of the 1990s in that companies began to see the possibility of lucrative overseas sales and tie-in products that other genres could not match. In the mid-1990s the BBC screened four seasons of the glossy sci-fi action-adventure series '' Bugs'' (1995–98) made by independent company Carnival. They co-produced the six-part serial '' Invasion: Earth'' (1998) with the US

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

, and ITV began attempting to market British sci-fi again with serials such as ''The Uninvited'' (1997) and '' The Last Train'' (1999). The BBC also produced several children's science fiction shows in the late 1990s to mid-2000s. The most known examples of which being ''Aquila'' (1997–1998) based on the novel by

Andrew Norriss Andrew Norriss (born 1947) is a British children's author and a writer for television. Background Andrew Norriss was born in 1947. He was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead followed by University at Trinity College Dublin (1966–70) ...

and ''Jeopardy'' (2002–2004) which won the 2002 BAFTA for Best Children's Drama. A 'live' remake of ''The Quatermass Experiment'' was broadcast on BBC Four on 2 April 2005. Various series have followed the new success of ''Doctor Who'', including two spin-offs entitled ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growin ...

'' (2006–2011) and ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC ...

'' (2007–2011), a new time travel drama ''

Life on Mars The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...

'' (BBC 2006–2007), ''

Eleventh Hour The Eleventh Hour may refer to: * "The eleventh hour", a phrase in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard __NOTOC__ The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (also called the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard or the Parable of the Ge ...

'' (ITV 2008–2009), '' Primeval'' (ITV 2007–2011) and in 2009 new story for '' Red Dwarf'', now shown exclusively on Dave rather than the BBC, followed by '' Red Dwarf X'' in 2012. A short-lived but lively show ''

Dirk Gently Dirk Gently (born Svlad Cjelli, also known as Dirk Cjelli) is a fictional character created by English writer Douglas Adams and featured in the books '' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul'' and '' T ...

'' was made from the Douglas Adams' book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" in 2010.

References

{{science fiction British science fiction Science fiction television

Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...