Bill Masen (John Duttine), having been temporarily blinded by a Triffid plant, wakes in the hospital one morning to find the world has mostly gone blind due to an unusual meteor shower the night before. He quickly teams up with Josella "Jo" Payton (Emma Relph) and the duo try to navigate though London while avoiding the walking Triffids as well as new groups determined to advance their ideologies on this new world. This 157 minute miniseries won accolades from John Wyndham fans as being the most accurate adaptation of his 1951 sci-fi novel (I haven't read it but the Wikipedia synopsis is dead on). It is definitely fun stuff and decidedly different from the 1960s TRIFFIDS film. Like most great sci- fi, it is really talking about modern times and dynamics between the various groups trying to impose their plans is interesting. While the idea of walking plants seems goofy, the production pulls it off with some nice practical FX. The key element that really helps pull it off is the creepy sound the plants make as they communicate by tapping on their bases. Very simply yet very effective. The show does suffer in that it does the age old Brit trick of location shooting on film and studio filming on videotape. Other than that, this is top notch stuff.

When I was a child in 1984 I think I saw the first rerun of this adaptation and I was terrified. When I brought the DVD a few years ago my perspective changed dramatically. All it is are a bunch of BBC darlings not acting very well and running away from Garden centre props who sound like Skippy The Kangaroo. I also find it amusing that it was filmed mainly in trendy parts of North London. Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and Camden Lock. Cleary the majority of actors and producers lived round that neck of the woods. Hey it' s good budget reductions. If you're from that part of London you will know what I mean! But hey 80s nostalgia is 90% of the time a mistake when it is rewatched in the noughties.

In 1962 came one of the worst film adaptations of a book in history. The plot was drastically changed, characters were eliminated, changed and new ones were added in altogether!And then, like a holy beacon of light, came the faithful, 1981 TV series by the BBC. Yes, even though they did change a few minor details, the plot was left intact, the story followed the same route as the novel, and the actors really got into their roles.Bill Masen awakes in hospital, with his eyes bandaged up to find that the majority of the population of the world has been rendered helpless when they blinded overnight by a spectacular comet shower. And, to make matters worse, a fairly new species of dangerous, carnivorous plants that have been kept under lock and key until now, are now free to roam, kill and eat to their own pleasure. You see, these plants aren't like your average, potter plants, that sit in a pot, grow, and die. These plants walk, they grow to great heights, they have ten-foot long poison whips, and feed on decayed human flesh. Surely we've seen the demise of the human population of Earth as the Triffids multiply their numbers with every year that passes...

I remember watching this when i was a child and still enjoy it as much now as i did then,the breakdown of morals were shown very quickly with the main character trying to save a girl from being raped and it made me think what would happen if there was no more law and order and the sighted could do whatever they wished.OK the triffids are very 1980's (but that is when it was made so what do you expect) But if they made a remake now it would be all CGI and no story (war of the worlds being a major case).All in all i would have to say get it (not the rubbish film but the bbc version) settle down on a Sunday afternoon and go back in time to when a programme had to keep you hooked by the story line and not the special effects and maybe make you worried about your garden at night lol.