"The Tomorrow People" (1973) TV series 1973-1979

Creator:

Roger Damon Price

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Release Date:

30 April 1973 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Tomorrow People are British teens who have special powers. They can communicate to each other using telepathy...

Plot Keywords:

Telepathy

Cast

Nicholas Young	...	John (68 episodes, 1973-1979)
Philip Gilbert	...	TIM / ... (66 episodes, 1973-1979)
Elizabeth Adare	...	Elizabeth 'Liz' M'Bundo (50 episodes, 1974-1979)
Peter Vaughan-Clarke	...	Stephen Jameson (46 episodes, 1973-1977)
Michael Holoway	...	Michael Bell (29 episodes, 1975-1979)

Runtime:

USA:30 min (68 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Thames Television

Trivia:

During the majority of the series, when the lab was located in the abandoned underground station, the control panel for the entrance was a prop that previously appeared in "Doctor Who" in the early Tom Baker story _"Doctor Who" The Ark in Space: Part 1 (1975)_. The prop was originally made for the 'Gerry Anderson' series "UFO" (1970), and other panels and control desks from that series can occasionally be seen in both "Doctor Who" and "The Tomorrow People."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the episode "The Vanishing Earth", the Spidron (who is supposed to be a plant creature) is having a conversation with Steen and turns his head, revealing the actor's human head underneath the Spidron's hood.

Quotes:

Jedikiah: "Stupid" is a word which is inadequate to describe my assessment of your intelligence!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (1993) (V)

A good children's Science fiction show!

The Tomorrow People debuted in March 1973 and was mean't to be an answer to the BBC's Doctor Who but curiously was shown on a Monday instead of Doctor Who's Saturday. It followed the adventures of several teenagers who were the first to gain telepathic powers in the next stages of human evolution. Nicholas Young was cast as John and remained with the series until it ended in 1979. Peter Vaughan Clarke was also one of the first to join the series as well as their computer Tim, voiced by the late Philip Gilbert. Elizabeth Adare joined in Season 2 and she was certainly one of the finest characters in the series alongside John. The show became very popular and ran for 6 years with eight series being produced and shown on ITV. The series certainly has it's classics and the writing by Roger Price (also the series creator) was alway's very good. Strong episodes include 'The Blue and the Green' and 'Vanishing Earth' but to me the ultimate classic is the 1978 two parter 'The Living Skins' (also Nicholas Young's favourite) featuring the Bulboids. To me this story had everything. Good humour, excellent (if funny) aliens, but more importantly despite this it was still very menacing something which I felt earlier stories never maintained. Later 'Tomorrow People' include, Andrew Forbes, Mike (played by Flintlock Drummer Mike Holoway) and Hsui Tai (she tried bless her!) and the series went out on a high in 1979 with 'War of the Empires'. The Tomorrow People remains a science fiction classic which came number 8 of the top ten sci-fi programme on Channel4 in 2001. The series really disappeared apart from some video releases in 1991 until 2001 when DVD releases of the series began to be produced by Revelation films. The commentaries are truly excellent with the wonderfully cynical Nicholas Young providing a lot of laughs. Big Finish productions are now also making new 'Tomorrow People' audio dramas. In conclusion, although 'The Tomorrow People' was sometimes quite shallow and certainly not a patch on Doctor Who it did provide science fiction thirsty children with some excellent stories and perhaps more importantly a good laugh! The show was packed full of humour throughout it's six year run. Certainly a good series, and one among the science fiction greats.