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Lee Pressman and Grant Cathro have written some of the most
memorable and highest rated programmes for Children's ITV.
Their work includes T-Bag, Spatz, Mike &
Angelo and The Tomorrow People. This 70 minute interview
explores their career and inspirations for their work as well
as delving further into their part in the 1992 revival of
Roger Price's The Tomorrow People...
Re-Inventing
The Tomorrow People is
an interesting release. The
only question I have is "Why? Why release this now?"
Sure it's entertaining, and will probably reveal a few insights
into the re-inventing of the classic '70s TV series for those
that are interested, but it's about ten years too late.
Maybe,
as Big Finish's range of audio dramas is still going strong,
it would have been a more interesting release if this DVD
had examined The Tomorrow People in all its incarnations
- interviewing various actors, directors and writers - to
give a more in-depth look at the series as a whole. It's not
as though those involved in the '70s show are hard to track
down. Go to almost any sci-fi convention and at least a couple
of members of the cast will be there. And I'm sure Big Finish
would have been keen to push their new series. Or maybe I've
totally missed the point of this release?
I
originally interviewed both Pressman and Cathro for DreamWatch
magazine back in 1995 as The Rameses Connection and
The Living Stones were due to be screened on ITV. I didn't
really learn anything new from this release - other than what
the two of them have being doing for the last decade.
Anyone
who has seen Pressman and Cathro's '90s incarnation will already
know that it was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else on
children's television at the time. The production values were
impressive and some of the planet's best loved actors appeared
- including Christopher Lee, the late Patricia Hayes, Connie
Booth, William Hootkins and Danny
John-Jules. But it was the writing that made the
show stand out from all the other shows on TV. Here was a
kid's show that never patronised it's audience, and could
also be enjoyed just as much by adults.
For
those who remember this short run series, this release will
provide some interesting, and amusing tales on how Pressman
and Cathro got involved, as well as proving more than a handful
of amusing anecdotes.
There
is also a mini interview (15 minutes) with Tessa and Deborah
Vale who starred in The Culex Experiment. It would
seem that they don't actually recall that much about their
time on the show, as they get a little in a muddle over what
their characters did. But then maybe they don't have the world's
greatest memories - one of them admits to forgetting that
she recently starred in a play her sister directed!
On
a production point you should be aware that this is a DVD-R
release - which means it probably won't play on most older
DVD players. The sound was also all over the place. Sometimes
it was terribly quiet, other times it was way too loud and
the lip synch is not overly fantastic in quite a number of
places. And finally on my DVD player the edge of the captions
were missing at the start of the chapters. This meant that
the DVD started off introducing the two writers as "ee
Pressman & Grant Cathr". Additionally, on the Tessa
and Deborah Vale interview I was amused to see the following
appear on screen: "You always promote yourselves as twi"
and "hat has been the highlight of your care".
Pressman
and Cathro's writing on The Tomorrow People turned
it into something far more than just a children's television
series. There was something for everyone, and I for one welcome
the chance to hear them once again talking about their involvement
with a great TV series, as well as their despair at the state
of Children's programming today. While this interview DVD-R
could have been a lot better, it still provides a useful insight
into the origins of the '90s reincarnation.
Darren
Rea
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