felixnoir This was made during a period when the BBC did not have very much money and it shows in this generic by-the-numbers BBC adaptation. Neither the actors nor the script nor the production are very much to write home to Mother about. The whole first episode takes up about half the first chapter of the book, an indication that the series will set most things indoors to save money. The whole episode just shows the lead actor feeling upset in his hospital room, with a couple of flashbacks. I disliked the way that the story jumped between characters as well - this was quite contrary to the spirit of the book, in which the lead character's story slowly unfolds and his world expands. The main reason you would watch it is just that you hunger to see an adaptation of the book. The book indeed calls out for a modern 'Children Of Men'-type adaptation. We do the Apocalypse just so much better nowadays.

weejockxxx The day Of The Triffids is my all time, favourite book. I read it first as a teenager and now, forty years later, it still grips me with it's despairing yet hopeful message and the horror of the Triffids which change from being a mild nuisance to a dreadful threat overnight when humanity loses the power of sight. I hadn't seen this version till a few months back so eagerly watched it when I got hold of a copy on DVD. The pacing is a bit slow as was normal back then but the story actually remains pretty faithful to the book (which is more than I can say about the appalling Howard Keel movie). The acting is first rate; John Duttine and Emma Relph breathe believability into the roles of Bill and Josella, the direction solid and even without modern day effects, the Triffids are scary. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to see a production of 'Triffids'

bob the moo When an asteroid shower passes over the earth, most of the world stops and watches the "once in a lifetime" spectacle. However the vast majority of the world find themselves blinded. This leaves the world at the mercy of the Triffids – a strange species of plant that can move and attack humans, but whose value as an oil resource has seen them farmed and controlled around the world. In a London hospital, Bill Masen is confined to his hospital bed with his eyes bandaged up after a Triffid sting at work. The day after the shower, Bill wakes to find everything quiet with seemingly nobody around to take the bandages off. He stumbles out into the day to find the population blind and, with society quickly crumbling, Triffids seem like just one of the problems to contend with.I quite liked the film version for what it was but it was quite different from the book. This BBC mini-series though, is much more faithful to the source material and produces three hours of television that are more about the people than the plants of the title. If you consider the six episodes, the Triffids are not present throughout and sometimes they are no more than yet another thing in the background. The main thrust is actually about the breakdown of society, the choices the seeing survivors have to make at the early stages and the later stages. As such it is a very British piece as of course there is the polite indecisions and stiff upper lips that see survival accompanied by a certain amount of shame and frustration.Hannam's direction is good as he works well with the sets and effects he has available to him. He has a good script to work with that puts food for thought onto the table consistently, while he also maintains a fairly constant sense of fear in relation to the lack of everything we would expect. In this regard the early episodes were the stronger. Of course the effects are limited but the Triffids themselves are actually pretty good and, if walking, man-eating plants did exist then I imagine they may look like this. The sets are quite cheap and have dated as badly as the clothes etc but this is not really a problem since the material is what is interesting, rather than the effects. The cast mostly work well, with Duttine solid in the lead with Relph doing OK work alongside him and Colbourne a strong presence with a character that asks a lot of moral questions of the viewer.Overall then, better and more faithful to the book than the film version. It looks dated and of course the effects are not brilliant but it is the complexity of a crumbling society and the choices to be made that keep it interesting more than the action of Triffid attacks.

rogue9000 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.