waller2
Marvellous piece of entertainment. It would make a great Hollywood movie with perhaps Jim Carey as Dominick? Any other suggestions? It is a well written piece which, although showing signs of age, still holds up as a feel good drama. Peter Firth is now an overweight ageing actor but then again are'nt we all! With some of the dross re makes on the go recently this would make an excellent rom com with a bit of sci fi thrown in; an excellent winning combination surely. It does seem a shame that in this age of crash bang wallop sci fi we do not make thoughtful pieces such as this any more. Play for Today was a great idea but unfortunately todays audience is not willing to invest 90 minutes in watching something that may or may not be good. Is there any way of suggesting movie re makes to Hollywood moguls or do we just have to live in hope?
NEIL-213
Just watched this on bbc 4 and just have to say i thought it was great.The story was well written.The writers letting the story flow and not trying to speed it up with unwanted action.The acting was superb from Firth and the rest of the great cast,Patrick magee giving a good performance in his small but pivotal role.The music at the beginning and the end was very good.Although i have no doubt i am probably looking at this through rose coloured glasses,and that there was a fair share of trash on TV in the 80s.This really puts the TV programmes of today to shame.Given a choice what my TV license fee should be spent on it would be this kind of programme not reality TV.Anyway i do hope the sequel will be shown on TV soon.
antog
I've just watched this play, on DVD, for the first time in over twenty years. I enjoyed it the first time round but expected it to be dated and a bit staid after so many years had passed. But I could not have been more wrong, for sure it is of its time but it is still as touching, funny and compelling as it was then. Often Sci Fi is more a mirror of the time that it was made than a projection of the future, just look at the original Star Trek and you can see a future looking very nineteen sixties. However The Domanick Hide plays manage to depict a future which is more than just an extension of the Eighties. The exception being a computer keyboard that looked as though it was taken from a Comodore C84 or similar, hardly surprising given the limited budget of these plays. What is surprising is that, limited budget or not, when Domanick is in his own time you feel that he really is in the future. Sorry no car chases, aliens, ray guns or violence just a just a really good story with some good music and a few laughs thrown in. Definitely worth the cover price
geffers
After 24 years, you would expect a low budget play to show its age, but Flipside holds up very well. Of course the references to 1999 are now, thankfully, inaccurate. Large wall TV's, holographic projectors, video phones, a London Underground that shows which stop you are at - really not a bad effort at prediction.But what really stands out is the great attempt to show the evolution of English after 100 years and more, clipping the sentences to a more precise style. And everything is perfect here, and different too - the editing for instance, where there is a gentle fade between Dominick and Ava as they talk, culminating in a merge of both faces. Even the saucer doesn't look too tacky considering budget constraints. And to think that this was just one of a seemingly endless parade of new plays shown each week. Shame on the BBC for not promoting new drama, and new dramatists in this way any more.There is something so nostalgic about the way the play unfolds, and the music is great too.