The Day of the Triffids (2009 TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Day of the Triffids is a BBC
two-part television adaptation of John Wyndham
's novel of the same name
. The novel had previously been adapted by the BBC in a 1981 miniseries.
, where 30 years before Triffid expert Dr. Bill Masen's mother was attacked and killed by one of the plants. Triffids are large carnivorous plants capable of vicious and intelligent behaviour, and are equipped with venomous stingers which they use to stun and immobilise their prey, before feeding on them. Masen tells the story of how the oils the Triffids produced were used as a new alternative fuel, effectively putting an end to man-made global warming. They were kept in warehouses in countries worldwide, but despite their benefits the treatment of the plants was not without protesters. One of these activists broke into a male Triffid compound outside London and was arrested, but Bill was injured by an undeveloped male plant in the attempt as he had given up his safety goggles for another worker, Lucy, a security officer and friend of Masen's. Lucy rushed him to a local hospital, where he was told he had a 50:50 chance of going blind permanently. However with his eyes wrapped in bandages he missed a massive solar eruption
which occurred that same night. The bright light of the sun's rays were seen all over the world, but the rays proved to be more dangerous than first thought. Suddenly the brilliance of the rays intensified to a horrific scale, and all those who saw the flares were blinded; more than 95% of the world's population.
Meanwhile a plane heading towards the capital was brought down when the solar storm blinded the pilots and all but one of the passengers on board. The sole sighted man clambered into the toilet, covered himself in life vests and braced for the worst. The plane eventually crashed and the man, who narrowly escaped death, named himself Torrence after the now-destroyed Westminster
road. Back at the hospital, Bill had finally regained his sight, but had no idea of how the world changed overnight. Chaos reigned in the streets, with many of the blind now struggling to find a way through. Bill found Radio Britain personality Jo Payton being ambushed by a throng of desperate blind citizens who had realised she could see, and were attempting to use her as a guide, and saved her from further harm. Jo was in the London Underground
at the time of the solar flare, and therefore was not rendered blind. The pair teamed up to find out what happened, but Bill's only concern was the Triffids, knowing the mass incident would have caused the electricity to go down at the compounds, the only thing keeping them safe. Bill and Jo soon spot a signal from a university tower, a message to the remaining sighted people. Upon arrival they find that a group has been assembled to continue the human race as best they can, but Bill is angered by how little warning there is to the encroaching Triffids. He attempts to escape but is captured by Coker, who uses him to round up survivors and supplies for the cause, but both are oblivious to the disaster that is about to unfold.
. Despite its secluded location, Bill is aware that the Triffids may return and, to make things worse, could reproduce faster thanks to a cluster of active beehive
s. Bill decides to leave for Shirning, hoping to find his estranged father Dennis Masen, and with it a solution to stop the Triffids. However, outside of the church he finds the lifeless body of Father Thomas, sacrificed by Durrant to the Triffids. He returns in anger, surprising Durrant, who leaves the colony, insisting that the society will collapse without her. Several days follow and Bill has continued to journey towards the house where his father lives. During the journey, he meets up with two orphaned but sighted girls Imogen and Susan, who almost kill him with potshots in the process. The three of them journey to Shirning, but are ambushed by a mysterious figure, who reveals himself as Dennis Masen. Upon returning to Shirning House, protected from Triffid attacks by a powerful electric fence
, Bill is re-united with Jo, who narrowly escaped Torrence's men the night before. Dennis reveals his plan to stop the Triffids to Bill, his intentions being to genetically engineer a new species to neutralise the old one. Though Bill finds the idea absurd, he nonetheless agrees to retrieve the last part of the experiment, a single male Triffid head.
Finding the head during a daring break into an abandoned plantation, the new Triffid proves to be a success, but at the same time Coker drops some papers off at the house, which explains the details of a new colony on the Isle of Wight
, where the last of the Triffids were exterminated. However, Dennis' examination of his wife's Triffid recordings from Zaire causes the still-growing Triffid to react, attacking him with its stinger. Bill hears Dennis' cry for help and attempts to free his father, firing at the Triffid through its head. With Dennis now dead and the subject destroyed, the group has no option but to leave for the Isle of Wight. Before they can leave, Torrence turns up at the house with a group of men, looking for the solution to the Triffids, but Bill refuses to tell him the plan. Torrence threatens to kill him, Jo and the girls if he doesn't find a new plan by the next morning. Bill plans an escape, using the same recordings that killed his father earlier to draw in more Triffids to cause a distraction. Their plans are nearly thwarted by one of the soldiers, a rookie cadet name Troy, who defects to them by faking their deaths to Torrence. The inactive fence is destroyed by the Triffid swarm, trapping everybody in the house and grounds, but one of the girls picks up an old tribal mask from Bill's old things, causing him to remember something from 30 years previously. He was told on that day by a tribesman that the mask would help him to see, ironically by being temporarily blinded by Triffid poison. Realising that this is the solution they've been looking for, he administers the treatment to himself, Jo, Troy, Susan and Imogen. It allows them to pass through the Triffids unharmed, but Torrence is eventually overwhelmed by them and dies.
The family is next seen on the Isle of Wight after settling into the colony. With the group now protected from the Triffids by the Solent
, Bill still wonders about eventually returning to the mainland, and questions the moral of how the world was blind even when our eyes were open.
was to film a new version of the story; the drama was screened on 28 and 29 December 2009, starring Dougray Scott
as Bill Masen, Joely Richardson
as Jo Playton, Brian Cox as Dennis Masen, Vanessa Redgrave
as Durrant, Eddie Izzard
as Torrence, Jason Priestley
as Coker, Jenn Murray
as Susan, Ewen Bremner
as Walter Strange, Lizzie Hopley
as Hilda and Julia Joyce
as Imogen.
It was produced by Michael Preger, Stephen Smallwood and directed by Nick Copus
(EastEnders
, The 4400
). The script was by Patrick Harbinson, who has also written episodes of the British dramas Soldier Soldier
and Heartbeat, and the American series ER
and Law & Order.
used in the programme was Cobstone Windmill
, Ibstone
, Buckinghamshire
.
Shirning, the house used by Bill Masen's father, is Groombridge Place
near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. This location was earlier used in the 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice
.
The scenes based in a religious community were filmed at the Hospital of St Cross
in Winchester
.
The pub which Coker and his team take over is Shaws Booksellers which is on St Andrew's Hill in the St Pauls area of London.
When he finds the two children, the shot of him walking in is filmed in Turville
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
two-part television adaptation of John Wyndham
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
's novel of the same name
The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...
. The novel had previously been adapted by the BBC in a 1981 miniseries.
Part one
The film opens in the jungles of ZaireZaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, where 30 years before Triffid expert Dr. Bill Masen's mother was attacked and killed by one of the plants. Triffids are large carnivorous plants capable of vicious and intelligent behaviour, and are equipped with venomous stingers which they use to stun and immobilise their prey, before feeding on them. Masen tells the story of how the oils the Triffids produced were used as a new alternative fuel, effectively putting an end to man-made global warming. They were kept in warehouses in countries worldwide, but despite their benefits the treatment of the plants was not without protesters. One of these activists broke into a male Triffid compound outside London and was arrested, but Bill was injured by an undeveloped male plant in the attempt as he had given up his safety goggles for another worker, Lucy, a security officer and friend of Masen's. Lucy rushed him to a local hospital, where he was told he had a 50:50 chance of going blind permanently. However with his eyes wrapped in bandages he missed a massive solar eruption
Solar flare
A solar flare is a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release of up to 6 × 1025 joules of energy . The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day...
which occurred that same night. The bright light of the sun's rays were seen all over the world, but the rays proved to be more dangerous than first thought. Suddenly the brilliance of the rays intensified to a horrific scale, and all those who saw the flares were blinded; more than 95% of the world's population.
Meanwhile a plane heading towards the capital was brought down when the solar storm blinded the pilots and all but one of the passengers on board. The sole sighted man clambered into the toilet, covered himself in life vests and braced for the worst. The plane eventually crashed and the man, who narrowly escaped death, named himself Torrence after the now-destroyed Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
road. Back at the hospital, Bill had finally regained his sight, but had no idea of how the world changed overnight. Chaos reigned in the streets, with many of the blind now struggling to find a way through. Bill found Radio Britain personality Jo Payton being ambushed by a throng of desperate blind citizens who had realised she could see, and were attempting to use her as a guide, and saved her from further harm. Jo was in the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
at the time of the solar flare, and therefore was not rendered blind. The pair teamed up to find out what happened, but Bill's only concern was the Triffids, knowing the mass incident would have caused the electricity to go down at the compounds, the only thing keeping them safe. Bill and Jo soon spot a signal from a university tower, a message to the remaining sighted people. Upon arrival they find that a group has been assembled to continue the human race as best they can, but Bill is angered by how little warning there is to the encroaching Triffids. He attempts to escape but is captured by Coker, who uses him to round up survivors and supplies for the cause, but both are oblivious to the disaster that is about to unfold.
Part two
Bill and Coker are nearly killed during a late-night ambush by a group of Triffids. Fearing the worst is yet to come they both travel on foot to a new religious colony run by Durrant, now the Mother SuperiorMother Superior
A mother superior is an abbess or other nun in charge of a Christian religious order or congregation, a convent or house of women under vows.Mother superior may also refer to:*Mother Superior , a rock band who became ¾ of Rollins Band circa 2000...
. Despite its secluded location, Bill is aware that the Triffids may return and, to make things worse, could reproduce faster thanks to a cluster of active beehive
Beehive
A beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young.Beehive may also refer to:Buildings and locations:* Bee Hive, Alabama, a neighborhood in Alabama* Beehive , a wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings...
s. Bill decides to leave for Shirning, hoping to find his estranged father Dennis Masen, and with it a solution to stop the Triffids. However, outside of the church he finds the lifeless body of Father Thomas, sacrificed by Durrant to the Triffids. He returns in anger, surprising Durrant, who leaves the colony, insisting that the society will collapse without her. Several days follow and Bill has continued to journey towards the house where his father lives. During the journey, he meets up with two orphaned but sighted girls Imogen and Susan, who almost kill him with potshots in the process. The three of them journey to Shirning, but are ambushed by a mysterious figure, who reveals himself as Dennis Masen. Upon returning to Shirning House, protected from Triffid attacks by a powerful electric fence
Electric fence
An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from uncomfortable, to painful or even lethal...
, Bill is re-united with Jo, who narrowly escaped Torrence's men the night before. Dennis reveals his plan to stop the Triffids to Bill, his intentions being to genetically engineer a new species to neutralise the old one. Though Bill finds the idea absurd, he nonetheless agrees to retrieve the last part of the experiment, a single male Triffid head.
Finding the head during a daring break into an abandoned plantation, the new Triffid proves to be a success, but at the same time Coker drops some papers off at the house, which explains the details of a new colony on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, where the last of the Triffids were exterminated. However, Dennis' examination of his wife's Triffid recordings from Zaire causes the still-growing Triffid to react, attacking him with its stinger. Bill hears Dennis' cry for help and attempts to free his father, firing at the Triffid through its head. With Dennis now dead and the subject destroyed, the group has no option but to leave for the Isle of Wight. Before they can leave, Torrence turns up at the house with a group of men, looking for the solution to the Triffids, but Bill refuses to tell him the plan. Torrence threatens to kill him, Jo and the girls if he doesn't find a new plan by the next morning. Bill plans an escape, using the same recordings that killed his father earlier to draw in more Triffids to cause a distraction. Their plans are nearly thwarted by one of the soldiers, a rookie cadet name Troy, who defects to them by faking their deaths to Torrence. The inactive fence is destroyed by the Triffid swarm, trapping everybody in the house and grounds, but one of the girls picks up an old tribal mask from Bill's old things, causing him to remember something from 30 years previously. He was told on that day by a tribesman that the mask would help him to see, ironically by being temporarily blinded by Triffid poison. Realising that this is the solution they've been looking for, he administers the treatment to himself, Jo, Troy, Susan and Imogen. It allows them to pass through the Triffids unharmed, but Torrence is eventually overwhelmed by them and dies.
The family is next seen on the Isle of Wight after settling into the colony. With the group now protected from the Triffids by the Solent
Solent
The Solent is a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England.The Solent is a major shipping route for passengers, freight and military vessels. It is an important recreational area for water sports, particularly yachting, hosting the Cowes Week sailing event annually...
, Bill still wonders about eventually returning to the mainland, and questions the moral of how the world was blind even when our eyes were open.
Production
In November 2008, it was announced that the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
was to film a new version of the story; the drama was screened on 28 and 29 December 2009, starring Dougray Scott
Dougray Scott
-Early life:The son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, an actor and salesperson, Stephen Dougray Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife and attended Auchmuty High School...
as Bill Masen, Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
as Jo Playton, Brian Cox as Dennis Masen, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Durrant, Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
as Torrence, Jason Priestley
Jason Priestley
Jason Bradford Priestley is a Canadian-American actor and director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role which catapulted him to recognition in the early 1990s....
as Coker, Jenn Murray
Jenn Murray
Jenn Murray is an actress from Northern Ireland. Nominated for The 6th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards.-Filmography:-References:* *...
as Susan, Ewen Bremner
Ewen Bremner
-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
as Walter Strange, Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley
Lizzie Hopley is a British actor and writer.She appears in several audio plays based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Her first appearance was as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Gemma Griffin in Terror Firma. She also portrayed the sister of Davros in the I, Davros...
as Hilda and Julia Joyce
Julia Joyce
Julia Joyce is an actress who was born on 14 June 1998, known for her three appearances as a younger version of Billie Piper in Doctor Who , Ruby in the Smoke and Mansfield Park. She is also the younger sister of the actress and model Lucy Joyce.-Filmography:-References:...
as Imogen.
It was produced by Michael Preger, Stephen Smallwood and directed by Nick Copus
Nick Copus
Nicholas "Nick" Copus is a British cinematographer, director, producer, writer of film and television. As a director his credits include EastEnders, Holby City, Painkiller Jane, The Dresden Files, The 4400, Nikita, Alphas and The Day of the Triffids...
(EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, The 4400
The 4400
The 4400 is a science fiction TV series produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Sky Television, Renegade 83, and American Zoetrope for USA Network. The show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and it stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie...
). The script was by Patrick Harbinson, who has also written episodes of the British dramas Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997...
and Heartbeat, and the American series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and Law & Order.
Locations
The windmillWindmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
used in the programme was Cobstone Windmill
Cobstone Windmill
Cobstone Mill was built around 1816 and is located in the civil parish of Ibstone in Buckinghamshire, England, and overlooks the village of Turville. It is sometimes referred to as Turville Windmill. It is a smock mill that replaced the original mill that had stood there since the 16th century...
, Ibstone
Ibstone
Ibstone is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills on the border with Oxfordshire, about two miles south of Stokenchurch....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.
Shirning, the house used by Bill Masen's father, is Groombridge Place
Groombridge Place
Groombridge Place is a moated Manor house in the village of Groombridge near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It has become a tourist attraction, noted for its formal gardens, vineyards and a bird of prey sanctuary. -History:...
near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. This location was earlier used in the 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
.
The scenes based in a religious community were filmed at the Hospital of St Cross
Hospital of St Cross
The Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty is a medieval almshouse in Winchester, England, founded between 1133 and 1136. It is the oldest charitable institution in the United Kingdom...
in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
.
The pub which Coker and his team take over is Shaws Booksellers which is on St Andrew's Hill in the St Pauls area of London.
When he finds the two children, the shot of him walking in is filmed in Turville
Turville
Turville is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about five miles west of High Wycombe and five miles north of Henley-on-Thames....
.