Two things happen - lights in the sky make most people go blind, and the world is simultaneously overrun by Triffids, intelligent ambulatory carnivorous plants.
Classic stories - of which John Wyndham's The Day Of The Triffids is one - are almost entitled to revisitation by the TV/movie industry every few years. This particular iteration is a two part, 3 hour co-production between the BBC and sundry others, and features Dougray Scott as major protagonist Bill Masen.
In this instance, Masen actually works with the Triffids, which were harnessed by his father to produce Triffid oil to defeat global warming in an interesting tweak to the original. In a less pleasing tweak, Masen's mother was killed by Triffids when he was a child, which results in frequent and annoying flashbacks of African natives in frightmasks.
Dougray Scott is a dour, unappealing, and frequently unintelligible protagonist. Joely Richardson is a solidly effective leading lady and Eddie Izzard is an entertaining but motiveless baddie.
The scenes of a devastated London are very effective, and the Triffids are nicely realised.
Which leaves the script, in respect of which one can only say "Oh dear." There are digressions which would be fine in an ongoing series, but which have no place in a miniseries like this. There are illogicalities aplenty. There are characters with no apparent motivation, and unbelievable motivations. The Day Of The Triffids is an easy story to make believable. This effort chooses not to.
Classic stories - of which John Wyndham's The Day Of The Triffids is one - are almost entitled to revisitation by the TV/movie industry every few years. This particular iteration is a two part, 3 hour co-production between the BBC and sundry others, and features Dougray Scott as major protagonist Bill Masen.
In this instance, Masen actually works with the Triffids, which were harnessed by his father to produce Triffid oil to defeat global warming in an interesting tweak to the original. In a less pleasing tweak, Masen's mother was killed by Triffids when he was a child, which results in frequent and annoying flashbacks of African natives in frightmasks.
Dougray Scott is a dour, unappealing, and frequently unintelligible protagonist. Joely Richardson is a solidly effective leading lady and Eddie Izzard is an entertaining but motiveless baddie.
The scenes of a devastated London are very effective, and the Triffids are nicely realised.
Which leaves the script, in respect of which one can only say "Oh dear." There are digressions which would be fine in an ongoing series, but which have no place in a miniseries like this. There are illogicalities aplenty. There are characters with no apparent motivation, and unbelievable motivations. The Day Of The Triffids is an easy story to make believable. This effort chooses not to.