| So, it turns out that flying saucers aren't occupied | | | | spottings being those of careless time travellers, |
| by little green men from outer space after all, but | | | | is inspired. Also, ideas about the dangers of |
| by time travelling civil servants from the year | | | | interaction by time travellers, although well worn |
| 2130. At least, that is according to this television | | | | from countless science-fictions, are painted here |
| film from 1980 that was filmed as part of the | | | | afresh with images (although be it, not actually |
| acclaimed BBC's Play for Today series. | | | | physically shown) of buildings crumbling and people |
| 2130, 131 years after the nuclear apocalypse of | | | | disappearing. |
| 1999; society has become very ordered. Out of | | | | That's not to say that this is a film just of ideas. |
| necessity, people have learned to take orders, to | | | | Any film that has a world-weary, directionless |
| follow rules. If one is told not to go outside | | | | main protagonist named Dominick Hide who sets |
| because of the radioactivity, then one is likely to | | | | off in search of someone called Dominick Hide, |
| follow that order, and so, obedience has become | | | | and ends up finding love (twice over) and a new |
| something of a habit. Dominick Hide (Peter Firth), | | | | lease of life, is always going to be about more |
| tired of his sanitised, empty life, craves more. | | | | than just ideas. The contrasts between Dominick's |
| When we first encounter him, he is returning | | | | 1980 life and his 2130 life are fascinating. Exciting |
| from one of his missions (his duty is to monitor | | | | and new in 1980, staid and lifeless in 2130. In 1980 |
| the 1980 London traffic system.) He is shown in | | | | Jane may have introduced him to passion and |
| close-up revealing his melancholy and disconsolate | | | | beauty, but she has also introduced him to fear |
| face. He has had enough of watching, he wants | | | | and shame. Dominick in turn, for better and for |
| to interact. | | | | worse, introduces these new emotions to those |
| His mischievous 116 year-old, sorry, make that | | | | around him in 2130. 1980 begins to bleed into 2130. |
| 115 year-old (she has a tendency to exaggerate) | | | | Dominick and Ava begin to relate. Dominick's |
| great aunt Mavis (Sylvia Coleridge) gets the plot | | | | engineer comes out of the closet. The lifeless |
| moving. She tells him of his | | | | come to life. |
| great-great-grandfather, also called Dominick Hide, | | | | The futuristic elements of the production are |
| who may have been living in London in 1980, Port | | | | surprisingly credible. The fashions, are for once, |
| Beale she thinks (Portobello is the consensus view | | | | not outlandish and silly. And technology has not |
| of three inebriated 1980 Londoners.) Dominick | | | | lost sight of common sense and basic human |
| becomes determined, much to the chagrin of his | | | | needs. But, the most intelligent aspect of the film |
| wife, Ava (Pippa Guard), to do what is forbidden | | | | is the language used in 2130; one can easily |
| by his intimidating superior, Caleb Line (Patrick | | | | believe that the English language, that like all |
| Magee), to land on the flipside (the time travelled | | | | language is an organic evolving thing, would have |
| to), and search for his great-great-grandfather. In | | | | changed to the subtle level that is heard here. |
| 1980 he meets the stunningly beautiful Jane | | | | Funny, thought-provoking, moving, visually |
| (Caroline Langrishe), who runs a shop on | | | | arresting (surprisingly so for a television |
| Portobello road; she and her friends are enlisted | | | | production, its use of dissolves are particularly |
| by him in his quest to find Dominick Hide. | | | | interesting), well acted, and above all else, quite |
| As with most science-fiction, The Flipside of | | | | unlike anything else. How refreshing to find a piece |
| Dominick Hide, is as concerned with ideas as much | | | | of science fiction with neither violence, nor even |
| as with anything else. The fantastic central conceit | | | | the threat of violence. A lesser sequel followed in |
| that I mentioned in the opening line, that of flying | | | | 1982. |
| saucers housing time travellers, and flying saucer | | | | |