Tuesday 11 August 2015

201 The Changes


First  watched :  6  January  1975

After  The  Long  Chase , I'd  say  this  was  my  favourite   children's  serial  of  the  seventies.

It  was  based  on  a  trilogy  of  books  by  Peter  Dickinson  about  a  mysterious  catastrophe  hitting  Britain  whereby  the  populace  suddenly  turn  against  all  the  trappings  of  modern  technology  and  destroy  them  where  they  can  reverting  to  a  superstitious  pre-industrial  society.

This  scary  new  world  is  viewed  through  the  eyes  of  a  very  plain  Jane  teenager  Nicky  ( Vicky  Williams ) , a  picture  of  lank-haired  pre-punk  dreariness, who  becomes  separated  from  her  parents  early  on  and  has  to  navigate  the  dangerous  new  landscape  with  the  aid  of  a  family  of  Sikhs , a  boyfriend  Jonathan ( Keith  Ashton )  and  a  self-sufficient  couple.

The  serial  was  screened  in  ten  parts  and  marketed  as  being  for  older  children  as  it  had  to  be given  the  amount  of  violence  and  threat  in  it . At  one  point  Nicky  is  sentenced  to  death . The  chief  villain  Davy  Gordon  ( played  by  reliable  character  actor  David  Garfield )  is  particularly  terrifying  as  a  fanatical  witchfinder. It  was  expensive  to  make  as  it  was  all  filmed  on  location  and  makes  liberal  use  of  Paddy  Kingsland 's  synthesiser. I  think  Squeeze's  Slap  And  Tickle  owes  something  to  the  memorable  theme  tune.

The  story  confronts  many  troubling  issues  of  the  time. The  Sikhs  are  clearly  in  there  to  make  a  point  about  racial  integration  and  the  whole  series  is  suffused  with  environmentalist  worries  and  then  concern  about  taking  eco-fascism  too  far. There's  also  a  side  helping  of  early  seventies  Arthurian  mysticism  before  its  entombment , by  the  twin-pronged  attack  of  Johnny  R  and  Maggie  T,  for  more  than  a  decade. Some  of  its  themes  were  resurrected  ten  years  later  in  the adult  thriller  Edge  of  Darkness ;  gnarly  actor  Jack  Watson  appeared  in  both  series.

Blogger  Robin  Carmody  has  written  a  good  eulogy  for  the  series  here . I  don't  think  The  Changes  quite  made  it  as  a  masterpiece.  The  shoehorning  of  the  three  books  into  one   series  with  Nicky  as  the  linking  character ( she  only  appears  in  one  book )  doesn't   disguise  that  there  are  three  distinct  climaxes,   after  the  first  two  of   which  the  story  has  to  reboot  almost  from  scratch,  and  unfortunately  the  last  one  is  the  dullest. There's  a  definite  sag  after  Nicky  and  Jonathan  escape  from  Gordon  in  episode  7  with  Tom  Chadbon's  benign  hippy  less  a  character  than  a  mouthpiece  for  Dickinson's  liberal  middle  way.  At  the  end  there's  an  empty  feeling  of  irresolution; Nicky 's  inarticulate,  Abraham-like  intercession  for  the  world  as  it  was  before  succeeds  in  securing  its  restoration  but  where  do  you  go  from  there ?  Well  we  know  the  answer  now ;  halfway  through  the  series'  run  a   certain  woman  won  the  leadership  of  her  party  and  would  provide  ample  footage  of  industrial  dereliction  and  urban  blight  if  they  ever  fancied  remaking  the  series.  

Still  Robin's  right  about  one  thing. We  won't  see  its  like  again. The  series  was  repeated  in  1976  and  shown  once  on  UK  Gold. It  was  finally  released  on  DVD  last  year  hence  its  disappearance  from  YouTube.

Vicky  Williams  is  still  a  jobbing  actress  but  hasn't  had  a  starring  part  since.

 


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