British Cult Television: The Changes

THE CHANGES BBC TV 1975

(10 episodes. All 16mm colour film)

Production: Bristol and The Forest Of Dean,  June to August 1973. 

First Broadcast: BBC1, 5.20pm Mondays,  6th January to 10th March 1975.

Based on the book: The Changes Trilogy: (The Weathermonger, Heartsease, The Devil’s Children) by Peter Dickinson.

Adapter and Producer: Anna Home

Director: John Prowse

Cast: Vicky Williams as Nicy Gore, Keith Ashton as Jonathon, David Garfield as Davey Gordon,  Edward Brayshaw as The Chief Robber, Bernard Horsfall as Mr Gore, Sonia Graham as Mrs Gore.Rafiq Anwar as Chaca, Rugby Brar as Gopal, Rebecca Mascarenhas as Ajeet, Arthur Hewlett as Mr Tom, David King as Mr Barnard, Jack Watson as Peter, Tom Chadbon as Michael, Merelina Kendall as Mary and Oscar Quitak as Mr Furbelow.

Post apocalyptic drama serial The Changes is, arguably, one of the most ambitious children’s programmes ever broadcast. Even during the Seventies, a ten part serial on colour film was a bold and unusual move. The extract above is from the beginning of episode four.

Its quite a disturbing watch and given it was originally transmitted at teatime it is all the more remarkable the BBC were able to get away with it. Alright, so technically it was aimed at older children and teenagers, but even so, a whole generation of school kids grew up with half remembered scenes imprinted on their minds.

Synopsis: The first episode is superb and stands up remarkably well, even today. 15 year old Nicky Gore is doing her homework one evening, when suddenly there is a strange noise and her father begins to smash up the televison set he was calmly watching only moments before. Suddenly Nicky finds herself joining in with the whole family, destroying all electronic and mechanical goods. Outside in the street, people are rampaging and all mechanical things are being destoyed… This is the time of “the changes” and  only people who aren’t reliant on mechanical or electronic goods and very small children seem to be free from the mindbending noises. The serial suggests the noise is carried on pylons or “bad wires” as Nicky calls them. Abandoned by her parents, Nicky makes friends with some travelling Sikhs, unaffected it seems by the changes. Her friendship causes aggression amongst the local villagers. The Sikhs find themseves branded as ” The Devil’s Children” and Nicky is percieved as being evil for conspiring with them. (One could read this as an allegory for the state of Britain in the early to mid Seventies when racism was rife as ethnic minorities struggled to find a voice in the new multicultural Britain.)

In later episodes Nicky is nearly stoned for being ” a witch” in the eyes of local vigilante Davey Gordon, who since the changes has become obsessed with searching out “evil and evildoers”. Nicky escapes with the help of farmer’s son Jonathon and his boat “The Heartsease”. Davey Gordon gives chase but is drowned when he falls from a canal lock gate and is unable to swim.

 Nicky and Jonathon’s boat blows up and they swim to safety,  spending a night in the woods. Rescued by a young couple with a new born baby, the serial moves at a calmer pace as the youngsters recover from their recent ordeal. Nicky is determined to discover what is causing the changes and hopefully reverse the process, she and Jonathon head for a nearby quarry in search of answers… 

Analysis: Truly chilling but veryexciting stuff! Adapted and produced by Anna Home from the books The Changes Trilogy by Peter Dickinson, Filming took place in the summer of 1973 in the Clifton area of Bristol, later the setting for shows as diverse as Shoestring, Sink Or Swim and the more recent Being Human. Later episodes were shot in the countryside and  surrounding areas of the Forest of Dean. Directed by John Prowse, The Changes was transmitted on BBC1 on Monday afternoons from 5.20 to 5.45pm between 6th January and 10th March 1975. It reached a good audience for its slot and was repeated the next summer on Wednesday afternoons between 5.15 and 5.40pm from 9th June to 11th August 1976 . The Changes was last broadcast around 1993/4 on UK Gold. Its never been released on video or DVD and is only available on Youtube as a copy of the UK Gold transmissions.

The very effective theme music and  incidental score was by Paddy Kingsland of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. What sounds like a piano string adds a feel of menace to the moment of change. The post apocalyptic theme extended to the title sequence. We see the normality of industry and production suddenly frozen and rendered obsolete. Lorries and trains are frozen and reversed or are suddenly seen ablaze. This was terrifying stuff for a five year old but I turned out alright! It would have been great to have seen the story updated to the end of the century when all the horror stories about the Y2K bug were predicting the world would go back to the stone age!

Hopefully, one of these days the BBC will see fit to release The Changes uncut on DVD, perhaps with some extras such as a commentary by the stars. Vicky Williams who played Nicky Gore was most recently seen on the BBC’s Holby City. David Garfield who played Davey Gordon had roles in Doctor Who, Citizen Smith and most recently The IT Crowd…

The serial predated its adult counterpart Survivors by three months and I actually think The Changes is the better show. Naturally Survivors has been released on DVD to help the promotion of a rebooted series. If that’s what it takes to see this on DVD then maybe it is time for  new version of The Changes. If they do remake it, I reckon it will be aimed at adults and be shown in a post 9pm slot. It will also probably not be half as good…

MUSIC:  The Changes Suite by Paddy Kingsland. Retrospective: 50 years of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. (Released 2008)  

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