Second City Firsts (TV Series) Thwum (1975) User Reviews

Very odd short drama - once lost - now recovered!

[davidcheckley-87956 · 10/10 · 1 November 2017]

Thwum! Thwum! Only shown once and never forgotten – by me, anyway! The really great news is that this lost show has now been found and will be screened at the 2017 Missing Believed Wiped event at BFI Southbank, London on Saturday the 16th of December. According to the BFI website: the episode was recovered from a domestic video recording kept by director Pedr James, who will be introducing the piece, and reveal the fascinating story behind the production and its survival. I wrote the synopsis on this page from my memory of watching the original broadcast when I was age 13. So please, if you're lucky enough to get to see it at the BFI showing, write a little review here and correct me on any mistakes I've made… This very odd drama production featured only one tiny studio set: the caravan interior, where all the dialogue was enacted. Breakfast bar and table surfaces are strewn with maps and photographs of George Adamski type flying saucers and all the familiar caravan fittings. The studio work was also complimented by a little bit of exterior location filming for the establishing shots. The cast was comprised of just three actors: none celebrated names at the time, and all rather quirky in appearance. A young Paul Moriarty, who was to become a familiar TV face in shows like The Gentle Touch, The Bill and Eastenders, made a convincing obsessed UFO nut, supported by experienced film actress Rosalind Elliot's brief appearance as his wife. And the great Pete Postlethwaite, striking and decidedly odd looking in what I believe was his very first acting appearance on television as Duffy. The last few seconds of the play utilized it's only special effect: Duffy in true alien form. Achieved using a crude early Colour Separation Overlay technique, a completely naked Postlethwaite was tinted bright red as his revelation is made and he exits. The moment was given impact by the absence of any incidental sound effect or music. It was shown on BBC2, on a Saturday late night, at the same time as Match of the Day, and you could be sure it had a pretty small audience as a consequence. Earlier that evening, Doctor Who: The Android Invasion Episode 1 had been transmitted. I'm looking forward to seeing it again now. It left a distinctive impression with me in 1975, and now, with its reappearance: I'd like to know what other people think of this strange little drama. A definite candidate for DVD release though, in my book.

This missing episode now found

[ewaf58 · 10/10 · 18 December 2017]

As announced on the BBC new website - 18.12.2017 - this episode has now be discovered. I've awarded a 10 because I remember watching the series of plays by first time writers back in the 1970's and they were very good.

It's always very exciting when a transmission that has be missing for 42 years suddenly shows up and adds to our rich television heritage - so this is a major event.

I hope the BFI (British Film Institute) finds a way to get this gem broadcast.