1990 (1977-1978)

UK, 18 September 1977-10 April 1978
2 series, 16 episodes, average 55m
videotape, 16mm film, colour
mono, English
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review

A British science fiction television series created by William Greatorex. 16 episodes were broadcast over two series on BBC2.

Premise

In 1990, Great Britain is ruled over by the Home Office Public Control Department (PCD), a sinister governmental department that has abolished individual rights and introduced ID cards for all citizens, rationing and sophisticated electronic surveillance. A group of rebel dissidents do their best to help those who want to escape the PCD's tyranny flee the country – one of those dissidents is journalist Jim Kyle, whose activities are being closely monitored by PCD's head man, Herbert Skardon…

Episodes

Series One

© BBC 1977
BBC
Series Devised by: Wilfred Greatorex
Producer: Prudence FitzGerald
Theme Music: John Cameron
Regular Cast: Edward Woodward (Jim Kyle); Barbara Kellerman (Delly Lomas); Robert Lang (Herbert Skardon)

Creed of Slaves (18 September 1977)
Written by: Wilfred Greatorex
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Guest Cast: George Murcell (‘Tiny' Greaves); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Clifton Jones (Henry Tasker); Donald Gee (Dr Vickers); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Eileen Davies (Mrs Vickers); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); John Savident (Dan Mellor); Paul Chapman (Randall); Willie Jonah (Nolan); Desmond Jordan (Burnley); Honor Shepherd (Marly); Tina Vickers (Sophie Coghill); Luke Hanson (Jack Grey); Lynn Dalby (Mrs Grey); Mathias Kilroy (Pearce); Stacy Davies (P.C.D.Inspector); Malcolm Rennie (emigration officer); Robert Swales (Wilkie); Bruce Lidington (Harper); Bill Rourke (Kendall); Colin Fay (stevedore)
Journalist Jim Kyle learns of a plan by the PCD to convert stately homes around the country into ARCs (Adult Rehabilitation Centres) where the socially undesirable will be incarcerated and brainwashed. Meanwhile, he also tries to help a doctor to get his asthmatic and dying daughter out of the country for the treatment she needs to survive.

When Did You Last See Your Father? (19 September 1977)
Written by: Wilfred Greatorex
Directed by: David Sullivan Proudfoot
Guest Cast: George Murcell (‘Tiny' Greaves); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Clifton Jones (Henry Tasker); Donald Gee (Dr Vickers); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Gillian Raine (chairperson); Peter Attard (Ian Cursley); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); John Savident (Dan Mellor); Paul Chapman (Randall); Reginald Jessup (Henry Duncan); Eileen Davies (Mrs Vickers); John Hamill (Norton); Mathias Kilroy (Pearce); Alix Kirsta (Carol Harper); Stacy Davies (P.C.D.Inspector); Mike Hall, David Rowley (emigration officers)
Kyle helps Dr Vickers to escape the country despite the Home Secretary's abolition of all exit visa appeals. His wife and daughter have been left behind and Vickers resorts to international law to have the family reunited. But the Public Control Department are determined to get him back, putting Kyle in real danger in the process.

Health Farm (26 September 1977)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Kenneth Ives
Guest Cast: George Murcell (‘Tiny' Greaves); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); John Savident (Dan Mellor); Ray Smith (Charles Wainwright); Donald Douglas (Dr Gelbert); Mitzi Rogers (Agnes Culmore); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Mathias Kilroy (Pearce); John Rhys-Davies (Ivor Griffith); Howard Bell (Halloran)
Kyle's bosses assign him to investigate one of the ARCs and learns that a leading trades union leader has been marked for brainwashing. Kyle has to find a way to warn the man before the PDC can carry out its plan.

Decoy (3 October 1977)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Guest Cast: Victor Maddern (Calhoun); Graham Crowden (Dr Sondeberg); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); George Mallaby (Carr); Alan Tucker (Bowden); Anthony Scott (Kingston); Phyllida Nash (reporter); Jonathan Adams (P.C.D. officer)
While Dr Sondeberg, a key global political player, visits the UK, Kyle hatches a plan to use a motorised caravan to smuggle a select team of psychiatrists, geneticists and bio-chemists out of the country to the safety of South America.

Voice from the Past (10 October 1977)
Written by: Arden Winch
Directed by: David Sullivan Proudfoot
Guest Cast: George Murcell (‘Tiny' Greaves); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Clifton Jones (Clifton Jones); Simon Chandler (Brian); Richard Hurndall (Avery); Esmond Knight (Mitchell); Simon Lack (Luff); Honor Shepherd (Marly); Michael Graham Cox (Baker); Damien Thomas (Walters); Joby Blanshard (Williams); John Quarmby (Dr Bland); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Raymond Mason (Sefton); Claire Davenport (Nurse Stevens); Terry Bale (Len); Robert Sansom (old man); Terence Ward (PCD inspector); David Lyell (P.C.); David Rolfe (Peters)
A student is arrested by the PDC when he is found in possession of a non-approved political newsletter. It's up to Kyle and his associates to free him and move him to a place of safety.

Whatever Happened to Cardinal Wolsey? (17 October 1977)
Written by: William Greatorex
Directed by: David Sullivan Proudfoot
Guest Cast: Clifton Jones (Henry Tasker); John Castle (Philip Carter); Anna Cropper (Susie Carter); John Phillips (Attorney-General Graham); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Frank Mills (PCD Inspector Jones); Martin C. Thurley (Clayton); John Savident (Dan Mellor); Ed Bishop (Ed Burbank); Pamela Sholto (chairperson); Janie Booth (Lena Yates); Graeme Eton (Stan Aldwick); John York (Davies); James Lister (PCD supervisor [Wade]); Ian Liston (Talbot); Stephen Kane, Reg Turner (PCD men); Bimbo (Bimbo)
A judge who defies PCD guidelines and dispenses justice fairly comes to the attention of an outraged attorney general. He orders that PCD forces intimidate the judge's pregnant wife until the man steps back into line.

Witness (24 October 1977)
Written by: William Greatorex
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Guest Cast: George Murcell (Greaves); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Clifton Jones (Henry Tasker); Donald Gee (Dr Vickers); John Bennett (prosecutor); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Honor Shepherd (Marly); John Savident (Dan Mellor); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Patricia Garwood (Maggie Kyle); Jonathan Scott-Taylor (Bevan); Peter Myers (Bingham); Mark Heath (Paul); Yvonne Gilan (defence counsel); Clifford Mollison (chairman); Michael Cashman (technician); Terry Walsh, Alan Harris (PCD man)
The PCD starts to close in on Jim Kyle. The rebel journalist begins investigating a government minister and finds his family being harassed by PCD officials. Before long he is arrested and put on trial for his involvement in the smuggling of Dr Vickers out of the country.

Non-Citizen (31 October 1977)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Bob Hird
Guest Cast: Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Edward Judd (Auckland); Victor Maddern (Sammy Calhoun); Michael Napier Brown (Jack Nichols); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Colin Edwynn (Nutter Stonebridge); Mitzi Rogers (Agnes Culmore); Vernon Dobtcheff (Professor Cheever); Tony Sympson (Frank Woodcock); Stacy Davies (PCD sergeant); Julia Sutton (woman non-citizen)
Jim Kyle has been stripped of his citizenship and confined to a ghetto. But he manages to escape and begins to turn the tables on the PCD and especially its leader, Herbert Skardon.

Series Two

© BBC MCMLXXVII [1977] [first episode only] and © BBC MCMLXXVIII [1978]
Production Company: BBC
Series Devised by: Wilfred Greatorex
Producer: Prudence FitzGerald
Theme Music: John Cameron
Regular Cast: Edward Woodward (Jim Kyle); Robert Lang (Herbert Skardon); Lisa Harrow (Lynn Blake)

Pentagons (10 February 1978)
Written by: William Greatorex
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Clive Swift (Tom Doran); David McKail (Inspector Macrae); John Nolan (Tomson); Barry Lowe (Frank Fenton); Oscar James (Everton); Edward De Souza (Perez); David Rose (policeman); Norman Mitchell (Sewell); Paul Beech (Green)
The PCD introduces a new law banning meetings by groups of more than five people. Groups of dissidents form themselves into cells of five activists known as Pentagons and prepare to take on the PCD. Meanwhile, Jim Kyle learns that a former lover, Lynn Blake, has assumed the role of PCD Deputy Controller and is trying to find Kyle's informer, Faceless.

The Market Price (27 February 1978)
Written by: William Greatorex
Directed by: Roger Tucker
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Clive Swift (Tony Doran); David McKail (PCD Insp Macrae); Lyndon Brook (Peter Greville); John Ronane (Charles Graydon); Fiona Walker (Miss Dalton); Ann Curthoys (Mrs Greville); Jane Forster (Jodie Greville); Michael Cassidy (Alf Turner); Max Harvey (Rev. Newgate); Olu Jacobs (Alan Msawi); Norman Rutherford (surveillance man); Marc Wolf (pilot); Ken Halliwell, Pat Gorman (A.R.C. guards)
The PCD begins a crackdown on food black marketeers and begins to close in on one of its own, Ministry of Food employee Peter Greville who is passing information to Kyle.

Trapline (6 March 1978)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); John Carson (William Grainger); Donald Burton (Harry Blaney); John Paul (Richard Hallam); Norman Eshley (Tony Borden); Sandra Payne (Barbara Fairlie); Stanley Lebor (Digger Radford); Peter Diamond (thug)
Kyle joins forces with Police Commissioner Hallam who is investigating a private security outfit that the PCD have employed as enforcers.

Ordeal by Small Brown Envelope (13 March 1978)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Kenneth Ives
Guest Cast: Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); David McKail (Inspector Macrae); Jim Norton (Arthur Haynes); Donald Burton (Harry Blaney); Paul Hardwick (Faceless); Clive Swift (Tom Doran); Hermione Gregory (Jane Doran); Stanley Lebor (Digger Radford); John Saunders (Carter)
PCD introduces a new form of attack – ASH (Authorized Systematic Harassment), the bombarding of suspected dissidents with endless complex forms, bills and visits from threatening bailiffs. Chief among their targets are Kyle's associate Tony Doran who soon begins to crumble under the bureaucratic onslaught

Hire and Fire (20 March 1978)
Written by: Edmund Ward
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); David McKail (Inspector Macrae); David Buck (George Molloy); Colin Douglas (Joe Hutchinson); Joseph Brady (Ernest Harrison); Simon Cadell (Robert Jessup); Stanley Lebor (Digger Radford); Ken Kitson (Johnny Rolfe); John Bott (James Conrad); James Greene (Gerald Arnold); Sally Travers (Mrs Hutchinson); Eric French (non-citizen)
A brutal network of extortionists is taking money from the downtrodden workforce. Their attentions soon turn to Kyle and he unexpectedly finds himself fighting the same people as his sworn enemy, PCD Controller Skardon.

You'll Never Walk Alone (27 March 1978)
Written by: William Greatorex
Directed by: David Sullivan Proudfoot
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); Joyce Carey (Nancy Skardon); David Rintoul (Philip Ross); Adam Bareham (Alan); Geoffrey Burridge (Cyrus Asher); Alan Leith (Rickerby); Raymond Boyd (chess correspondent); Gretta Gouriet (newsreader); James Murray (Abe); Sue Woodley (Annie)
A champion chess player has been refused an exit visa to play in an overseas competition by the PCD who fear that he may never return. Jim Kyle tries to find a way to get the man out of the country.

Young Sparks (3 April 1978)
Written by: Jim Hawkins
Directed by: Kenneth Ives
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); David McKail (Inspector Macrae); Julia Schofield (Liz); Adam Bareham (Alan); George Pravda (Pallin); Martin Fisk (Sanders); Peter Clay (Mayers); William Wilde (Riley)
In-fighting among the various dissident groups is put to one side as the various rebel movements unite to take on the PCD.

What Pleases the Prince… (10 April 1978)
Written by: Wilfred Greatorex
Directed by: Alan Gibson
Guest Cast: Yvonne Mitchell (Kate Smith); Tony Doyle (Dave Brett); David McKail (Inspector Macrae); Michael Tarn (John Brooks); Michael Osborne (Robert Brooks); Jenny Laird (Mrs Brooks); Primi Townsend (Verna Wells); Norman Rutherford (surveillance man); Sandra Payne (Barbara Fairlie); Ysanne Churchman (PCD clerk); Tony Sibbald (newscaster); Edmond Bennett (caretaker)
Opposition to the PCD grows daily. When one of the rebels martyrs himself for the cause, public opinion is so strong that Home Secretary Smith is forced to initiate an investigation into the PCD's activities.

Press

Donald Pryce-Jones in The Listener ¹The Listener vol.98 no.2528 (29 September 1977) p.419 noted that “1990 picks out of the air the free-floating anxieties of the moment. A tale of this kind, as Orwell also found, can be the most suitable means of focusing on what is happening. Open dislike, perhaps loathing, is being generated as whole new categories of independent-minded people find themselves unable to award an arrogant and privileged bureaucracy, in private as well as in public natters. The series derives its compulsion from this political fact, and with it comes the marrow-bone conviction, no longer confined to those with the imagination for nightmare, that the bill is coming in for this carry-on, in a form like his.” Brendan Hennessy of Television Today was less convinced. Writing of the episode Decoy he said: “There's little sense of the society as a whole. One advantage of this is that director Alan Gibson can focus clearly on the central struggle without getting bogged down in political niceties. However, there is an air of unreality and contrivance not avoided by some splendidly unforced acting, and more concrete detail of the way we may live then would, I think, have helped to make the message reverberate further and louder.” ²Television Today 6 October 1977 p.16

References

Periodicals

• Infinity no.30 (2020) pp.8-17 – illustrated article (A very British tyranny… by Robert Fairclough)
• The Listener vol.98 no.2528 (29 September 1977) p.419 – review (Paying the penalty by Donald Pryce-Jones)
• Radio Times vol.216 no.2810 (17 September 1977) pp. 6, 10 – article
• Television Today 6 October 1977 p.16 – review (by Brendan Hennessy)
• Time Screen no.7 (revised) p.29 article

Books

• The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction (3rd edition) pp.275-278 – credits
• The Complete Directory to Science Fiction and Horror Television Shows by Alan Morton pp.580-581 – credits