Out of This World (British TV series)

Did You Know?

• Only one episode, "Little Lost Robot", survives today and is available on DVD.
• Audio recordings of "Cold Equations" and "Impostor" exist; the "Cold Equations" soundtrack is complete, but the "Impostor" soundtrack is incomplete and runs approximately 44 minutes.
• The surviving episode and audio recordings were released on DVD by the British Film Institute in 2014.

Origins

Irene Shubik, a science fiction enthusiast since her college years, became a story editor for ABC Television’s Armchair Theatre in 1960 under producer Sydney Newman. The following summer, she suggested creating a sci-fi counterpart to that anthology, inspired by the existing Armchair Mystery Theatre spin-off. Prior to this, Shubik had already arranged for several near-sci-fi episodes of Armchair Theatre, such as "The Omega Mystery" and "The Ship That Couldn't Stop." The December 1961 broadcast of "Murder Club," an adaptation of Robert Sheckley’s "The Seventh Victim" starring Richard Briers, became the direct model for the proposed series. Around the same period, the BBC found major success with the sci-fi thriller A for Andromeda.

Production

Shubik was appointed story editor, and Leonard White, producer of the first two seasons of The Avengers, was assigned to produce. White found the series a welcome change from The Avengers, describing it as an opportunity to explore the unrealities of tomorrow. The budget averaged £5,000 per episode. Shubik had difficulty finding suitable material, a problem that had hindered earlier attempts. She made a useful contact in John Carnell, founder of New Worlds and agent for many British science fiction writers, who helped select material and promoted the series heavily, giving it the cover of the July 1962 edition. A strike by actor's union Equity bought Shubik extra time to find scripts. All but two episodes were adaptations. The series name came from anthology collections edited by Amabel Williams-Ellis. Boris Karloff was chosen as host, an idea taken from U.S. anthology series such as The Twilight Zone and Thriller, which Karloff had hosted. Terry Nation supplied three scripts—adaptations of Philip K. Dick's "Impostor" and Clifford D. Simak's "Immigrant", and an original story called "Botany Bay"—his first professional science fiction work; he later created the Daleks for Doctor Who, Survivors, and Blake's 7.

Broadcast and critical reception

An adaptation of John Wyndham's "Dumb Martian" was originally intended to launch the series, but Sydney Newman chose to broadcast it as part of Armchair Theatre the week before, ending with an epilogue by Boris Karloff previewing the new series. The first episode, "The Yellow Pill", attracted 11 million viewers, placing it eleventh in the ratings that week and beating Z-Cars. Critical reaction was generally positive: Kinematograph Weekly called it "the most intelligent and best written of its genre since Quatermass"; The Times praised the level of writing and direction; and the Yorkshire Evening Post described it as "the most accomplished thing of its kind that TV has yet produced". Michael Bentine sent a telegram of congratulations to Leonard White.

Influence

Despite being judged a success, a second season was not made due to the departure of Sydney Newman and Irene Shubik to the BBC. At the BBC, Shubik devised and initially produced Out of the Unknown, a science fiction anthology series that ran for four seasons between 1965 and 1971. Two Out of This World scripts—"The Yellow Pill" and "Target Generation"—were remade by Out of the Unknown in its third season. Shubik later produced series such as The Wednesday Play, Play for Today, Playhouse: The Mind Beyond, and Rumpole of the Bailey, and instigated the adaptation of The Jewel in the Crown.