Invasion: Earth (TV series)
A dark sci-fi drama about an interdimensional alien invasion.
Invasion: Earth is a BBC science fiction television series co-produced with the Sci Fi Channel, released in 1998 as six fifty-minute episodes. It is notable for its dark tone and extensive use of computer-generated imagery, one of the first British TV series to do so.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Writer
- Jed Mercurio
- Director
- Patrick Lau; Richard Laxton
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 1
- Episodes
- 6
- Runtime
- 50 minutes
Facts from the source article.
Creation and production
The series was conceived, written and co-produced by Jed Mercurio, a former physician who gained prominence in the 1990s as creator of the medical drama Cardiac Arrest under the pseudonym John MacUre. Invasion: Earth was a co-production between BBC Scotland and the Sci-Fi Channel, shot on location in Scotland with assistance from the British armed forces. It was one of the first British TV series to feature extensive CGI.
Episode summary
In 1944, during The Blitz, a bomb disposal team led by Lieutenant Charles Tyrell discovers a crashed craft with two non-human occupants; one is shot dead, the other badly injured. Fifty-four years later, RAF Flight Lieutenant Chris Drake intercepts an unidentified craft over the North Sea. After a weapon shuts off electrical power at his airfield, Drake shoots down the craft against orders, damaging his own plane. His navigator dies during ejection, and Drake is grounded. Meanwhile, a group of government-sponsored university researchers led by Dr Amanda Tucker picks up an extraterrestrial transmission. Tucker joins forces with Drake, and they are reluctantly recruited by US Air Force Major General David Reece to decipher the message.
In other media
The series was released on VHS in 1998 by BMG Video as two volumes, each including part of a behind-the-scenes documentary. A Region 1 DVD box set was released in 2005 by A&E Television Networks, featuring production notes, a history of alien invasion films, and cast biographies. As of the DVD release, no Region 2 release for the UK was planned. A companion book by Peter Haining, published by Headline Book Publishing in 1998, is out of print.
More in Television Series About Alien Invasions
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