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TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Publicity : The Big Pull - Robert Gould, the author, introduces the six-part science-fiction serial beginning tonight: Before man can reach the moon he will have to find a safe way of penetrating the Van Allen belts - two belts of radio-active particles five-hundred and nine-thousand miles up, and one-thousand and three-thousand miles deep respectively. This scientific fact, though not generally known, is at present keeping American space experts busy trying to find a solution to the problem. What lies beyond? Other galaxies, other planets, other civilisations - millions of light years away? Perhaps even other beings in space, only too ready to attempt an attack on this world? These are the thoughts behind the science-fiction serial which begins tonight. The first man has orbited the earth above the Van Allen radiation belts. Soon after his capsule is retrieved from space the astronaut dies. Twenty-eight days later space-research head Sir Robert Nailer (played by William Dexter) is confronted with evidence which indicates a weird and terrifying possibility: that the dead man returned "contaminated" and that this "contamination" has begun to spread. He died from no known cause - after making only one orbit of the earth a mere fourteen-thousand-five-hundred miles up. Could some force, some influence, have been waiting just above the radiation belts to gain entry to the earth? The implications of what has happened begin to be understood, and what lies ahead begins to reveal itself in all its horror … There are no monsters in The Big Pull. It is our own inability to see beyond our noses that carries the story through to its horrifying end. If in fact an attack from outer space did take place - particularly if we were faced with having to try and accept what is to our way of thinking impossible - human nature could well be the weakest point in our defence. I believe we are very vulnerable indeed, as you will see during the next six weeks if you watch the serial. (Radio Times, June 7, 1962 - Article by Robert Gould).
Publicity : The Big Pull: When American astronaut Mike Sklorski travelled in a specially protected rocket through the deadly belt of radio-active particles encircling the earth and returned safely after a single orbit fourteen-thousand-five-hundred miles up, it seemed as though the way was clear for the space-race to the moon, for both Sklorski and his capsule landed completely free from any trace of cosmic radiation. And yet soon after the capsule was opened, Sklorski died from causes unknown. The first man to enter the capsule after the flight is Doctor Weatherfield, the scientist who designed the rocket. Visiting England for the opening of a powerful new radio-telescope, Weatherfield disappears from his hotel following nightmares in which he has "absorbed" Sklorski's memory. Could something have happened to the astronaut during the nineteen unexplained seconds out in space when the capsule's cameras and tape-recorders went blank? Could whatever it was have come back with him through the radiation belts? And could Doctor Weatherfield have been contaminated by some form of cosmic infection? In this evening's second episode of the exciting new BBC Television science-fiction serial, the search for Doctor Weatherfield becomes a matter of top-secret priority. For the giant new radio-telescope is receiving an unintelligible signal from an unknown source, and things have been seen in the streets of London which lead the Head of Scientific Research to the conclusion: "The decisions the Home Secretary is going to have to make may well mean the difference between life and death for us all…". (Radio Times, June 14, 1962).
Synopsis : The dead astronaut, Major Sklorski, is seen alive, and Doctor Weatherfield has disappeared. Sir Robert Nailer believes that Sklorski and Doctor Weatherfield have become one body, one personality.
Synopsis : The result of Sklorski's successful orbital flight is an attack on earth by an intelligence from space. Men are attacked in pairs - one killed, one missing. The only chance of preventing the next attack is to find a missing man - and there are twenty-one hours to go.
Synopsis : The last attack from space claimed thirty-two victims. The next attack will claim double that number. Bruton-Anderson (the "fusion" of two men that looks like Anderson) is captured by Sir Robert, who is forced to attempt a desperate experiment.
Synopsis : The missing men now number thirty-one, and the attacks from space have stopped - but for how long? Nailer knows the missing men must now reduce their number to sixteen. How will they do it and when? Their success means the end of the world.
The series was produced and directed by Terence Dudley. The series was written by Robert Gould. |
This
six-part serial, produced and directed by Terence Dudley, was
both potent and compellingly addictive as the layers of revelations
were steadily stripped away as the series surged towards its climax.
The ability to keep the viewer guessing as to whether or not it was
a radiation plague or an alien invasion heightened the suspense and
dramatic potential, and a served as a timely warning of the dangers
of reckless experimentation in space.
The programme boasted notable performances from Frederick Treves, June Tobin, Gertan Klauber and Keith Pyott, and is one of the more high-calibre science-fiction drama productions BBC Television developed throughout the 1960s. The programme was never commercially exported or released. Text © Matthew Lee 2004. The series was created and written by Lester Powell and produced and directed by Alan Bromly. |
