TV Review: The Day of the Triffids (1981)

The Day of the Triffids (1981) produced by David Maloney and directed by Ken Hannam based on the novel by John Wyndham

Triffid farmer Bill (John Duttine) has had his head bandaged for several days. Triffids are from a rare botanical species that provides an oil that makes fuels more efficient. They also have stingers that can kill someone. Bill was stung as a child and survived. He had an accident on the farm that effected his eyes. The show starts on the day the bandages come off. The night before, an amazing, world-wide meteor storm enraptured the world. Pretty much everyone went outside to see it. This morning, most people are blind. No one shows up to take Bill's bandages off, so he does the job himself. As he wanders the streets, he discovers that only a few people, like Jo (Emma Relph), missed the show for one reason or another (she was passed out) and can still see like he can. If 95 percent of the population being blind isn't bad enough, the triffids are moving around (they have weird locomotive roots) and killing people. Bill and Jo find each other and start wandering through the apocalyptic landscape, hoping to find safety.

The show focuses more on the survival horror and various possible new societies than on monster mayhem (the focus of 1960s movie version). Considering the early 1980s BBC special effects, the choice is good to have fewer triffid scenes. The plants don't look terrible except when they are moving. Their drumming with their roots is a bit unnerving--several characters believe that is how the plants communicate with each other. Bill insists that they have no brains and yet their behavior has a sort of intelligence behind it. The real focus is on Bill seeing various communities and trying to reunite with Jo after they get separated. They had a plan to go to a house with its own electric generation and plenty of land to farm but they were swept up in an urban social group that was very militant about what people were to do. Bill's journey is very reminiscent of 28 Days Later, which has borrowed heavily from this. I found the exploration of other possible societies interesting though the show rushes through with little commentary on the value of those solutions (many of them get wiped out by the triffids or by a mysterious disease that adds more problems to the situation). In the last few episodes (the show is six half-hour programs), the characters acknowledge that the only future for humanity is to rebuild communities, an idea Bill reluctantly comes to agree with. Choosing the right community is the big trick in such situations.

Mildly recommended--it's an interesting exploration of apocalyptic survival for an individual and for communities.