I wasn't born when most of Out of the Unknown was originally shown, and until BBC Four repeated Thirteen to Centaurus last year, I'd never even seen an episode. Hardly surprising really, since the last time the series had been shown on British television was over thirty years earlier.

Thanks to the BBC's archive junking, I'm never going to be able to watch most of the series, and there's no sign of the surviving episodes being released on DVD any time soon. Consequently, Mark Ward's guide to the series is the nearest I'm going to come to it, at least for the foreseeable future.

First impressions are impressive. The price tag might be hefty, but so is the book - A4 size and, at almost 500 pages, nearly an inch and a quarter thick.

After an introduction from series creator and original producer Irene Shubik, the first two chapters detail the series' genesis, both in terms of personnel (such as Shubik and Sydney Newman) and OOTU's television ancestors (such as ABC's Out of This World and the BBC2 production of The Caves of Steel).

The rest of the book follows the same format - an overview of each season followed by a comprehensive guide to each episode.

Incidentally, reading these took me back to the mid-1980s as I remembered several of them from the Penguin Science-Fiction Omnibus that we read for English Literature O Level, which I recently picked up again in a charity shop, along with a John Wyndham short story collection that included the season 3 story Random Quest.

It's hard to see how the episode guides could be bettered. Not only do they contain in-depth details of the episodes, as well as production information, they're also accompanied by a wealth of photographs. The first two seasons are particularly well served in this category, which an almost complete collection of John Cura's telesnaps, which provide the only surviving record of many of the episodes.

Out of the Unknown was one of the few British science-fiction series that were aimed at a discerning adult audience, and this guide is similarly targetted.

Admittedly, there are a few annoying typos throughout the book, but given its nature and wordcount, there isn't an excessive amount and since many of them are missed apostrophes, the meaning is always clear.

At over fifty quid including postage, the price tag is a steep one, but that reflects the work that's gone into it and its specialist nature. For fans of intelligent British science-fiction television, featuring top-notch actors, directors and writers, this is a must-have. back to the top

OUT OF THE UNKNOWN
A GUIDE TO THE LEGENDARY BBC SERIES

Written by MARK WARD

KALEIDOSCOPE PUBLISHING


£45


RATING: 9/10