WE'RE ALL DOOMED!
SFX|January 2021
CELEBRATED ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR, BUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS THE SHOW EXPLORED MATTER MORE THAN EVER. SPEAKING IN 1988, CO-CREATOR GERRY DAVIS REVEALED HOW HE AND KIT PEDLER SCARED THE NATION
BRIAN J ROBB
WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

IF YOU CAN GET PAST THE fashions (cravat city) and the out-of-date attitudes (Simon Oates’s womanising Ridge pinches the secretary’s bum in the first episode’s opening minutes), there is still much that is relevant to Doomwatch. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, this peak-time 1970 show was created by scientist Kit Pedler and writer Gerry Davis – the men whose imaginations also spawned Doctor Who’s Cybermen. By the end of the ’60s, after five adventures the Cybermen were on hiatus, freeing Pedler and Davis to develop Doomwatch. The show explored all manner of environmental catastrophes, capitalising on the early–’70s high profile of the nascent Green movement. The stories came from the headlines of the day, and in several cases even anticipated real-world events.

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