1990

1977

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1
7.6| NA| en| More Info
Released: 18 September 1977 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p030z4d5
Info

The series is set in a dystopian future in which Britain is under the grip of the Home Office's Department of Public Control (PCD), a tyrannically oppressive bureaucracy riding roughshod over the population's civil liberties. Edward Woodward plays Jim Kyle, a journalist on the last independent newspaper called The Star, who turns renegade and begins to fight the PCD covertly. The officials of the PCD, in turn, try to provide proof of Kyle's subversive activities.

Genre

Drama

Watch Online

1990 (1977) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Production Companies

1990 Videos and Images

1990 Audience Reviews

Diagonaldi Very well executed
Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
ib011f9545i I was 16 when this was shown on the BBC,Woodward was a star after Callan but this series is not well known. I hardly saw it when it was on. So I was happy to buy the series 1 DVD. It is both very good and very obvious and clichéd. 1970s Britain was a rough place,the country was split politically,there was much talk of anti democratic behaviour from left and right. There were strikes yes but Britain was a fairer place in 1978 than 1968 but the reaction was the election of the Tories in 1979.1990 is a sort of Daily Mail readers worst nightmare of what the Labour government was like. There are many mentions of civil servants with good pensions and government bully boys. But all governments contain a danger of oppression and the bureaucrats often do behave badly in real life,the road to hell is paved with good intentions.This has some great writing and acting and the series hints at the truth that George Orwell revealed that bullies are bullies because they like doing it,not because of political commitment.It is almost funny to recall that some people celebrated the victory of Mrs Thatcher in 1979 as a victory for freedom but soon miners were not allowed to drive from Kent to Yorkshire and the police were being well paid to restrict human rights during the sometimes violent miners strike.
hamlet-16 This series about an authoritarian Britain very much in the model of 1984 was timely in 1978 but even more so today.With the overwhelming presence of CCTV, attempts to control the internet and the reluctance of the UK government to abide rulings that it destroy DNA samples of innocent persons picked up by the police but never charged or found not guilty in court cases and numerous reductions in civil rights because of "terrorism" etc. the scenario at the heart of "1990" is well and truly with us.No wonder this series is not available on DVD ...the powers that be would be terrified of it!
HyperPup It only takes a show like this to show us how much freedom we take for granted. I have never seen this series, I merely stumbled upon it while doing a search on Edward Woodward, but I had to stop and pause. How prescient it is that I would find this. Many will scoff and say hey it cannot happen here. I beg to differ, it was only a few short years ago when President Clinton proposed the national Identity Card, think about how many times your Social Security number is used for things other than its intended purpose. Soundex number on a drivers license, school ID number. What else? Camera's are going up everywhere and who really gets the video feeds from all these CCtv devices? And don't even get me started on Verichips and Digital Angel. It only takes a few of us to sit by, stop thinking and do nothing for this to happen. I personally wish the BBC woud bring this series to DVD both for sale at home and abroad, we need it. To remind ourselves, that one man's security is another man's prison.
jerzed This series scared the crap out of me at the time and was the most real portrayal of what could happen here in Britain under a despotic government.And guess what? It's happening, the bureaucracy, surveillance, scapegoatig class war, trila by jury being reduced, disclosure of "previous" which will pejudice juries and others. CCTV, smart cards without which you will become a "non-citizen", State accomodation for "public sector workers" (oppose the state and lose your home), intrusive bureaucrats and officials monitoring our offspring. Get the books and see what I mean.Hopefully. the entire series will be released on video or DVD or perhaps repeated on terrestrial TV..In 1990 there was a control freak Home Secretary obsessed with regulating everything and with Blunkett and what he is doing to our justice system will realise Wilfred Greatorex's nightmare.If the centres for asylum seekers don't pan out they could become the New Labour ARCs (Adult Rehabilitation Centres)