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Chocky The First.
© Second Sight
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The problem with the sheer expanse of television titles being released on the new format of choice is so many get missed by casual browsers. There is always great surprise when you get asked whether a particular TV sound track is available (only last week I was asked whether Twin Peaks could still be purchased on CD), or whether a particular series had ever been on video or DVD, or re-screened in recent times (just a few weeks ago, someone asked if The A Team was on the telly again in the UK sometime soon – the folks at UK Gold must be wondering what they have to do to get people tuned in to them!).
And so, it is within this climate that I can now reveal that the trilogy of serials featuring Chocky have now all been released on video and DVD by Second Sight. £14.99 a throw for the videos, £15.99 each for the DVDs. Aside from the final televised adventures to date of Doctor Who, the jolly japes of Robin of Sherwood, and the beginnings of Red Dwarf, there was actually very little British "Cult" TV output that has remained at the forefront of memory from the 1980s.
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Chocky Part 2.
© Second Sight
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Chocky, and the two sequels, Chocky’s Children, and Chocky’s Challenge appeared one a year from 1984 to 1986. The much missed James Hazeldine, who died just a few months back, played David Gore, the bemused father of Matthew (Andrew Ellams), a troubled child who is initially thought just to be 'claiming' he has an invisible friend, a mischievous alien called "Chocky". Carol Drinkwater was the mother, and also amongst the trilogy’s cast were, at one time or another, Jeremy Bulloch ("Star Wars"), Prentis Hancock (Space: 1999), and Ed Bishop (UFO). Glynis Brooks was the voice of the young extra-terrestrial.
Matthew is the key to the discovery of a technology that will hugely benefit mankind, which of course will hurt the profits of many a big business. Throughout the trilogy, a succession of teenage characters find themselves a target for the establishment, and it is the alien "Chocky" who helps them on their path of discovery.
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Final Chocky.
© Second Sight
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Like all the best children’s television, the trilogy treats its young audience with respect, and therefore delivers for the adult audience watching, too. John Wyndham's original story from the 1960s may have been a lot darker, but then again it wasn't written originally for kids. There’s enough suspense and intrigue present in the original adaption, and if you can slow your metabolism down enough to endure the slower pace of storytelling from a bygone era, then the rewards for viewing will be ample.
The DVDs are a little disappointing – an interview with scripter Anthony Read on the first disc being the only notable entry, but with two and a half hours plus of programme content on each disc, the price is right!
AJG
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