User Reviews

I missed this series when I was younger and I am glad I found it on YouTube. The quality was not very good in the that respect but it was watchable.

It concerns staff working in a 'smart building' where everything, elevators, temp,air con and fire doors and more are controlled by computer. The two executives who are the focus of the tale have made decisions on job losses based on data from the system.

Unfortunately it has been hacked by a disgruntled employee who is on the redundancy list and there are held captive in their office until they change their minds. Ironic as they are laying off a man a lot smarter that them, as he has completely doctored communication lines etc so that cannot anyone know of there plight. The beginning and end scenes of staff who frank their own uslesness, if you like, give us a nice intro and outdo to the story.

The acting was usual top notch cast of British television regulars and directed by a man who who had succes later in life with several sitcoms (different!).

It is quite forward thinking in the way that even then the human race was starting to promote the reliance on technology and I am sure that people laughed at this. Arthur C, Clarke said something about magic in history is tomorrow's reality. It does have a general message that technology is only as productive as the people that feed it and we cannot afford to remove too much of the human element in our daily tasks. It may be end for us all if we make technology too good.

After an underwhelming start to this 1970's horror anthology, unfortunately episode two, whilst gaining an unusual degree of prescience for a fifty-year-old show, is again ultimately a disappointment.

Two executive managers (Michael Culver and John Stratton) of a London company pack up for the night having agreed to utilise an algorithm to determine which employees should be made redundant. As they try to leave, they discover that the lifts aren't operating, and they cannot access the stairs. They notice that the office is becoming increasingly cold and damp, then they receive a recorded message over the telephone. The message has a demand, leave a voice memo reversing their decision on the redundancies and they'll be allowed to leave. When they refuse, they come to fear what, in a building with off site control systems, can be done to persuade them.

As we increase the automation of our home and office environmental choices, more than they would likely have imagined in 1970, the existential threat of these systems turning against us, either through malfunction or malfeasance has become an increasing anxiety. So, a show this old nailing some of those fears feels enormously prophetic. It's unfortunate then that the story surrounding this idea is a bit underdeveloped. Maybe it's the time constraints of a 22-minute show, but it doesn't feel like the two managers either try enough tactics to get out or are punished enough to convince them to concede. The voice over the phone line is imposing and is played by Peter Madden, who was noted for that deep imposing vocal tone. The rest of the plot is provided by two members of staff who are eating in the canteen, played by Ursula Mohan and Larry Dann, they also do a fun commentary on life, in that he's only really interested in what she has to say, until she tells him that she has a boyfriend.

It's more curious than genuinely interesting and unfortunately not enough happens to make the episode worthy of a genuine recommendation.