TO CAP IT ALL OFF

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS

- JOHN ISLES AND REBECCA J WRAY

NOT QUITE CAPPING Day, but a celebration worthy of note, this month marks the 40th anniversary of the debut of The Tripods on BBC One.

The series was based on a set of novels by "John Christopher" - actually a pen name of Sam Youd. A jack of all trades, his work covered various genres including sci-fi, thrillers, comedy, historical gothic romance, cricket novels, hospital erotica and serious literature, all written under different names.

Comprising The White Mountains, The City Of Gold And Lead (both 1967) and The Pool Of Fire (1968), the Tripods trilogy marked Youd's entry into children's literature. Set in a post-apocalyptic scenario, they depict an Earth ruled for 100 years by huge, three-legged metal walking machines. No one knows if they're AI, piloted by extraterrestrial beings, or something else entirely...

WILL, FREE

Here, humankind is living in pre-industrial villages, and everything is seemingly tranquil, peaceful and idyllic. But they've been enslaved through the use of Capping. At the age of 14, teenagers are plucked from their villages and bestowed with a "Cap" which renders them docile, suppressing all sense of free will and individuality.

Will Parker, one year away from his own Capping, begins to have doubts after witnessing a complete personality change in his best friend Jack, who's just been Capped. He then meets a mysterious man with a fake Cap named Ozymandias, who encourages Will to leave his home and join a resistance group based in the Swiss Alps to free humanity from the Tripods' control.