OBJECT Z

Brace for impact

- By Ian Berriman

If you're of a certain age, the name Rediffusion may bring to mind a high street brand – maybe the company once rented you a telly. Those of an even more advanced vintage may recall its brief spell as an ITV franchise-holder. At Last The 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set (early vehicles for future members of Monty Python) were Rediffusion productions. So was this obscure, earthbound SF serial.

The target audience can seem unclear. Object Z aired in a teatime slot, and early on there are earnest educational aspects (“Hey kids, here’s how a blink comparator works!”). But it unfolds entirely in the spheres of media, science and government, without so much as a single sprog for the PM to pat on the head. It all makes sense once you know that writer Christopher McMaster (then Coronation Street’s most prolific director) initially wrote the series for adults.

It begins as a stiff-upper-lip precursor of