{"id":7307,"date":"2021-01-15T09:35:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T09:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/?p=7307"},"modified":"2023-01-03T13:38:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T13:38:22","slug":"scarred-for-life-volume-two-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/archive\/scarred-for-life-volume-two-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Scarred for Life Volume Two: Television in the 1980s – review"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Scarred<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Volume Two: Television in the 1980s<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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David Allkins reviews the second volume of Scarred For Life, focusing on British television in the 80s - an 'engaging and fascinating read' sure to re-awaken childhood nightmares...<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There\u2019s a terrible habit, when looking at the culture of a decade, to not go into any depth; it\u2019s an easy task to just laugh at the fashions, or assume that referring to a handful of common references will cover it. <\/b>The 1980s in the UK were a time of unemployment, poverty, social unrest, and political divisions \u2013 not just everybody wearing red braces, having fax machines and watching John Hughes movies…<\/p>

After the success of their first volume of Scarred For Life<\/i> (which dealt with the aspects of UK popular culture chilling children in the 1970s), Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence have returned to tackle the 1980s. They\u2019ve achieved this with the help of additional writers for some entries, as every decade brings an increase in the amount of popular culture and media texts available; due to the sheer weight of material, the 1980s has been split into two volumes. This one deals with British television alone, with a foreword assuring that the next will deal with films, books, comics, games and nuclear war. (So the television films Threads<\/i><\/a> and The Day After<\/i> will appear in that one, if you were wondering).\u00a0<\/p>

The book begins by looking at children\u2019s television dramas, starting with the ITV serial Noah\u2019s Castle<\/i>, which dealt with food shortages and society breaking down in the face of civil unrest. Though adapted from a 70s novel, this was broadcast in the 80s, as if to mark the idea \u2013 at the start of the decade \u2013 that the discord in the world was here and not going away. Serials like The Tripods<\/i> and The Knights of God<\/i> dealt with young heroes fighting against controlling totalitarian regimes, showing that this has been a theme in young adult fiction for longer than commonly assumed.\u00a0<\/p>

Yes, the obvious titles are discussed, but the more under-the-radar things are just as interesting. The \u2018Zammo on drugs\u2019 storyline on Grange Hill<\/i> is mentioned \u2013 but also the one about racist bullying. This section also reveals that sometimes the things a child can find the most frightening, or disturbing, are those that seem to come unexpectedly into the narrative, such the appearance of the Groke in The Moomins<\/i>.<\/p>

Scarred for Lif<\/i>e then looks at TV programmes in the outright horror and science fiction genre. While Star Trek<\/i> and Doctor Who<\/i> do come up (obviously!) there were several other series and literary adaptations that made an impact on viewing audiences; these still hold up today, despite some more recent versions. The literary adaptations in question were The Day of the Triffids<\/i><\/a>, Salem\u2019s Lot<\/i>, The Nightmare Man<\/i> (from Child of Vodyanoi<\/i> by David Wiltshire) and The Woman in Black<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

Let\u2019s not forget, too, how many short stories by Roald Dahl and other authors were also adapted in Tales of the Unexpected<\/i>. There\u2019s also the two American miniseries (and short-lived series) of V<\/i>, which contained one of the great unmasking scenes of 80s horror, as the face of the human-looking \u2018visitors\u2019 ripped off to reveal the green reptile skin underneath. This links back to the children\u2019s drama section: another story about people uncovering and fighting against a regime which has decided to install itself in power. There seem to have been a lot of stories about people struggling against the forces of authority in the 80s, for some reason…<\/p>

The approach of the contributors and the editors of this book is not just to count down and tick off a list of scenes: each entry on a programme has notes on the sources, the production and the impact it had, and sometimes there are also brief interviews with some of the actors and writers involved. And as with the 1970s volume, it\u2019s not just the material which comes in neat little genre labels going under the microscope; TV can be frightening and disturbing just through how it presents the content or frames the material. As people began to have a greater range of choices in book, record, and video shops, the sense of what a story could contain and explore began to loosen. If the media and genre literacy of the audience was growing, then why not play with their knowledge or expectations? Serials like Edge of Darkness<\/i> and The Singing Detective<\/i> appeared, combining different elements from different sources to form an overall whole.<\/p>

The launch of Channel 4 in 1982 provided another sense that boundaries were starting to stretch. The newly launched channel made an effort \u2013 not just in the original programming it offered and commissioned, but also in showing foreign language films and unconventional animation. For example, it screened Jan Svankmajer\u2019s Alice<\/i> (which is possibly the best adaptation of Lewis Carroll\u2019s Alice in Wonderland<\/i>) cut up into six parts over the 1989-1990 New Year. If you look for further information on this, you\u2019ll understand why it may have made an impact on impressionable viewers.<\/p>

But other society fears \u2013 closer to home \u2013 also found their way onto the TV. The fear of unemployment and the increase of poverty are examined, with TV documentaries covering it and dramas and comedies dealing with the people experiencing it. The way that race and disability were covered began to change as well, and the book contains sections on the new wave of drama dealing with these topics; the American concept of the \u2018Very Special Episode\u2019 is also explained, where sitcoms dealt with non-funny subject matter.<\/p>

The final part of Scarred For Life<\/i> returns to a subject which was a highlight of the 1970s volume: the Public Information Film<\/a>. The purpose of these was to ensure that the public stuck to the rules, through the visions of dread these short films created. But it wasn\u2019t just about the Green Cross Code, safety in the home, stranger dangers, rabies, and smoking. The subject matter managed to get even more serious with films about heroin addiction and the dangers of AIDS. Looking back, the educational campaigns for AIDS awareness \u2013 directed by Nicholas Roeg \u2013 are still powerful. They don\u2019t descend into homophobic witch-hunts (as the tabloid press was doing); they warn people of the dangers and encourage them to seek out information. Given the stories during the current coronavirus pandemic about people not wearing masks, or breaking other rules, you wonder if the AIDS campaign slogan \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t die of ignorance\u201d \u2013 should be brought back.\u00a0<\/p>

Ultimately, the reason Scarred For Life<\/i> is such an engaging and fascinating read is because it goes beyond simply listing a few popular moments or titles. It brings back the forgotten titles like the BBC\u2019s 3-hour play Artemis 81<\/i>; the Channel 4 sitcom They Came From Somewhere Else<\/i>; the 1987 play The Gourmet<\/i> by Kazuo Ishiguro. All of these sound so strange you wonder why they were forgotten. The writers go into what the material was, how it was made, and why it worked, illustrating this with their memories and sense of humour.\u00a0<\/p>

The book also shows how TV kept changing its production methods (such as the increase in location filming, both home and abroad) and how the extent of permissible subject matter grew. This progress was set against the backdrop of tabloid outrage and Mary Whitehouse raving about sex and violence. But this sort of hysteria ignores the real fears that British television was just reflecting back to its 80s audience: the fears of authority, disease, manipulation, poverty and desperation. Scarred For Life<\/i> is an impressive achievement that\u2019ll provide grim delight and several searches on YouTube for further research and information \u2013 maybe even re-awakening suppressed childhood nightmares if you, like me, are of the appropriate age.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Purchase Scarred for Life Volume Two: Television in the 1980s<\/strong> by clicking the image below.<\/p>

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Former correspondent and consultant for United Response. Interested in books, films, politics, media discussion and writing. Header art by Deven Rue.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Recent Posts<\/h5>