Outcasts - We Want It Back

Ok, so the scripting was a little rough, as was some of the acting, but as British Science Fiction goes, it was incredible. I won't deny this show had a few teething problems. The first few episodes had pace issues, and it took a while to explain what was going on, but these issues were resolved as each episode progressed, and as we got to know and like the characters it became compulsive viewing. I've mentioned before how visually stunning the whole thing was, everything from the location planning to added visual effects was near enough perfection. But what was important about this show, was that it reached out to a new audience, one that has been paying their TV license, but had been generally ignored for years. Science Fiction fans. We are here, and we don't like to fork out for Sky. Finally we were being provided with an intelligent science fiction drama, which had not been produced for children, and it gets torn down simply because it was not an easy no brainer singing talent show. News flash, some adults don't like that sort of thing, and we don't like being ignored.

So last Sunday, the final episode of the first series aired on BBC1, and this week we are informed that there will be no second series. A series that ended on a cliffhanger, with a story arc incomplete. With only 8 episodes in this series, I'm asking myself if this show was in fact cut down prematurely. It struck me as peculiar that there was little to no advertising for this show, and that the time slot was shifted from Monday, to Tuesday, back to Monday and then to the Sunday grave yard slot. It was as if the show was set up to fail from the very beginning. They manage to fit a lot into the each hour long episode, enough that if you missed one episode it was difficult to keep up. No wonder ratings dropped dramatically. I imagine all those people who tuned in on the second Monday to find they'd missed the episode the previous Tuesday, had no idea what was going on, got frustrated and switched off. Worse still they then had two episodes to catch up on before the following evening when the time slot shifted back to Tuesday again!

Personally I think this is a crying shame. I doubt that I will tune into the BBC again until Doctor Who returns to our screens, which makes me wonder if it's worth buying a TV license at all. With every show with any potential being cut if it is not an instant hit, what's the point in watching a new show as it will invariably never reach any conclusion? Why pay £145, when I can simply buy the dvd boxset for £30 on Amazon a few weeks later? So I can tune in to the mindless drone of soap operas and game shows at my pleasure? Thanks but no thanks.

Shows such as Firefly, Primevil and Torchwood were able to make a comeback thanks to the amount of noise made by the fans in protest, so maybe there is hope, though I am doubtful. Perhaps in the democracy that we live in, this program may be allowed a second airing, or at least a one off special to tie up the loose ends. In the mean time I will return to my X Files and Stargate dvd box sets. I have 9 years worth of TV right there to enjoy over and over again and at no extra yearly cost.

British television is a quickly growing industry, one that will produce jobs for the increasing number of graduates with digital media degrees. Why not give shows like this a chance to shine? Not every one will top the ratings charts, but as long as there is a story to be told, money to be made and a team willing to produce it, why give up so easily?