Stars of the Roller State Disco

If one test of a memorable work of art is whether it creates its own special world which the spectator/reader/ listener becomes fully absorbed in, then this strange Tv drama from the dystopia obsessed 198Os era certainly qualifies.

As with director Clarke's earlier ,equally claustrophobic Psy Warriors, the viewer is never shown any exteriors and now there is only one single (remarkably designed) set where all the action occurs. The young people institutionalized in a Depression style marathon of constant roller skating to wallpaper disco are almost always on the move, but rarely get anywhere. Details build up an Orwellian regime presided over by a Margaret Thatcher style bureaucrat but our main character Carly seems on one level to have become so comfortable with this regime that he really doesn't want to accept opportunities to make an exit.

This heartbreaking and scathing social satire deserves to become more well known.