A for Andromeda

'A For Andromeda' (AFA) is renowned as one of the great science fiction series of the 1960's. Produced by the BBC in 1961 and co-written by revered and controversial scientist Fred Hoyle, the programme made a star of Julie Christie and also featured a superb performance from Peter Halliday as the scientist with a conscience, Dr John Fleming.

AFA is basically the story of the events following the receipt of a message transmitted from the Andromeda galaxy. The message, once decoded, gives instructions for building a massive and very advanced computer. Once built, it is clear that the computer is not a gift, it has its own agenda and after giving instructions on 'building' a giant eye, it then gives out some DNA coding which leads to the creation of a beautiful girl called 'Andromeda' (Christie). What makes this even more sinister is that she is a blonde replica of a brunette lab assistant who apparently committed suicide in the computer block....

What follows is a superb drama, and the interplay between Mary Morris' Professor Dawnay and Dr Fleming is something that is impossibly rare in modern science fiction - superb characterisation, superb dialogue, and genuine unease being built through the discussion of ideas alone. Is it good, is it evil, or is it just so far beyond our understanding that we can't hope to grasp what is happening? Dr Fleming, whose scientific curiosity was instrumental in its creation, cannot come to terms with what is happening and is burdened by guilt. The other side of the coin is Dawnay, who is driven by her scientific curiosity to see what will emerge, regardless of the outcome.

The story is complicated by the world situation. It is set in a near future where a large corporation called 'Intel' (spooky!) calls the tune and Britain is a minor power. The British hope is that the computer will help to increase their position in the game of world politics.

The story has often been criticised by devotees of the 'Quatermass' school of science fiction for being too slow and wordy, but this is a sad comment on the critics rather than a valid flaw in the series. AFA is not just a 'sci-fi' story - it deals with many concepts and ideas, as well as the basic human struggle of everyday survival. We don't even know if the enemy is an enemy - it is a story of ideas and suggestion, and such it is superb. If you want to know how good it is, just compare it with two recent films that have blatantly stolen its initial premise - 'Species' and 'Contact'. I rest my case!

Sadly, like so much TV produced by the BBC in the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's, it doesn't exist anymore, having been wiped. There are some extracts remaining, mainly filmed inserts and the last 15 minutes or so of the final episode. There are also rumours of an episode existing in the hands of a private collector, but this has yet to be confirmed. It is a terrible loss, for which the BBC can have no valid excuse, but for them it is just one of many.

However, the series was remade in Italy in 1971, as 'A Come Andromeda', so it is possible to see it and visualise what went on, even if you don't speak Italian. And, perhaps more importantly, the series writers Fred Hoyle and John Elliott turned out a novel that is a superb work in its own right, and is a worthy substitute for the series itself. Combine the Italian series and the book and you might at least feel you have gained a glimpse into what was a ground-breaking and superb series.

The story doesn't end here, however. What is less well known is that there was a sequel, 'The Andromeda Breakthrough'. This featured the same cast, with the exception of Julie Christie, who, for whatever reason, was replaced by Susan Hampshire. This series does exist in its entirety in the BBC's vaults, but they seem unwilling to release it, which is a shame because it is a seamless and logical progression of the original story, leading to a revealing and satisfying conclusion. There is also a Hoyle and Elliott novel of this story, which is every bit as good as AFA, so if you can't get to see the series, then the book is, again, a worthy substitute.

In summary, AFA was epoch-breaking television, the like of which has rarely been seen since, and also features one of the most under-rated and underused actors of the late 20th century - Peter Halliday, whose performance as Dr John Fleming is not only superb, but is perhaps a defining role in science fiction.

Following instructions transmitted from the Andromeda Galaxy, John Fleming (Peter Halliday) builds a highly advanced computer that in turn creates synthetic lifeforms, including Andromeda (Julie Christie) a beautiful clone of Christine, a recently deceased scientist (also played by Christie). The computer and the clone are embraced by the government when they prove themselves capable of advancing Britain's military capabilities to the global forefront while Fleming begins to fear that the alien machine and its gynoid have ulterior motives. Sadly, most of this early BBC science fiction teleplay has been lost, leaving only stills (which encompass much of the series) and episode six of the original seven. The story, written in part by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, is intriguing, especially considering that radioed instructions from Andromeda would take a minimum of 2.5 million years to get here, suggesting that if aliens are planning on colonising Earth, they are playing a very, very long game. Julie Christie is quite good in the titular role, but Halliday is less impressive and the scenes where he is trying to 'awaken the woman' in the passionless blonde simulacrum are weak (but foreshadow Captain Kirk's numerous attempts to elicit similar emotional epiphanies in Star Trek (1966)). The initial premise and first episodes are great, but the story drifts into a routine industrial espionage yarn and the final act is a bit predictable (although perhaps less so back in 1961). Although not as good (IMO) as the BBC's previous sci-fi teleplays (the three excellent Quatermass series), 'A for Andromeda' was sufficiently popular to warrant a sequel ('The Andromeda Breakthrough' (1962)). Unfortunately the BBC had neglected to put Christie under contract and, as the star was filming her breakthrough role on 'Billy Liar' (1963), she was no longer available for low-budget sci-fi shows to be shown on the telly. The version I recently watched on-line was a well-done ~150 minute annotated compilation of producer Michael Haye's 'telesnaps', some video fragments, and the intact sixth chapter. Worth watching for genre aficionados as well as anyone interested in the history of the BBC or British sci-fi in general.

I first watched this TV series when I was nine years old, it terrified me, especially the scenes when "andromeda" gripped the bars and seemingly was electrocuted. I carried the images with me to school the next day and tried to engage anybody who had seen it to see if they felt as scared as me. Through IMDb I have been able to revisit the essence of the production (actors, director) A stunningly "realistic" production for it's time. I have rarely been genuinely affected by small or silver screen but " A for Andromeda" remains in my memory 45 years later, and I had no idea that the yet to be great Julie Christie was Andromeda. Does anybody have remotely the same memories as me?

John Carr

I was 13 when I saw 'A for Andromeda' and had to walk to my grandmother's house to see it on a 12" B&W TV - where the picture frequently distorted into bands of interference whenever a car went by. I was totally enthralled by the series. I have never seen anything since that affected me as much (granted, I was at an impressionable age.) Like John Carr above, I was totally horrified when Julie Christie had to hold onto the bars and be subjected to electric shock by the 'machine' - an image burned into my brain. Dr. Fleming was also a very memorable character. I was glad to find out "The Andromeda Anthology" is now available on DVD.

Another beloved time-capsule for "fossils" such as myself who walked the earth in what must seem quasi-Jurassic times now - the early sixties. The Beatles with Stu Sutcliffe were still in Hamburg, Arnold Schwarzenegger was 12, Steven Bradley had just been convicted in Australia of the murder of 8 year-old Graeme Thorne and I was about to sit for my final school exams.

Like half of Britain I watched the opening episode of this eagerly awaited and promoted sci-fi series which promised everything and delivered perhaps 50%. Problem was, it screened not long after QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, a totally impossible act to follow!

Long before the inauguration of S.E.T.I. (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) A FOR ANDROMEDA concerned itself with the discovery of a radio emission from the Andromeda galaxy that appeared to be a blue-print for creating life itself. (Not too much was made of DNA double-helixes and the like in 1961). This pitted scientists Dr John Fleming (Halliday) and Professor Madeleine Dawnay Morris) against one another, since neither were sure of the moral, social or scientific implications of pursuing the seeming opportunity. Naturally, stupidity won out and a being was created. Does this all sound rather familiar? Yes folks, SPECIES was a total conceptual rip-off....and no-one ever noticed!

The 'being' however (Andromeda, as she was named) was one awesomely pretty and excessively young Julie Christie, in her first screen role (It catapulted her to international success in just a few years). As always happens. the authorities fear what they don't know and Miss Christie was soon very much in harms way, much like Natasha Henstridge in SPECIES thirty five years later.

This was never GREAT sci-fi as it was way too talky and a tad low on action. However, the concluding episodes WERE good and if this exists anywhere on video in an abridged form even, it would be well worth a look, if only to see why Julie Christie broke so many hearts, one of which was Stanley Kubrick's....but that is another story!