Day of the Triffids, The (BBC) (OTRR Certified)

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The Day of the Triffids is a 6 part radio show based on a 1951 novel by John Wyndham. The show was produced for the BBC by Peter Watts and stars Patrick Barr as Bill Mason, Monica Gray as Josella Playton and Gabriel Blunt as Susan. The Day of the Triffids as reproduced for the BBC in 1968 by John Powell starred Gary Watson and Barbara Sheney. A B grade movie was also made of the book in 1962. Although the movie was bad the radio adaptation of the book is very good. Gabriel Blunt does a poor job of portraying a young Susan while the other actors do a very good job with their roles. The story takes place in England and begins with Bill Mason recounting what has happened since the triffids first began appearing. The triffids are carnivorous plants which were originally bred to produce a natural oil that would take over the fish oil market. During breeding the triffids some how gained a low level of intelligence. This intelligence allows them to seek out their own sources of food; which includes humans. The triffids attack their prey with a front which is capable of killing a human. Once their prey is dead the triffid feeds on its rotting flesh. Triffids are also kept in gardens and zoos around the world but their poisonous fronds are removed for protection. Bill Mason works in a triffid oil production plant and is temporarily blinded when attacked by a triffid. He is sent to a hospital where his eyes are bandaged while they heal. During the night a terrific meteor shower takes place and is visible to just about everyone on the planet. Those who witness the meteor shower are permanently blinded by it. Bill and others who did not view the shower must learn to cope in a world which is predominantly blind. With no one to tend the triffids many begin escaping and their numbers multiply rapidly. Those people who are blind begin to capture the sighted to use as their eyes as they forage for food and supplies. Society collapses as disease and triffids begin to spread. The Day of the Triffids centers more around what the question of what types of societies the various communities of people will establish than it does around the triffids themselves. (From the Old Time Radio Researcher's Group)