Wednesday, June 29, 2005

TV of yesteryear

Does anyone remember “The Omega Factor”? This is a TV show I remember watching when I was a kid but which no-one else I know seems to have seen. It sounds like a belated sequel to the Krypton Factor but actually starred Louise Jameson (aka Leela from Dr Who or That Stripy Haired Bitch Rosa from Eastenders) and was a supernatural conspiracy drama that reminds me a lot of the X Files. Every week, Leela and some bloke would investigate weird psychic phenomena and be thwarted at every turn by a shadowy secret organisation called the Omega something or other. You could tell when people where in the Omega Organisation because they wore a huge bad taste 70s signet ring with the greek letter “omega” on it. Subtle. I think the Omega dudes were trying to recruit psychics to take over the world and would kill anyone who got in the way (except the protagonists of course). Spooky or what? Maybe they were trying to ride on the success of “Sapphire and Steel” but it only lasted one series as far as I know. Like the X Files, the show was spooky and atmospheric and like the X Files it made very little sense and they had no idea how to tie everything up when it finished. Unlike the X Files, Leela never had her ovaries stolen by aliens and then replaced so she could have a magic psychic baby or whatever. I never worked out what that was all about. I can’t remember any of the Omega Factor plots but it made quite a strong impression on me at the time.

No-one I have ever mentioned it to has ever remembers the programme, but of course there is stuff about it on teh interweb. It has even come out on DVD. Whilst googling, I discovered that it was transmitted in 1979 on the beeb, the main bloke was played by James Hazeldine (who???) and that his character had psychic powers. There are episode guides on the internet but they are pretty lame and just say things like "When and old friend dies, Tom discovers more than he bargained for." Jesus, that could be an episode of Emmerdale. They mention one about a telekinetic kid that I vaguely rememeber - he would bust shit up at school in a Carrie stylee and Tom and Leela tried to investigate but in the end the kid was driven away by a "social worker" who turned out to be wearing an Omega ring. Dun dun dunhhh!!! . It is weird that this show had such a hold on my junior self when I can remember next to nothing about it except that it was a bit rubbish.

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