Thirteen To Centaurus

Simon Sellars, over at the Ballardian, has an entry on Thirteen To Centaurus, which is both the title of a short story by J.G. Ballard, and also of an adaption of the story shown on BBC in 1965 as part of its Out Of The Unknown series. The TV play has been captured on YouTube, and it’s fascinating to see it. As Simon suspects, the play would very likely have been broadcast live – back in 1965 most drama was.

 

I’m not sure whether I ever saw Thirteen To Centaurus at the time; I don’t have a clear memory of it at all. What I do have a clear memory of, and which caused a frisson when I saw it again was the title sequence which introduced each play in the Out Of The Unknown series. I did see as many of the shows at the time that I could. I certainly remember Andover and the Android, The Machine Stops and The Little Black Bag (which I can clearly remember as being in colour, which means that I must have been at university at the time – we didn’t have a colour TV at home).

 

I hope that some of these other plays will resurface again from the archives, I’d love to see them again.