Dark Season facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dark Season |
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Dark Season DVD cover, showing Eldritch on the left, and (from top to bottom) Pendragon, Marcie, Tom and Reet on the right
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| Created by | Russell T Davies |
| Directed by | Colin Cant |
| Starring | Victoria Lambert Ben Chandler Kate Winslet Brigit Forsyth Grant Parsons Jacqueline Pearce |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Richard Callanan |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 14 November – 19 December 1991 |
Dark Season is a British science-fiction TV show for teenagers. It was shown on BBC1 in late 1991. The show has six episodes, each about 25 minutes long. It tells two exciting stories about three teenagers. They work together to save their school and friends from the mysterious Mr. Eldritch. This was the first TV drama written by Russell T Davies. It's also famous for featuring a young Kate Winslet in one of her first big acting roles.
Contents
About the Show's Creation
Russell T Davies worked for the BBC in Manchester, making children's shows. He really wanted to write TV dramas. So, he wrote the first episode of Dark Season on his own. He sent it to the head of Children's Programmes, Anna Home.
Anna Home liked his script a lot and asked him to write a second episode. A spot opened up in the BBC schedule for late 1991. So, Anna Home decided to use Dark Season to fill it. She asked Davies to write the rest of the episodes. The show was filmed in the summer of 1991.
The show was shown on Thursdays at 4:35 PM, from November 14 to December 19, 1991. Each episode was repeated on Sunday mornings. Many people watched the show, with 3.6 to 4.2 million viewers per episode. Russell T Davies also wrote a book based on Dark Season. It was released at the same time the show was on TV. He later wrote another children's sci-fi show called Century Falls in 1993. After that, he became very successful writing TV dramas for adults.
Dark Season was shown again on BBC One in 1994. It was also repeated on the CBBC Channel in 2002. The show was released on DVD in 2006. It was given a PG rating, meaning some parts might not be suitable for very young children.
What Happens in Dark Season?
The first three episodes are about Marcie, a 13-year-old girl, and her two older friends, Tom and Reet. They become suspicious of a strange man named Mr. Eldritch. His computer company gives free computers to all the students at their school.
With some help from their teacher, Miss Maitland, they seem to defeat Eldritch. He then disappears. But the next three episodes tell a new story. Miss Pendragon, who works for Eldritch, tries to bring back a giant, secret computer. This computer, called Behemoth, is hidden deep under the school.
At the end of the Dark Season book, there's a hint that Russell T Davies thought about a third adventure. It mentions an amusement arcade opening, saying "...but that's another story."
How the Story Is Told
Dark Season is a good example of a British TV serial. The episodes were simply numbered. They all shared one big story that slowly became clear. You can think of the six episodes as two stories, each with three parts.
The first story seemed to end completely at episode three. This surprised some people at the BBC. Russell T Davies said he didn't tell them it was two stories. He was worried they might tell him not to do it that way! But by the end of episode six, you can see that all six episodes are connected. They show Marcie fighting against Mr. Eldritch. Both parts of the story happen in the same school year, or maybe even in a shorter time.
Connections to Doctor Who
Dark Season has some things in common with Doctor Who. Russell T Davies later brought Doctor Who back to TV in 2005. Marcie is a bit like the Doctor, and Reet and Tom are like her companions. However, Davies has said that he didn't plan these similarities. He claims the only direct nod to classic Doctor Who is a scene where Reet uses a yo-yo to check gravity.
But some ideas from Dark Season have appeared in Doctor Who stories written after Dark Season. For example, in Davies' 1996 Doctor Who novel, Damaged Goods, Marcie is directly mentioned. Later, in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The End of the World", Rose Tyler gets trapped behind a door. This is just like Reet in Dark Season episode six. When someone asks them not to go anywhere, both characters say the same thing: "Where am I gonna go, Ipswich?"
In 2006, the Doctor Who episode "School Reunion" was also very similar to Dark Season. Both were set in a school. Even though Davies didn't write "School Reunion", he asked for it to be set in a school instead of an army base. This made it feel like Dark Season.
The strongest links are in Davies' 2008 Christmas special, "The Next Doctor". This episode uses ideas from the 'Behemoth' computer in 'CyberKing'. In both Dark Season and "The Next Doctor", the main female villains are tricked. They get trapped inside a monster they created. They accept this as their fate, but it leads to their downfall.
Cast and Crew Behind the Scenes
The director of Dark Season was Colin Cant. He was well-known for making BBC children's shows. He had directed the popular school drama Grange Hill for many years. He also directed classic children's serials like Moondial.
The three main actors were Victoria Lambert, who was 19 and played 13-year-old Marcie. Ben Chandler played Tom. Kate Winslet played Reet, and this was her first big acting job. There were also well-known supporting actors. Miss Maitland was played by Brigit Forsyth, who was in the sitcom Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?. Miss Pendragon was played by Jacqueline Pearce. She was famous for playing the villain Servalan in the sci-fi show Blake's 7. She had also worked with Colin Cant on Moondial. Russell T Davies said that Jacqueline Pearce was happy her character was supposed to be a lesbian. However, she didn't want to dye her hair, which is why she wears a turban in the show.
