The Dark Side Of The Sun

[dem]

Hugh Miller & Michael J. Bird - The Dark Side Of The Sun (Granada, 1983)

Blurb:
CHILLING, NIGHTMARE HORROR IN THE GLARE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SUN

For famous trouble-shooting photographer Don Tierney, a peaceful assignment on the beautiful Greek island of Rhodes is a chance for some much-needed relaxation.

Until he notices that something very strange is happening there.
Until he is touched by a monstrous evil more hideous than anything he has ever known - a horror that will engulf him and reach out remorselessly for his wife Anne as she tries to discover his fate on THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN

Front cover photograph shows PETER EGAN as Lavalliere, EMILY RICHARD as Anne Tierney and PATRICK MOWER as Don Tierney in the BBC TV serial THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN, created by MICHAEL J. BIRD. produced by VERE LORRIMER and directed by DAVID ASKEY. BBC Copyright photograph by JOAN WILLIAMS.

anybody remember this series? i think it must have aired in one of my no TV (etc.) years, as i'd not heard of it 'til this morning when the tie-in showed up among the back of the van man's dubious wares. there's an episode guide and plenty relevant info about it all on this M. J. Bird Tribute Site, and it looks vaguely Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) with a harder edge.

[Dr Strange]

I vaguely remember it - there was some sort of secret society, with something to do with the Knights Templar.

[Johnlprobert]

One of those shows I missed as a kid EXCEPT for the last ten minutes of the final episode, which looked like the series may well have been brilliant and properly weird. I'd love to get a proper chance to see it.

[pulphack]

Bird was responsible for The Lotus Eaters a decade earlier, with the wonderful Wanda Ventham and the superb Ian Hendry. It starts like a bunch of wasters on a Greek island (nothing wrong with that) and then starts to unpeel layers of dubious pasts. Hendry and Ventham have dark spying pasts and personal tragedy, and everyone who appears has a secret. Both series were on DVD a few years back, and picked up in a warehouse clearance for a quid each (hooray!). I don't think I would have paid full price, and that would have been my loss.

Anything with Michael J Bird attached is worth a look, it seems.

[daverice]

This is a great story. Although the novel is credited to Hugh Miller and Michael J Bird it is my understanding that Miller simply adapted Bird's scripts.

Anything with Michael J Bird attached is indeed worth a look.

The Michael J Bird Tribute website at www.mjbird.org.uk has a lot more info about the making of the series.

[ghost]

Thanks for the link, I was thinking about The Aphrodite Inheritance recently.

[ramseycampbell]

This seems as good a spot as any to ask if you film fiends know about the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester (well, I know some do).