Items17The creator’s order
  1. 1Blake's 7 (1978)Blake's 7 (1978) 8.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 2, 1978A shipful of fugitives faces down a Federation with the resources to keep them running. The pleasure is in the fragile alliance aboard the Liberator. If you like space adventure more when you have doubts about the people in the same ship, start here.0
  2. 2Sapphire & Steel (1979)Sapphire & Steel (1979) 7.8/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jul 10, 1979Joanna Lumley and David McCallum play agents sent to stop time from breaking into places where it shouldn't. They can make an ordinary room feel unsafe simply by watching it. Pick this if you enjoy a mystery that leaves you to listen for clues instead of laying out how its world works.0
  3. 3The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981)The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981) 8.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jan 5, 1981Arthur Dent barely gets off Earth before it's demolished to make way for a bypass. The BBC adaptation of Douglas Adams has the courage to let that premise play as an inconvenience. Try it for the comedy in the voices and the timing, with the universe itself mostly there to make the next joke…0
  4. 4Space: 1999 (1975)Space: 1999 (1975) 7.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 4, 1975The Moon is blown out of Earth's orbit with the crew of Moonbase Alpha still on it. Come for the model work and the spacecraft, then see if the isolation takes hold. The base feels as if it was built to last, which makes the prospect of being stuck inside it rather less comforting.0
  5. 5The Day of the Triffids (1981)The Day of the Triffids (1981) 7.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 10, 1981The 1981 BBC version starts with a man waking up in a hospital to discover that people have lost their sight. The walking plants are the famous part, but the time spent getting your bearings beside a character who doesn't know the scale of what's happened is the best reason to choose this version.0
  6. 6The Tomorrow People (1973)The Tomorrow People (1973) 7.2/10 on IMDbFirst aired Apr 30, 1973The 1973 version follows young people developing powers such as teleportation. It gives growing up an appealingly odd literal meaning. Choose this when you want a serial built around youngsters discovering the rules as they go, with enough sincerity to make the homemade-looking parts endearing.0
  7. 7UFO (1970)UFO (1970) 7.9/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 16, 1970The secret organization fighting alien incursions has to keep its work hidden even when it reaches into Commander Straker's private life. Try A Question of Priorities for an episode where the job puts someone he loves at risk. The show's futuristic look is fun, but it's the conflict between the…0
  8. 8The Tripods (1984)The Tripods (1984) 7.4/10 on IMDbFirst aired Sep 15, 1984Young people caught up in a resistance to the machines that rule their world make a good entry point into the BBC's John Christopher adaptation. The rural settings give the machines a satisfying sense of scale. The television version stops before adapting the final novel, so go in for the journey…0
  9. 9Star Cops (1987)Star Cops (1987) 7.3/10 on IMDbFirst aired Jul 6, 1987A police force goes where people have started living and working in space. The appeal is in watching familiar detective work follow those people out there. It's a refreshing choice if the question you want a space show to answer is who investigates a crime there.0
  10. 10Survivors (1975)Survivors (1975) 8.0/10 on IMDbFirst aired Apr 16, 1975Terry Nation's 1975 series follows Abby Grant and other people trying to make a life after a pandemic. It is at its most unsettling when a question about putting a group together turns into a question about who gets to make the rules. Choose it for patient arguments about how to live after the…0