Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was a dramatisation of a science fiction short story. Some were written directly for the series, but most were adaptations of already published stories.
The first three years were exclusively science fiction, but that genre was abandoned in the final year in favour of horror/fantasy stories. A number of episodes were wiped during the early 1970s, as was standard procedure at the time. A large number of episodes are still missing but some do turn up from time to time; for instance, Level Seven from series two, originally broadcast on 27 October 1966 was returned to the BBC from the archives of a European broadcaster in January 2006.
Best Episodes of Out of the Unknown
No Place Like Earth
S1 Ep1
6.0
4th Oct 1965
Earth is no more, destroyed by nuclear war; but itinerant handyman Bert Foster, wandering the canals of Mars, is possessed by a restlessness for a home which no longer exists. Perhaps the isolated outpost on Venus retains something which could satisfy this hunger; or has the madness which shattered a world merely settled in a new location?
Worst Episodes of Out of the Unknown
Beach Head
S3 Ep4
2.0
28th Jan 1969
Giant multi-generation starship with a virtual city of people on board. The ship has been travelling for so long that the occupants have long forgotten the mission and the purpose. They have invented a cult like religion worshipping the tree the wind and the grass even although none of them have ever experienced any of those things. Eventually alarms sound one day. The ship has navigated itself to the destination and the ""leader"" is informed of the mission purpose. The occupants are reluctant to leave the ship, something that the mission inventors had predicted, so the ship was flooded with gas to force the occupants out onto their new planetary home.
Out of the Unknown Episode Guide
No Place Like Earth
S1 Ep1
6.0
4th Oct 1965
Earth is no more, destroyed by nuclear war; but itinerant handyman Bert Foster, wandering the canals of Mars, is possessed by a restlessness for a home which no longer exists. Perhaps the isolated outpost on Venus retains something which could satisfy this hunger; or has the madness which shattered a world merely settled in a new location?
