Browse episode ratings trends for Out of the Unknown. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of Out of the Unknown's 49 episodes.
Best Episodes of Out of the Unknown
Some Lapse of Time
S1 Ep10
9.3
6th Dec 1965
Dr Max Harrow is awakened from a re-current nightmare in which he is pursued by a barbaric accusing figures, to find collapsed on his doorstep, The tramp is suffering from a genetic radiation disorder that should killed him in infancy as it did Harrow's baby son. The ma is the living image of Harrow's nightmare figures, Clutched in his hand is a human finger bone and he speaks a strange, unknown tongue, Why did he collapse outside Harrow's house? What is his motive for tracing him?.
Deathday
S4 Ep4
9.0
12th May 1971
Adam Crosse is a reporter for a local paper. A neurotic under-achiever, the last straw comes when he discovers his wife Lydia is having an affair and she coolly tells him she has no intention of either giving up her lover or divorcing Adam. The top crime story of the moment is a serial murderer nicknamed "The Kitchen Killer". Adam sets out to murder his wife and blame it on this shadowy psycho.
Sucker Bait
S1 Ep7
9.0
15th Nov 1965
An expedition sets out to discover what has happened to a lost colony on a distant planet. Amongst the scientists is a strange, intense teenager called Mark Annuncio, raised to be a kind of human computer, able to make connections between different specialisms. Disliked by the crew, Mark nevertheless may be the only person capable of saving the ship when they land and scientists begin dying mysteriously.
The Last Lonely Man
S3 Ep3
8.5
21st Jan 1969
If, by an accident of science, it became possible for the personality to pass at the moment of death into the mind of someone still alive, then the big new problem would be into whom. To foist the wits of a rogue onto an unwilling recipient would be unjust indeed. Any government who could thus cheat death might indeed win a popular vote, but only so long as all was voluntary - mutually contracted. James Hale is a man of such a society. He has insured against death of his personality by arranging mutual "Contact" contracts with his relatives. He is already host to his late father with whose memories and prejudices he has now learned to live. He himself is a responsible parent of twins whose Contact he will arrange when they are of age.
Time In Advance
S1 Ep5
8.5
1st Nov 1965
Imagine a future where you serve your prison sentence before you commit your crime, in the various hells of savage new planets just being colonised. If you survive, like Nick Crandall and Otto Henck, you can return home with carte blanche to commit murder...
The Yellow Pill
S3 Ep12
8.0
25th Mar 1969
A murderer is examined by psychiatrist John Frame who is surprised to find the criminal knows many details of his private life.
The Little Black Bag
S3 Ep8
8.0
25th Feb 1969
When a down-at-heel, alcoholic physician discovers a medical kit, based on future technology, accidentally left in the wake of a time-travel expedition, he becomes a dispenser of miracle cures. But is his discovery enough to salvage his self-esteem and redeem his life?
Worst Episodes of Out of the Unknown
The Eye
S2 Ep7
1.0
24th Nov 1966
Julian Clay is accused of murdering Andrew Maddox - a charge he cannot deny because 'The Eye', a device which records the past, saw him do it, However, the law affords one loophole.
Beach Head
S3 Ep4
2.0
28th Jan 1969
On his thirty-seventh mission, Commandant Tom Decker and his colleague Ensign Warner-Carr become alarmed at what they find when their spaceship lands on Planet 0243/B.
Lambda I
S2 Ep3
3.0
20th Oct 1966
Why take the Great Circle route to Australia when you can tunnel through the very molecules of the solid earth itself in a TAU-mode shuttle? When a routine TAU-shuttle becomes entombed in solid rock miles under the earth, the only means of rescue may be the wildly experimental LAMBDA-mode shuttle; and even its creator has no idea how it will behave, or whether its pilot can keep his sanity during the rescue mission.
No Place Like Earth
S1 Ep1
4.6
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?
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come... ?
S1 Ep6
6.0
8th Nov 1965
Henry Wilkes cultivates rare tropical plants as a hobby; with an attention to detail which is, perhaps, closer to an obsession. The length to which he goes to propagate and nurture new hybrids alarms his wife. Is there more going on in the greenhouse than could safely be exhibited at the next Battersea Flower Show?
Level Seven
S2 Ep4
6.0
27th Oct 1966
In the huge, labyrinthine nuclear bunker meant to shield the survivors in government from the aftermath of atomic war, Level 7 is the deepest and the safest from radiation. But in spite of its hermetic isolation, the nerve center of government is ultimately not safe from the consequences of the holocaust which rages miles overhead.
This Body Is Mine
S4 Ep3
6.0
5th May 1971
Allen Meredith is a brilliant scientist but too mild-mannered to make an impact or fight for the money he needs. He has invented a process to exchange minds between bodies. His ambitious wife Ann persuades him to invite his boss, the domineering Jack Gregory, to their house for dinner. Once there, they drug him and Allen swaps bodies with Jack, then goes back to work to transfer millions into his account. But meanwhile Ann is finding the combination of Jack's masculine personality in Allen's body rather attractive and they begin making their own plans.
Out of the Unknown Episode Guide
No Place Like Earth
S1 Ep1
4.6
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?
The Counterfeit Man
S1 Ep2
6.7
11th Oct 1965
On Jupiter's moon Ganymede, an alien life-form has taken over the body of a human astronaut, creating an almost perfect copy. But perfect enough to escape discovery on the long return trip to Earth? Can the deadly counterfeit be detected and stopped before its hunger for new life can endanger an entire planet?
Stranger in the Family
S1 Ep3
7.8
18th Oct 1965
A young man, known as 'Boy', is born with no fingernails and with mental powers that enable him to control others. He falls for a young actress, initially repulsed, whose agent-boyfriend encourages the relationship because he thinks Boy's powers can be used to make a lot of money via TV commercials. But he is being hunted by a mysterious surveillance team who have moved into the next-door flat in the tower block where he lives...
The Dead Past
S1 Ep4
7.8
25th Oct 1965
Time travel may still be impossible, but the Chronoscope, sensing the nearly imponderable tracks of ancient photons, allows a glimpse into any event in Earth's distant past. Historian Arnold Potterley is rebuffed when he petitions for use of the Chronoscope to study ancient Carthage. So he commissions the building of a private time-viewing machine, with unexpected results.
Time In Advance
S1 Ep5
8.5
1st Nov 1965
Imagine a future where you serve your prison sentence before you commit your crime, in the various hells of savage new planets just being colonised. If you survive, like Nick Crandall and Otto Henck, you can return home with carte blanche to commit murder...
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come... ?
S1 Ep6
6.0
8th Nov 1965
Henry Wilkes cultivates rare tropical plants as a hobby; with an attention to detail which is, perhaps, closer to an obsession. The length to which he goes to propagate and nurture new hybrids alarms his wife. Is there more going on in the greenhouse than could safely be exhibited at the next Battersea Flower Show?
Sucker Bait
S1 Ep7
9.0
15th Nov 1965
An expedition sets out to discover what has happened to a lost colony on a distant planet. Amongst the scientists is a strange, intense teenager called Mark Annuncio, raised to be a kind of human computer, able to make connections between different specialisms. Disliked by the crew, Mark nevertheless may be the only person capable of saving the ship when they land and scientists begin dying mysteriously.
The Fox and the Forest
S1 Ep8
22nd Nov 1965
Sarah and David Kirsten are tourists from the 21st century who take a forbidden holiday in 1938 Mexico. But enforcers from the future, trying to keep the time-stream free from pollution and paradox, are on their trail. Can they evade their pursuers without betraying their origins?
Andover and the Android
S1 Ep9
29th Nov 1965
Roger Andover will inherit a fortune if he marries. But he is a solitary man with no ambition: human relationships mystify and dismay him. But to present a life-like female android as your wife: surely that will satisfy everyone? Andover finds more than he bargained for when his robot bride challenges his preconceptions about humanity.
Some Lapse of Time
S1 Ep10
9.3
6th Dec 1965
Dr Max Harrow is awakened from a re-current nightmare in which he is pursued by a barbaric accusing figures, to find collapsed on his doorstep, The tramp is suffering from a genetic radiation disorder that should killed him in infancy as it did Harrow's baby son. The ma is the living image of Harrow's nightmare figures, Clutched in his hand is a human finger bone and he speaks a strange, unknown tongue, Why did he collapse outside Harrow's house? What is his motive for tracing him?.
Thirteen to Centaurus
S1 Ep11
8.0
13th Dec 1965
Interstellar travel at sub-light speeds: the enormous distances, isolation from human culture and the aching loneliness of space are enough to drive the strongest personality insane. Better to block all memories of human contact and to program the 12-strong crew to accept only the reality they can see and touch within their spacecraft. But a child born on "the Station" becomes insistent on learning the truth about 'Outside'.
The Midas Plague
S1 Ep12
8.0
20th Dec 1965
The Future is bright for most of society: robot labour and free energy make the creation of goods easy and automatic. But the disadvantaged of this Golden Age are those who have to stem the inexorable tide of robot-manufactured goods; they are continually supplied with more things than they can possibly consume. Is there any way for a 'poor' man to get off this treadmill of consumption?
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.
The best rated episodes of Out of the Unknown are:
Some Lapse of Time S1E10 rated 9.3
Deathday S4E4 rated 9.0
Sucker Bait S1E7 rated 9.0
The Last Lonely Man S3E3 rated 8.5
Time In Advance S1E5 rated 8.5
The Yellow Pill S3E12 rated 8.0
The Little Black Bag S3E8 rated 8.0
The lowest rated episodes of Out of the Unknown are:
The Eye S2E7 rated 1.0
Beach Head S3E4 rated 2.0
Lambda I S2E3 rated 3.0
No Place Like Earth S1E1 rated 4.6
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come... ? S1E6 rated 6.0
Level Seven S2E4 rated 6.0
This Body Is Mine S4E3 rated 6.0
The first episode of Out of the Unknown aired on October 04, 1965.
The last episode of Out of the Unknown aired on June 30, 1971.
