Flying Near the Sun
- Article 3 of 13
- Off the Telly, March 2006
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | All 3 Pages
For most of its history, children's television has been childish. Shows with simplistic plots and large casts of children have long dominated the afternoon schedules, with dreary adaptations of classic novels the only real exceptions.
Yet during the 1970s, commissioners slowly began to experiment with more mature programming, bringing in adult themes in disguise through science-fiction and fantasy shows such as Ace of Wands, The Tomorrow People and Timeslip. Sapphire and Steel even went from being a show for children to a show for adults, through the simple exclusion of juvenile leads and child-friendly characters.
By the late '70s and early '80s, this pushing of boundaries meant it was possible to have a programme on children's television that was firmly embedded in an adult genre, with mainly adult leads and adult dialogue, and for it still to be accepted as a children's show.
Codename: Icarus, which aired on BBC1 in 1981, was the purest examples of this new breed of programme.
Written by Richard Cooper, who had penned the fondly (but poorly) remembered Quest of Eagles for Tyne Tees a few years previously, Codename: Icarus is one of the only works in living memory that managed to mix children and the spy genre without resulting in disaster.
The first of the main plot strands follows Martin Smith (Barry Angel), a pupil at a Northern comprehensive who appears at first to be the class clown. But Martin, who apparently cheats at maths and is often in detention, is actually bored and frustrated by the simplicity of his schoolwork. After hours, he sneaks into the sixth form computer room to work on maths and physics problems that are advanced even for degree level. Martin, it turns out, is a child prodigy.
Unfortunately for Martin, the computer is being tapped by the headmaster of Falconleigh, a school for gifted children. He becomes aware of Martin's genius and offers him a place with the other children, where he can develop his abilities. Pretty soon, of course, Martin, together with another of the pupils, Sue (Debbie Farrington), discovers the school isn't as benevolent as it appears.
If that were the only plot strand, Icarus would be a relatively conventional children's drama, with Martin no doubt bringing the school to its knees through his clever investigations. Where it differs from the norm is by having an initially separate plot strand entirely populated by adults that's as important, if not more so than the children's storyline.
Its focus is naval intelligence officer Andy Rutherford (Jack Galloway) who is given the job of working out why a new British missile exploded during its tests. After eliminating sabotage and various other explanations, he's left with only two possibilities: an accident or a new anti-missile weapon that neither the East nor the West could possibly have. When a second missile explodes, he's forced to conclude somebody somewhere has managed to do what the superpowers couldn't.
Rutherford eventually stumbles across Falconleigh, which is one of the many schools for gifted children that "The Icarus Foundation" runs around the world. He concludes that the foundation has been using the children's gifts for scientific research, which it then sells to whichever government will pay the most. Discovering that it has friends in high places, Rutherford has to take matters into his own hands. He kidnaps Martin's tutor and enters the school as his replacement, where he meets Martin.
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | All 3 Pages