The Day of the Triffids

When scientists discover an exotic plant that produces an oil that could replace fossil fuels, they do the obvious thing and bring a few specimens back to Blighty. Unfortunately these are seven-foot-tall man-eating plants... on legs. And they escape to go on the rampage. As if that wasn’t bad enough, almost everyone’s been left blind from watching a solar flare. So it falls to Dr Bill Masen, one of the few people left with sight, to find a way to stop the plant apocalypse.

This BBC adaptation may not be as faithful to John Wyndham’s classic 1951 novel as the much-loved 1981 TV series, but its high production values and bigger budget has attracted big-name stars including Dougray Scott as Masen, Joely Richardson as the reporter/love interest Jo Playton, and Eddie Izzard as would-be dictator Torrence. Decent CGI makes the triffids convincing enough for you to want to keep a paranoid eye on your petunias.

Released 1 February 2010