First viewed : 29 November 1982
I'm pretty sure this was the only time I tuned into ITV's rival to Tomorrow's World . It was
however the TV event of the week as the programme was going to present some 3D images and special glasses were given away with TV Times that week to enable viewers to enjoy them.
TVS had poached Michael Rodd from the BBC to present the series alongside the mumsy Sue Jay ( and later Jackie Spreckley ) . It had a more thematic approach compared to Tomorrow's World's magazine style though the most intriguing scientific mystery of all, how not a single strand of Michael's hair had moved since Screen Test , remained unsolved.
The 3D episode, which seems to be pretty much the only thing anyone can now recall about the series, was something of a let down. The team had cobbled together some cheap effects to throw at you - a bull in a china shop coming towards the screen, a boxer throwing a punch, girl on a swing etc, then repeated them all at the end to eke out the time if you hadn't been disappointed enough the first time round. The rest of the programme was technical and drab; Rodd was an effective communicator but this stuff was a tough sell for a 7pm audience. The fact that 35 years later we still don't have 3-D television shows how effective the "experiment" was although the predictions about 3-D cinema eventually came true.
The Real World ran for three seasons before being ditched. Apart from a short series on Channel 4 in 1987, ( Circuit Training, which must have entirely passed me by ) Rodd hasn't had a regular TV gig since, although he's alive and well and still running the company he set up to advise businesses on new technology.
Jackie Spreckley is my aunt.
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