Play for Today (TV Series) Stronger Than the Sun (1977) User Reviews

Gripping Work

[ian_harris · 8/10 · 27 January 2003]

An early example of Poliakoff, this, but it proves that he had mastered his art at an early age.

The merits and risks of energy based on nuclear fission were up for debate at that time, but the piece seems surprisingly relevant 25 years on. You can see this piece as an essay about that debate, or you can see it as a study about activism - can individuals really make a difference in a political landscape - if so, how.

Francesca Annis and Tom Bell both do a great job in the leading roles - all the other characters are minor.

Poliakoff excels when characters are put (or put themselves) under extreme duress and he also excels in writing drama about technology and its implications. This gripping work majors in both these areas, which is why it is so good. Seek it out if you can.

Early Poliakoff foretells themes to come - possible spoiler

[MagicSlim · 7/10 · 1 May 2017]

I think I have now seen all of his work and I am fascinated by his perspective as an outsider, an observer with a healthy paranoia. Impenetrable mysteries that we can't hope to figure out like who makes decisions and the power of institutions. These are themes that run thro his work along with a fascination with authority and the English class system and of course later, history thru photographic image. There is so much power in the story that the endings I find are often anticlimactic - not that that deteriorates from the whole.

What a combination of talent; Apted, Poliakoff, Bell and Aniss.

A seminal work

[bazmac7 · 9/10 · 29 January 2006]

This piece has all the qualities that were so exciting about original TV drama at that time. A wonderful script, brilliantly realised and with excellent performances. Although written so long ago, the arguments remain valid in the present day, especially as the question as to whether we should increase our nuclear power option is very much on the agenda. With the excellent 'Perfect Strangers' and 'Shooting the Past' among his more recent works, Poliakoff is one of the very few writers who has continued to write to the same level over the last thirty years. Now that he directs his own screenplays, there is another layer of his genius added. 'Friends and Crocodiles', his most recent piece, retains the standards he has set for himself over the years. A new work premieres on BBC in Feb, I believe. Can't wait.