The Year of the Sex Olympics 

Set in a future when the world is dominated and run by television, where language has become almost redundant and all "tensions" - love, war, hate, loyalty - have been removed. ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Elliott

Writer:

Nigel Kneale

Stars:

Leonard Rossiter, Suzanne Neve, Tony Vogel

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Leonard Rossiter	...	Co-Ordinator Ugo Priest
Suzanne Neve	...	Deanie Webb
Tony Vogel	...	Nat Mender
Brian Cox	...	Lasar Opie
Vickery Turner	...	Misch
George Murcell	...	Grels
Martin Potter	...	Kin Hodder
Lesley Roach	...	Keten Webb
Hira Talfrey	...	Betty
Patricia Maynard	...	Nurse
Trevor Peacock	...	Custard Pie Expert
Brian Coburn	...	Custard Pie Expert
Derek Fowlds	...	Custard Pie Expert
Wolfe Morris	...	Custard Pie Expert
Braham Murray	...	Custard Pie Expert

Storyline

Set in a future when the world is dominated and run by television, where language has become almost redundant and all "tensions" - love, war, hate, loyalty - have been removed. Overpopulation is a problem, so there are gluttony programmes to put people off food and pornography programmes to put them off sex. There is artsex and sportsex, and now this - the year of the Sex Olympics. Audience attention begins to wane, however, until TV executive Ugo Priest works on a new concept - a reality-based programme in which a couple is stranded on a bleak island, without the aid of any modern technology, and their efforts to survive filmed twenty-four hours a day. A concept which may sound familiar in the age of reality TV...

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Plot Keywords:

television | futuristic | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 July 1968 (UK)

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Leo Mckern was offered a major role.

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Quotes

Nat Mender: Sex is not to do. Sex is to watch.

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Connections

Featured in The Martians and Us (2006)

User Reviews

Startlingly Prescient

That's how Nancy Banks Smith - the greatest TV reviewer ever - described this play.

I saw this play as part of a BBC archive trial. It is funny to hear one producer suggest a new idea for a programme: "I know let's put some people on a deserted island and just watch them." 32 years before Survivor or Big Brother. Of course, Nigel Kneale probably got paid £1000. John De Mol milked about Euro 1bn from the actual show.

Not all the predictions are true - the general public are shown to be lifeless drones who just watch TV all day and aside from Liverpool this has not come true.

Also, the viewer satisfaction ratings at the time were low and I think if I had seen the play in 1968 I would not have liked it as much. We like it now because of its predictive quality rather than for its artistic merits.

Finally, Banks Smith said you had to see the play in colour and only a B&W print exists.

BTW, there have been deaths from reality shows - suicide of an evictee on the first reality show - Family Robinson, the forerunner of Survivor. Suicide of an evictee on a US boxing TV show.