Micro Men (2009)

In 1979 Clive Sinclair, British inventor of the pocket calculator, frustrated by the lack of home investment in his project,the electric car, also opposes former assistant Chris Curry's ... See full summary »

Director:

Saul Metzstein

Writer:

Tony Saint

Stars:

Alexander Armstrong, Martin Freeman, Edward Baker-Duly

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alexander Armstrong	...	Clive Sinclair
Martin Freeman	...	Chris Curry
Edward Baker-Duly	...	Hermann Hauser
Sam Phillips	...	Steve Furber
Stefan Butler	...	Roger Wilson
Colin Michael Carmichael	...	Jim Westwood
Derek Riddell	...	Nigel Searle
Rhona Croker	...	Valerie
Amy Beth Hayes	...	Cynthia
Nicola Harrison	...	Ann Sinclair
Anthony Smee	...	Norman Hewett
Michael Keating	...	Derek Holley
Peter Davison	...	Bank Manager
Jon Glover	...	John Radcliffe
Theo Barklem-Biggs	...	Sinclair Journalist

Storyline

In 1979 Clive Sinclair, British inventor of the pocket calculator, frustrated by the lack of home investment in his project,the electric car, also opposes former assistant Chris Curry's belief that he can successfully market a micro-chip for a home computer. A parting of the ways sees Curry, in partnership with the Austrian Hermann Hauser and using whizz kid Cambridge students, set up his own, rival firm to Sinclair Radionics, Acorn. Acorn beat Sinclair to a lucrative contract supplying the BBC with machines for a computer series. From here on it is a battle for supremacy to gain the upper hand in the domestic market.

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Plot Keywords:

computer | electric car | television news | pub | rivalry | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

In 2015 Sir Clive Sinclair endorsed the re-launch of the ZX Spectrum called the Sinclair Spectrum Vega. The computer has fewer buttons than the original but will run thousands of retro games.

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Goofs

The archive footage used just before Chris is presenting the Acorn Atom to the press in 1980, shows a Commodore 1701 monitor, 2 Amstrad CPC464s and glimpse of a BBC Micro, all of which did not exist in the year where the scene takes place.

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Quotes

Clive Sinclair: Can't they see we exist to push barriers? We won't be constrained like this. What's that line from Browning...? 'A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?'

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Connections

Features The Computer Programme (1982)

User Reviews

The computer programme

Micro Men is an enjoyable docu-drama about the early days of the home computer revolution. I was there at the time reading computing magazines avidly and typing out the printed programmes which never worked because of typos. This was avid viewing.

It is Sinclair versus Acorn. Although you would not realise from this film that Clive Sinclair was better known as Uncle Clive, the genial, nerdy 1970s whiz kid who built cheap home computers with dead flesh keyboards.

The Acorn boys on the other hand built more stylish computers with proper keyboards and they even won the contract for the BBC computer.

In this drama, Clive Sinclair (Alexander Armstrong) is seen as a bad tempered bully (he was never regarded as such a person at the time.) Although he was later revealed to be a bit of ladies man, loved a flutter at the Vegas casinos and voted Tory.

Chris Curry (Martin Freeman) of Acorn Computers is the more lovable one. The nice, genial one with his more business headed Austrian partner.

The early 1980s British companies led the world of home computing, although Microsoft had plans for a uniform operating system.

Pitching Acorn v Sinclair is a great history lesson and drama. Unfortunately, both companies were also left picking up the pieces afterwards as Microsoft surpassed them a few years later.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 October 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Syntax Era

Company Credits

Production Co:

Darlow Smithson Productions

Technical Specs

Color:

Color