Adrian Samuels(I)

Adrian realised early in life that he wanted to work in special effects. In the early 80s he was asked to create a visual concept for a "serious" portrayal of atomic destruction, but of course within a BBC budget. The Producers wanted to follow a group of people who survive an atomic attack on the UK and we see how they battle against life and death to get to the end of their journey. Adrian felt that "they should all die" so what is now regarded as probably the grimest film to have ever been made burst into life under Adrian's up beat gaze and "Threads" was born. No one quite realised how popular Threads would become, fans contacted the BBC in their droves and Adrian enjoyed the praise that was heaped upon him. In fact he has long since admitted that he still watched the film at least once a day with a glass of red wine, "one of my vices" he admits. Adrian moved onto other low budget special effects after this, mainly in the corporate arena, but still came back into the popular domain from time to time, while Threads 2 was under pre-production he cropped up to offer a guiding hand to the now much hated Tyne TV series "Radiation Mcgee" which involved a young boy who after an atomic attack finds himself blessed with super powers. Threads 2 never happened so he joined Cinesite in the UK and worked on films such as Lost in Space and Event Horizon before being head hunted by Weta to work on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.