This classic anthology science fiction series, created by Irene Shubik (The Wednesday Play, Rumpole of the Bailey), was one of the most daring, ambitious and inventive series ever created. Intended to display the genre at its best, as parable or metaphor, whether seriously or satirically, the series drew from writers of the calibre of Frederick Pohl, E.M. Forster, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and John Wyndham.
The cream of British television talent was applied to bring these tales to the small screen. Dramatists such as J.B. Priestly, Leon Griffiths and Jeremy Paul, directors such as Philip Saville and Rudolph Cartier, visionary designers including Ridley Scott, and powerful actors of the calibre of Yvonne Mitchell, George Cole, Rachel Roberts, David Hemmings and Warren Mitchell. The results were spectacular sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny, yet always of the highest intelligence. An extraordinary, consistently demanding exploration of the genre with some of the most memorable television productions ever staged.
This extensive seven-disc DVD box set collects all 20 surviving episodes from the four original series, along with an extensive and comprehensive collection of extra features including one incomplete episode, four episode reconstructions, 11 audio commentaries, extensive stills galleries, an archival interview with director James Cellan Jones, and a newly-created 42-minute documentary with original cast and crew members and rarely seen fragments from lost episodes
Special features
All 20 surviving episodes from series one to four
Return of the Unknown (2014, 42 mins): all-new documentary with cast and crew interviews, and clips from lost episodes
11 audio commentaries with cast and crew, and experts, moderated by actor-comedian Toby Hadoke
Archival interview with director James Cellan Jones
Episode reconstructions for Beach Head, The Naked Sun, The Yellow Pill, and The Uninvited
Film insert from Deathday episode
Seven extensive stills galleries
Fully illustrated booklet with essays by Out of the Unknown expert Mark Ward
Starring Terence Morgan, Milo O'Shea, Yvonne Mitchell, George Cole, Wendy Craig, Graham Stark, Rachel Roberts, David Hemmings, Warren Mitchell, Hannah Gordon, Burt Kwouk and other notable British actors
Directed by Philip Saville, Rudolph Cartier, Peter Sasdy and others
