Need help finding a 70s-80s BBC show

July 29, 2009 11:50 AM

Does anyone remember a BBC kids' TV series from the 70s-80s featuring psychic teenagers? I last saw it in the mid-80s.

I'm pretty sure it used to air on Nickelodeon. It had freaky deaky Dr. Who type graphics at the beginning, and one particular episode was about evil paintings taking over people's minds.

I think there were maybe three teenagers, one of them a girl?

posted by emjaybee to media & arts (8 answers total)

The Tomorrow People?
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:53 AM on July 29, 2009

The Tomorrow People? The episode guide lists a few concerning evil paintings. It's ITV, though, not the Beeb.
posted by permafrost at 11:56 AM on July 29, 2009

Jinx! No returns!
posted by permafrost at 11:59 AM on July 29, 2009

Well, you've only got a handful of these under The Third Eye, which was Nickelodeon's basket for "various ex English empire TV shows of occult or paranormal nature."

Under the Mountain is out — it had a pair of teenagers, a boy and a girl, who were twins. No paintings.

Into the Labyrinth featured three teens, but I don't recollect any paintings playing a prominent role.

The Witches and the Grinnygog is right out.

If The Tomorrow People (all three series are out on NTSC-compatible DVD for the US) doesn't pan out, you might give Children of the Stones a shot. The whole thrust of it was mind control, and there were a lot of shots of grim, badly-executed portraits just prior to Something Sinister occurring.

I have most of these on DVD, so my memory of these is recent. *shame* I'll ask my friend, who is a big Tomorrow People fan, if he can recall these.
posted by adipocere at 12:08 PM on July 29, 2009

The Third Eye! Yes, that was the show, or collection of shows. THANK you.

And it was indeed, The Tomorrow People, with their swanky space-age hideout, that I was thinking of. Bless the collective memory that is Metafilter.

permafrost, as a teen, I would not have known the difference between ITV and Beeb. I assumed they were part of the same thing.
posted by emjaybee at 12:27 PM on July 29, 2009

Could it have been Chocky and its sequels? Freaky drawings were an important part of the first series, and Chocky's Children had other children communicating telepathically with Matthew, the main character. Here is the opening title sequence. It wasn't a BBC show (ITV), but it might be it.
posted by goo at 12:33 PM on July 29, 2009

Ah, should have previewed :) Glad you found it!
posted by goo at 12:33 PM on July 29, 2009

Amazon usually has a pretty good deal on the complete set of The Tomorrow People on DVD, I keep meaning to buy it. There's one particular episode I remember from childhood that affected me pretty well, with a female Soviet agent with an implanted explosive...

Just be aware there was a 'reboot' in the '90's I believe that's not quite the same. Make sure you're getting the originals.
posted by pupdog at 3:39 AM on July 30, 2009