The Tripods: All For Nothing?

From scripting to storyboards, casting to costumes, from music to the magic of visual effects, this beautifully produced publication is a love letter to a golden age of British television production. With input from more than 60 cast and crew, author and designer Chris Jones ensures even the most passionate of Tripods fans can expect to be surprised and delighted as he reveals extraordinary behind the scenes stories, facts and imagery that's never been seen before.

In 1967 renowned British author John Christopher penned his seminal science-fiction adventure for children The Tripods Trilogy. Part Swiss Family Robinson adventure; part post-apocalyptic sci-fi and Huckleberry Finn coming-of-age story, Christopher captured the imaginations of a generation of young readers.

For Richard Bates - television script editor-turned producer - the stories were an irresistible mix of strong credible characters facing an incredible against-all-odds journey. Bates was no stranger to a good story. Son of revered author H.E. Bates, he had seen his father's post-war stories and characters become some of Britain's most loved, thanks to novels Love For Lydia (1952) and The Darling Buds of May (1958), among others.

His drive to bring Christopher's Tripods to the small screen was relentless, and after a decade of development and a false start at Southern Television the project finally landed at the BBC in 1982.

In Bates' own words, what ensued over the following three years "nearly killed us all". Stretching the boundaries of practical techniques, pioneering new technologies and managing a production of 'Hollywood' proportions provided an army of the BBC's brightest minds with a series of challenges unprecedented in television history