July 13, 2012
Posted by Danny
The Boy From Space! THE. BOY. FROM. SPACE…!!
Last month, I turned 38 years old – and that’s enough about that. ANYWAY. For many, many years now, I have been haunted by the dim memory of a TV show that I watched when I was a boy. Ever hovering on the edge of remembrance, only two details fuelled its continuing presence in my mind. One: there was a boy with silver hair and who was on the run. Two, and most pertinently: it scared the absolute, goddamned, motherfucking shit out of me.
Really, I had given up all hope of ever finding out just what the hell this show was – and maybe it didn’t exist? The mystery was finally solved after 32 years (!!) while flipping through the latest edition of ShortList, a free weekly magazine for Men that’s given out in central London. Inside, there was a featured called “Scarred For Life”, presenting a list of the top 20 fictional characters that terrified us in our youth. I scanned and saw some Usual Suspects: Pennywise The Clown from It (1990), General Woundwardt from Watership Down (1978), The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Star Wars’ Darth Vader (1977) – but, at no.2, I literally gasped when I laid eyes upon … The Tall, Thin Man from Look And Read: The Boy From Space (1980).
Yes. YES. YES…!!!!!!
The Tall, Thin Man was the source of that primal, creeping dread… and his ruthlessly-pursued quarry was the similarly silver-haird boy from space!! (Cue a flood of memory and excited Wikipedia research.). Meanwhile, courtesy of YouTube, here’s the malevolent bastard in question:
Now, granted, to a viewer in 2012, the above clip probably looks the holiday video of an Icelandic paedophile, but, for my generation of 70’s kids, this guy was Fear personified and the source of a lot of sleepless nights…
The Boy From Space was a feature of the BBC’s Look and Read series for primary schools, which began in 1967 (ultimately running for nearly 40 years) and was aimed at improving children’s literacy skills. The weekly programme presented fictional stories with an educational slant in a serial format typically running over a couple of months. Half the programme would be an instalment of the story, the other half would be an array of follow-on learning activities, hosted by Wordy, a camp typewriter ball with arms, who lived on his Wordlab space station orbiting the Earth with his tracksuited male companion, Colin (Yeah, yeah, I know…).
The Boy From Space, like all the other Look and Read serials, was pretty simple – an alien boy gets stranded on Earth and is helped by a brother and sister to evade a adult alien – and was almost laughably low-budget (note the Doctor Who-esque use of a quarry), but it efficiently tapped into then SF-rich zeitgeist (remember, Star Wars would only have been out for two years) and displayed a nice line in cliffhangers. Astonishingly, given that this aired in early 1980, I would not even have been six years old when I saw this. It might look utterly shonky to modern eyes, but this was pretty intense stuff and you simply cannot imagine material like this put out today for an equivalent-age audience. Different times.
Well, thanks for that, ShortList! Nostalgia Mystery solved! And, now… back to advancing middle age.
“Space goes on… foreveeeeerrrrr….”
46 Comments
very funny account mate. This terrified me for years, I’m 32 and a Heavy Weight boxer, and it still chills me to watch it ‘cos I remember the way it scared me when I was around 6 years old!! Lol
Your account of the trauma you have suffered as a result of this terrifying program is identical to mine!I was frozen with fear this morning when I stumbled across a photo of the Space Boy on line and realised that I hadn’t imagined it all!Then I almost stopped breathing when I saw the Thin Man! This must be one of my earliest memories as I am 35 next month so would have been 3 when I saw it!What were our parents thinking? Lol
This is hilarious- just as well i see it this way now and don’t become a quiverring psychologically imbalanced wreck after seeing the silver boy again!!!
I’m so glad that I’m not the only person in their late 30’s with vague memories of the silver one from space. It’s quite traumatic having flashbacks from 70’s infants school. I’d totally forgotten about wordy- but just again had another flashback. WTF were we brainwashed with?!
Lets go back a bit further to The black and white version when I was 8 years old (1972)long before Wordy and we had the accompanying book for The Original Series also it came on at about 10 am (Schools and colleges)do any of you remember the black and white countdown clock to the start of the program or the pie countdown version lets surprise you all with the fact that i am now 40 years old Colin Mayes who played The Boy from space carried on to do other television prgrammes in the 70s
Sorry I should have said that I am 48 years old
This programme gave me nightmares for weeks. I remember watching this in the school hall, must have been about 1980-ish(maybe a bit later), that face of the skinny man still shits me up.
This is hilarious, thank you for your account, it’s exactly the same as mine. Utterly terrifying!!
Yes, another 30 something who sat with fear watching this show in the 80s. Many a sleepless night were acheived from watching this programme – I’m sure no positive education was gained.
Seeing the images again does make me wince – what were they thinking ?!??!?
I remember being terrified by this program when I was little (I’m 38 now) and never remembering what this was called. I was in the pub at Christmas talking to another mum from my kids school describing this and the skinny bloke was her grandad! Freaky. Anyway, I just found this because she told me what it was called.
Thanks for solving the mystery! It finally occurred to me to google ‘tall, thin man childhood programme’ and here he is! God, what an impression it made. I’m sure the kid was also in some of the public information films, too (equally horrific!)
I’m 39 now and remember being really spooked by the whole series but oddly enough it was my favourite of all the Look & Read programmes. Our teacher used to wheel the huge TV into one of the classrooms every Tuesday for us to watch this. Looking back and watching that clip is hilarious, and pretty creepy too!!
Fantastic…i’ve been desperately trying to remember this for years !!
I rediscovered this a few years ago thanks to the internet but I still periodically google it.
I am 39 (40 in March 2014).
I loved The Boy from Space!!! Yes, the thin man was creepy but I think because we did a lot of work in the classroom based on this series it took the fear out a bit. I can still remember the floor to ceiling Peep Peep we made (thank god it wasn’t the thin man). I also remember how excited I was when I worked out that the speak in mirror talk…before anyone else in the class (have always been brilliant at reading upside down back to front etc).
Now to download ‘Watcher in the Woods’ and really freak me out…I’m still scared of that movie to this day having tried to watch it without looking through my fingers. lol
Thundering meteorites! I can’t believe how this scared the living bejesus out of me at school (and now at 37). To complete my taunting I’m off to watch Dark Towers. Happy viewing my fellow word watchers!
Superb article, been trying to find details about this TV show for years.
This is pure gold. Our 5yr old is having nightmares at the moment, so me and my wife were recalling the things we were scared of at his age, and it was THIS! What on EARTH were the TV producers playing at? Anyway – brilliant read… very funny, and cathartic!
Omg for years I too have often wondered about this programme,it frighten the living Shit out of me too !!! I think we have all been scared by this friggin program ! Lol
There are a few good sites which mention this programme. It scared me to death when I was 6 (1982). It was repeated regularly in the early 80’s, however the programme was made in 1971 (and was actually made using the same crew as many Pertwee era Doctor Who stories).
This original is the same version and was made in colour as it was hoped this would improve overseas sales via the growing BBC Childrens Education output of the time. However it was transmitted in B&W until the colour version was televised in 1980. The latter version had the Wordy inserts and also added the voiceover by Sylvestra la Touzal who played the young girl (both kids also appear slightly more grown up at the beginning of episode one as they filmed new scenes to interlink the story).
You may recognise her as the star of the ‘water from Majorca’ adverts from the 80’s. She still crops up now and again on TV and in british films.
Her brother is played by Stephen Garlick who is now a local radio DJ in Wales (Radio Big L).
Colin Mayes played Peep-Peep, the young alien. He was also in the original version of Scum.
Now to the scary bit! The Thin Man, Peep-Peeps alien uncle, was played by John Woodnutt. He always played posh types in various TV shows over the years. He was the butler in Jeeves & Woocester, he was in the DR Who stories, Spearhead From Space & Terror Of The Zygons. He was also Terry’s bank manager in Terry & June. He is also a member of the political meeting in the Lewis Collins movie Who Dares Wins. He died in 2008.
Gabriel Woolf played Peep-Peeps father. He has also appeared in various Dr Who’s including the voice of Sutekh in Pyramids Of Mars.
As you may have guessed, this programme has had a lasting impact on me so I have looked into it as much as possible. Incidentally, the show was written by Richard Carpenter who created Catweazle and Robin Of Sherwood.
A good deal of the programme was set at Mill Hill Observatory in Hendon just outside London. Other locations used include a place which points to Rabbit Hill (when the thin man stops Mr. Buntings car). This appears to be Wokingham as Heckfield is also on the signpost. This is south of Reading. If you google map this area, you can see Bramshill Road, which is the sandpit and lake used. Note that it was made over 40 years ago, this is very hard to find the exact spots used.
One other thing worth a mention is the music used in the 80’s version.
This was composed by Paddy Kingsland who again did a lot of Dr Who in the 70’s/80’s. Although the serial was scary enough, the eerie music using modulated synths of the time gave it that extra chill factor. I contacted Paddy a few years back to find out if this music still existed. he replied straight away saying that the soundtracks do still exist however they are owned by the BBC Archive Centre and have no plan for a release.
The scripts, filming details and other info is held by the BBC Written Archive centre however they failed to respond to my enquiries.
Lastly, I wrote to Colin Mayes to ask him some questions about the programme (I was assisting a nice chap who ran a now defunct Look And Read fansite which is where I obtained a lot of the above location info). However he failed to respond.
Lastly, I saw John Woodnutt while at a seaside resort in 2004. As he was older and white haired, he looked more like the thin man than he actually did when playing him. Still scary though!
Sorry for the length of this piece but as you can see, this is something that traumatised me as a kid but has ensured it remains special to me in my adult life.
I have remembered this programme all my life (I am 43) and always wanted to find it. The only thing I really remembered was the boy in blue from outer space, but couldn’t remember much more except that I loved it. But recently I looked through some old primary school exercise books that I had written and I found a piece I had written which described an episode, entitled ‘the boy from space’ – joy of joys, at last I could look it up!…. and found 4 episodes 🙂 it did send a chill through my body to see the thin man – I must have also been terrified of him. It really is quite scary. However despite this, I remember really loving this programme and looking forward to it every week. Even now the tune makes me feel really happy. I think I was worried about Peep-peep – what would happen to him?!
p.s. it occurs to me that I was 9 when I watched this, but others who have written how scared they were would have been a lot younger – so I guess that made the difference as to just how scared you were of the terrifying thin man !!
Omg. I’m also 38 and I also have this haunting memory of watching this boy with silver hair and feeling absolutely terrified. I thought I was the only person ever who was scarred forever by this program. It’s really made me chuckle to read your blog describing exactly me!!!! Thank you
This absolutely terrified me!! I can remember the first episode as the boy dressed in blue with white hair tried to climb out of some sort of ditch. I have not forgotten his name either (peep peep). I was about 6 and dreaded those weekly trips to the TV room! The torture then continued with the reading that followed back in the class room. 30 years on and I still remember vividly.
I remember clearly the scary man that was after peep peep – it terrified me for years and is probably responsible for why today I lock my house down at night and am still scared of the dark etc… I would actually put drawing pins through the curtains and into the wall in my bedroom as I was convinced he was watching me… I have told the story to quite a few people in my adult years now I know the name of the show we watched at primary school…..
Coming to DVD from BFI in August 2014
u can now pre order it… http://shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-the-boy-from-space.html#.U8GHd_ldX9s
“you simply cannot imagine material like this put out today for an equivalent-age audience”… absolutely!!! I’ve often wondered what gave me nightmares, I still remember the cliffhanger of the stick man getting right up close to the screen before it ended. I can’t have been the only one in the class scared stiff as the room was silent!
Who is the green dude on back of UK dvd? He is green one.
Just come from seeing an advert for the DVD reissue from bfi in the London review of books….! Ah the memories of so many nightmares as s kid! I always wondered what this was…bloody damaged me for life! Can’t do fancy dress anymore as a result.
I was so scared watching this at school that I didn’t want to walk home! Took a while to get over it. Makes me smile to see that I was not the only one. What were the teachers thinking?!
I’m 34 now – this terrified me as a child. So much so that my parents had me removed from the class when this was being played. The humiliation of having to go into the year below because I was too scared, was better than the nightmares I had from watching it. It angers me that grown adults actually thought it was a good TV program to make for children and then my teachers for deciding to play it to us (continually). Surely after the first episode they would have realised it was not appropriate. Thank you to all those involved for scarring mine and many other children’s childhood in the 1980s.
I’m 36. Simply put, it scared my nuts off. For most of my childhood. What was the Beeb thinking?! I couldn’t go upstairs on my own for quite some time haha. Can’t believe I’ve finally found out what it was.
Thank you so much Danny, for finding and sharing this footage. I too was scared to death by the image of this man as a child. Lying awake in absolute terror for what seems like years.
What possessed me to google ‘the white man’ (that’s what I called him) today, goodness knows… but it’s such a relief to know it wasn’t just me that was scared to death!!!
Haven’t quite plucked up the courage to watch the footage but thanks again for your efforts!
I am 37. To this day my mind is scarred with the vision of the thin man appearing over that hill. I have vivid memories of waking up in bed shaking and terrified of him getting closer and closer. I’m not exaggerating when I say this programme is etched in my mind and still scares the crap out of me right now. Thanks YouTube. The absolute relief when wordy reappeared cannot be described. The bbc don’t make them like this any more. In the fucking fright garden! I don’t think so CBeebies!! My kids got it easy!
Iam 42 and still when i go into and wood or forest the boy from space haunts my mind.
Iam a big ipswich town fan and when we played rotherham last season they had a player called ben pringle who looks like the boy from space.
All I could hear in my head was the theme tune of the program.
Out their in space will you find a friend.
I never got to see the series through as my mom switched my schools due to a sporadic outbreak of bullying and odd behaviour in the class. I must have been six or seven and remember the whole unsettling ambiance, I think class mates tensions also fuelled the atmosphere. The new school I went to showed How we used to live and nature docus but not the Look and Read series. My second school was really happy.
Seeing this is amazing to see i wasnt the only kids petrified thanks to bedford rd primary school liverpool am now 38 an still have visions of this hairlipped kid
Unbelievable. I am 44. This also terrified me too. I’d always wondered what the hell it was and were it came from. I had similar thoughts when talking to my 6 yr old son yesterday and thought to google space boy silver hair. Mystery solved. Thanks.
46 now but remember sitting in class of my Trafford Park Primary School back in 1980 to watch this terrifying series and then discussing it after every episode. I still haven’t got round to getting the DVD but it’s on my to do list!
This has been burnt into my mind for years but I never knew what it was, googled ’80’s TV show with boy, ufo and observatory’ and here I am 🙂
This tv show scarred me for life! It terrified me as a child when I watched this at primary school – I remember having nightmares thinking the thin man was coming to get me. At night I used to put drawing pins in the wall oto hold the edge of my bedroom curtains so he couldn’t look in and see me – had to go to bed with the door open and hall light on. I am still a scaredy cat to this day and put it down to this show – cant believe I just came across it.
First aired in the early 70s
I humbly & thoroughly admit that this at 39 years old this still scareth thine crap from one’s self. That twitchy electro voice, the bland look on his face, the arms outstretched like he’s coming to get me, and this was just my old English teacher.
Seriously though, this program (along with children of the dog star) etched itself into my brain & I literally rediscovered it 20 minutes ago. Still scary as hell & my daughter would probably laugh like crazy at the sfx (tin of silver paint) but this still freezes me up like hell 34 years after first seeing it.
I found a look and read
Dvd here in canada at a
Second hand store. Show it
To my son when he is naughty.
Not keen on the tall martian boy
Just stumbled across this and feel like I have exorcised some of childhood demons. Never forget I was ill from school and watched his episode. The scenes of the thin man chasing the children across wasteland caused me to hide behind the curtain, while peeping at the last moments as the boy got stuck. Everything about it was terrifying at that stage of my life – the eerie music, the haunting look on the thin man’s face, the arms doing weird movements and the fact that he never spoke. What a weird programme – great that I found it again, though.
The tall thin man was John Woodnut, who went on to play the equally villainous Mogdred in Knightmare 🙂 Look upon Mogdred and quail!
I can remember watching this as a child and like everyone else on here, it scared the bejesus out of me! The Thin Space Man was utterly terrifying to my young eyes (especially when he walks slowly up to the camera) and it just goes to show what a good story could do back then when cutting-edge visual effects weren’t the be-all and end-all. I cannot for the life of me imagine something like this being shown to primary school kids today – there’d be a public outcry! One thing is that I’m not old enough to remember it being shown in 1971 but could have sworn I saw it before 1980 (I do remember it in colour). I wonder if there was another showing on the BBC in the mid to late ’70s? Thanks for unlocking copious amounts of childhood trauma!