The Tripods (TV series)
| The Tripods | |
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The Tripods Titles | |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Based on | The Tripods by John Christopher |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Composer | Ken Freeman |
| Country of origin |
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| Original languages | English, French, Italian, German |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Richard Bates |
| Running time | 25–30 minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Release | 15 September 1984 – 23 November 1985 |
The Tripods is a television adaptation of John Christopher's The Tripods series of novels. It was jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia. The music soundtrack was written by Ken Freeman.
Series one of The Tripods, broadcast in 1984, had 13 half-hour episodes written by Alick Rowe, the author of many radio plays, and covers the first book, The White Mountains; the 12-episode second series (1985) written by Christopher Penfold covers The City of Gold and Lead. Although a television script had been written for the third series, it was cancelled by BBC executives Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell due to the adaptation failing in the ratings.
During the very first episode of The Tripods, subtitles appeared on the screen relaying news that Diana, Princess of Wales, had given birth to her second child, a boy. The child would later be named Harry.
The first series was released on both VHS and DVD. The BBC released Tripods — The Complete Series 1 & 2 on DVD in March 2009.