The Omega Factor: "Illusions"

It's 15 August 1979, and time for the series finale of The Omega Factor.

An East German scientist volunteers to defect to the West, only to be immediately kidnapped upon his arrival at a London safe house. Tom Crane (James Hazeldine) has moved too close to discovering Omega's motives, and soon finds himself kidnapped as well.

The growing conspiracy story arc hits its peak in "Illusions", originally intended to be a cliffhanger finale but which instead serves as an open-ended conclusion to the whole series. Complaints from a key lobby group, the National Viewers and Listeners Association, led to an internal review that found The Omega Factor had breached the BBC's standards on multiple occasions and broadcast adults-only scenes of violence and horror in a prime-time viewing slot. The series was abruptly cancelled, and its crew moved on to other projects. The circumstances make it a strange episode to view, since going in we know there's nothing else beyond it. All of the mysteries left behind remain unresolved.

The Omega Factor: "Double Vision"

It's 8 August 1979, and time for the penultimate episode of The Omega Factor.

Tom Crane (James Hazeldine) keeps seeing glimpses of his dead wife Julia (Joanna Tope). Is he having delusions, or was her death somehow faked by the same mysterious group he has been investigating. Martindale (John Carlyle) continues to behave suspiciously, while he introduces new scientist Vashrevsky (Philip Locke) to Department 7's operations.

The paranoia gets ramped up considerably in "Double Vision", as the episode keeps the audience guessing about what's actually going on. Is Julia alive? Is she a part of the mysterious "Omega" that Tom has been tracking? Is the entire experience some kind of ruse, either using a double or some kind of psychic influence? Or is Tom simply beginning to lose his mind? The paranoia doesn't stop there, either: not only does Martindale look increasingly treacherous, Tom's not even sure he can trust Anne (Louise Jameson) any more.

The Omega Factor: "Out of Body, Out of Mind"

It's 1 August 1979 and time for more of The Omega Factor.

Tom Crane (James Hazeldine) notices strange sleeping behaviour by his brother Michael (Nicholas Coppin), who claims to be having inexplicable out of body experiences. It all seems to match research being undertaken by Martindale (John Carlyle) at Department 7, which leads Tom to suspect that Martindale is not being honest with him.

After a shaky episode in "St Anthony's Fire", The Omega Factor returns to the sort of high quality paranormal thrillers that made it so distinctive. In this case it's a combination of out-of-body experiences and a sort of Manchurian Candidate thriller, as Tom races to prevent the assassination of an African Prime Minister.

The Omega Factor: "St Anthony's Fire"

It's 25 July 1979, and time for more of The Omega Factor.

Tom (James Hazeldine) discovers two old friends have died in mysterious circumstances, and travels to an island off the coast of Scotland to investigate. He discovers their ecological research facility bought out by a foreign corporation, and a growing number of unexplained occurrences and violent incidents. What could drive a sane person to murder?

"St Anthony's Fire" is one of the two episodes of The Omega Factor (alongside "Powers of Darkness") whose content saw the programme cancelled at the end of its first and only season. The opening scene, in which a woman laughs hysterically, soaks herself in water and then stabs her husband to death with a kitchen knife, contravened the BBC's content guidelines for a prime-time drama. It's actually a very effective horror scene, and one that sets the episode up to be an unsettling and edgy psychological thriller. Sadly it's all downhill from there, thanks to some weak plotting, a lack of urgency and rather two-dimensional characters.

The Omega Factor: "Child's Play"

It's 18 July 1979, and time for The Omega Factor.

Tom (James Hazeldine) and Anne (Louise Jameson) travel out to the country to visit Anne's friend Maureen. Once there they find Maureen's son Colin (Max Harris) has been expelled from his boarding school after several unexplained instances of vandalism. Tom recognises the phenomenon as psychokinesis, and soon Colin is the subject of a vicious tug-of-war between Tom - who wants the boy left alone - and Martindale (John Carlyle) - who wants to use him for a series of experiments.

There is an interest premise at the centre of Tom Wright's script, but the execution struggles quite badly. Part of the episode's problem seems to be that Wright is unsure precisely what his episode is about: the risks of child exploitation? A conspiracy to use that child as a weapon? The horror of discovering your son is a monster? It plays with all three concepts, but doesn't actually zero in and properly address any one of them. As a result the episode feels like a missed opportunity.

The Omega Factor: "Powers of Darkness"

It's 11 July 1979 and time for more of The Omega Factor.

Four university students have been toying with the occult with disastrous effects. One of them is already confined in a hospital, and now another - Jenny (Maggie James) is having flashbacks to a past life. By the time Tom Crane (James Hazeldine) gets involved, in may be too late to save Jenny from the demonic power that looms over her.

"Powers of Darkness" is a surprisingly dark and horrific episode, even within the context of a paranormal series like The Omega Factor. It's script, by Anthony Read, is a clever mixture of elements - past-life regression, psychic powers and demon worship - and it is all directed very effectively by Eric Davidson. In fact it may have been too effectively written and directed, since "Powers of Darkness" is the episode that got The Omega Factor cancelled.

The Omega Factor: "After-Image"

It's 4 July 1979, and time for more of The Omega Factor.

Anne (Louise Jameson) gets on a train from Edinburgh to visit a renowned psychological research facility. She doesn't get off at the other end. When he is once again blocked at every turn by his employers at Department 7, Tom (James Hazeldine) takes matters into his own hands to track Anne down and rescue her.

"After-Image", which was written by Sean Hignett, is a nicely-paced and cleverly plotted little thriller. It tells its own gripping story while pushing the overall storyline of the series forward much further than one might expect. It is also very effectively directed by Gerald Blake, and overcomes a visibly low production budget in an effective and experienced fashion.

The Omega Factor: "Night Games"

It's 27 June 1979, and time for more of The Omega Factor.

Journalist Tom Crane (James Hazeldine) continues to explore his newly-discovered psychic powers while working with Dr Anne Reynolds (Louise Jameson) and Dr Roy Martindale (John Carlisle) at the government's Department 7. When Tom's brother Michael, who is supposed to be in Germany, is found deranged and rambling in rural Scotland, Tom is driven to investigate despite both Anne and Martindale's warnings.

"Night Games" ends in a dramatically strong place. Tom's brother appears to be the victim of a government conspiracy, that conspiracy appears to involve Drexel (the man who murdered Tom's wife), and there may be a mole inside Department 7. It's a shame that the episode struggles so much to get there.

The Omega Factor: "Visitations"

It's 20 June 1979, and time for BBC Scotland's The Omega Factor.

I reviewed the first episode of The Omega Factor about 18 months ago, but the recent announcement by Big Finish Productions of a sequel audio drama starring Louise Jameson led me to finally jump back and continue rewatching the series. This is one of my favourite BBC science fiction series: cleverly written, well acted and quite far ahead of its time. It follows journalist Tom Crane (James Hazeldine), a powerful latent psychic who is drawn into the affairs of Department 7, a government agency assigned to investigate the paranormal. He assists Dr Anne Reynolds (Louise Jameson), under the watch of her boss: psychiatrist Roy Martindale (John Carlyle). The series ran for 10 episodes before controversy and public complaints saw it summarily cancelled before a second season could be produced.

"Visitations" sees Crane continue to come to terms with his wife's death, and re-connecting with his brother - both of whom already seemed to have some contact, both personal and professional, with Department 7. He and Anne are dispatched to an old manor house when it shows signs of being haunted by spirits - or something even worse.

The Omega Factor: "The Undiscovered Country"

Journalist Tom Crane arrives in Edinburgh to continue his series of investigative articles into the occult. Instead of an entertaining lead, he instead discovers murder, secret government experiments, a mysterious psychic named Drexel and the startling possibility that Tom may have powers of his own.

I've long thought of The Omega Factor as the black sheep of BBC telefantasy. It was produced in the 1970s, a decade where dramas like Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Survivors became cult hits, and yet it only got aired on TV once, was never released onto VHS and - despite a DVD release some years ago - remains a curiously unseen and underappreciated gem. This is a deep shame, as the series basically managed to be the BBC's answer to The X Files, made 15 years earlier and with a focus not on UFOs but rather on telepathy, psychokenesis and other mind powers. It was a controversial series on release, and remains pretty much the sole casualty of Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers and Listeners Association's campaign against violence on the BBC.