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News: An honoured visitor to my site, Martyn Oram, who played the Euston Busker in Another Flip, visited my site and contributed his memory of filming

see below

Summary

Dominick Hide comes from the year 2130. He lives in a subterranean condominium appartment in Rayners Lane, a suburb of post-holocaust London. He is married to Ava, a career woman who works for the travel company Tom Cook. Dominick commutes to work each day in Pinner where he is Corro, (a correlator). His mission is 1980s London Transport.

Unlike most ideas about flying saucers, they are not aliens from other planets, "aliens come in more unusual containers like the number 15 bus". Flying saucers are from the future, but they haven't come back to tell people to stop messing around with the bomb. The holocaust has already happened, it is part of their history. What is most important to the people of 2130 is that the holocaust has destroyed so much of the mundane historical records, such as 20th century public transport data. It is Dominick's allotted task to hover overhead in his flying saucer (presumably fitted with a cloaking device) and map out 1980s bus routes

Discovering that his great great grandfather, after whom he is named, is living somewhere in 1980s London, Dominick becomes obsessed with landing and meeting him.

Dominick's Saucer Landing

With the assistance of his maintenance technician, Aleric, Dominick lands and befriends Jane Winters, with whom he has a passionate affair and thus becoms his own great-great-great grandfather.

The Play's Reception

The Flipside of Dominick Hide is unique in television history, in that it was loved both by the viewers and the critics:

"This was one of the most delightful pieces of television I have ever seen"

and

" a delicious romp I would like to see again as soon as possible"

The Times

"This time travel fantasy is funny, romantic and ingenious"

The Observer

"So beautifully acted that the question of disbelief did not arise"

The Daily Telegraph

"An unexpected delight, a sweet surprise"

Daily Mail

Flip into the olde worlde charm of 1980

(Tonight's Choice - Judith Simons)

The curiously titled award-winning play "The Flipside of Dominick Hide" (BBC1, 9.25 p.m.) is not about the "B" side of a gramophone record or Dr Jekyll's concealed vices.

Dominick (Peter Firth) is a London suburbanite of the year 2130, who "goes flipside" by stepping into his flying saucer and landing on the London of 1980. Both centuries, he finds, have their advantages. Dominick's 2130 environment is a stress-free society, but antiseptic and colourless.

Though people have lost inhibitions about nudity, sex itself is dispassionate.

No one smokes cigarettes, and the air is not polluted. But then, no one has ever smelled a rose, and cooking is less tasty than nowadays.

Author Jeremy Paul, 43, who co-wrote the play with Alan Gibson said : " We were not interested in creating a future where machines and technology have taken over.

" Dominick's London is our London, surviving. He goes to work in Pinner, carrying his briefcase, like a present-day commuter.

Research

" Alan and I sat in the East Tower of the BBC Television Centre and looked down, pretending we were on Dominick's flying saucer. We watched people waiting for buses and noted the general messiness of the streets. Dominick, coming from a future when Britain is like a nice. clean park, would be mesmerised.

" We wanted to show that things are not so bad today." In the story Dominick breaks the rules by landing on Earth, 1980 instead of just cruising overhead to do research. His motive is curiosity : he wants to visit his great-great-grandfather who lived in Portobello Road in London's Notting Hill.

Instead he find a 20th Century-style love with a stallholder Jane (Caroline Langrishe) a more emotional girl than Ava (Pippa Guard) his wife of 2130.

Dominick returns to his own century leaving Jane pregnant, but provided for. The BBC is playing a few time tricks too. The play was first screened two years ago. A sequel, to. be screened next week "Another Flip for Dominick" has only recently been completed.

The Daily Express - 7th December 1982

"Its to do with Maggie and the Russians. Top Secret"

The play also won two awards ot the 1981 BANFF Television Festival:

Best Dramatic Script and the Jury Prize

Sub-Plots

One of the endearing features of Dominick Hide is that it concentrates on people interactions rather than future technology, (the staple diet of most SciFi). Apart from the main plot which is the exploitation of a paradox rather than its concealment or resolution, there are several sub plots and concepts which gave the play greater deapth.

Dominick's technician Aleric is searching for a mate. All pairing appears to be performed by machine. The computer continually assigns potential pair mates to Aleric, but none seem to meet his requirements:

Aleric 		"She drinks tea in the morning, and paints her toes"

Ava 		"Her toes?"

Aleric 		"Red! - The nails, - red!"

After many tries throughout the play, Alaric finds his perfect mate, Gerald. Aleric has discovered his homosexuality and has "Come Out". The treatment of homosexuality on television was almost non-existent in the 1980s, so this sub-plot was a potential risk to the acceptance of the play.

The language of 2120 is short and to the point, flowery, yet inexpressive. People appear to be happy when talking, but how much of this is through the inability to express unhappiness or dissent. The language itself, although pretty, is restrictive and symbolic of state control, in the same way as "Newspeak", the utilitarian language of Orwell's 1984 is, or Nadsat, the adolescent slang of Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. When Dominick introduces a word he has picked up on the flipside, "Actually", you can see that it initially rings alarm bells in his friends, but slowly he is begining to affect the language itself. His relations are picking up and passing on the words, like buzzwords of today. Dominick is increasing the expressivity of his people. Similarly, lovemaking in 2130 is sterile. People shower before making love, and do not appear to express emotion. It is a mechanical process during which they "have to be composed". Dominick re-introduces the spontenaety of lovemaking that he has learned through his affair with Jane, thus changing the future.

Although Dominick tries not to, he also changes the past, albeit in small ways. The UFO spotters on the TV programme shown in the pub are playing video footage they have taken of Dominick in his flying saucer, thus reinforcing the paranoia of government coverup, and presumably sowing the seeds for the late '80s and '90s paranoia science fistion such as the "X Files". He also changes fashion, after a particularly hot summer and more ozone hole scare stories, Jim Bone (Jane's friend and fellow market stall holder) makes a killing by copying and marketing Dominick's hat, which you see many people wearing in the final 20th century scenes. When he discovers that Jane is pregnant, and that his landing and affair were all planned and overseen by his leader, Caleb Line, he embarks on his most audacious plot to change history. He picks up a Sunday newspaper from a corner shop, then journeys back a further week and gives the pool's results to Jayne so that she can become a millionaire and thus provide for his son (his great great grandfather) who we knew at the begining of the play was a millionaire, having made his fortune in jacuzzis (pools).

Talking to Great Aunt Mavis

Credits

The authors resisted suggestions to create a series, as they felt it would not be possible to sustain the novelty of the idea. They did however re-visit the concept with a second play

It is now 2132, since becoming his own great-great-great grandfather, Dominick is now grounded, his status raised to leader, he teaches other Coros. With it comes an upgrade in personal status. Ava is also equally improved in status, she is now "Tour Leader" for Tom Cook. They also have a child called Dominick.

Dominick and his family are disturbed on Christmas day by a call from his leader Caleb Line. One of Dominick's pupils has landed and may be in trouble. Caleb asks Dominick to go back to 1982 and effect a rescue. Dominick naturally looks up Jane and his two year old great-great grandfather. Jane is now living with a rock musician called Duncan who just so happens to have flown out to Brazil the morning Dominick arrives. Although Jane helps Dominick, she stays faithful to her new life, leaving Dominick to fly back to Ava and their son.

Credits

General Stuff

The Music

Click on the link to download the theme "You'd better believe it babe" Played by Meal Ticket (1.2mb)..

Martyn Oram played two of his own compositions while busking:

"I was booked as a "student" busker, and recorded my part on a bright sunny 10th May 1982.

The BBC wardrobe department decided that I should wear glasses (which I don't normally), as this would make me look more "studenty", and they gave me clear-glass glasses. Mr Gibson, the director, came and spent ten minutes with me before we shot, to discuss the music that I should play. He wanted something classical, but I said that if I was busking, then I would play something more exciting and toe-tapping, for example, a folk tune. He asked me to play him a couple of things, which I did, and he was very pleased with them, mentioning that his wife was either Irish, or loved Irish music, and that she would enjoy my choices.

The two tunes were in fact my own compositions: "The Stranger Jig", which I had recorded with a group called WATERFALL on an album "THREE BIRDS" in 1979, and the faster "Mollison's First", named after the street I was living in at the time in Edgware.

At around lunchtime, I was placed outside Euston station, on a sort of traffic island, so that London buses could pass around me during the shot, which was a "long" shot - ie the camera was a long way away. So there I was, seemingly on my own, busking, and I was approached by a male thirty-something drunk ! He became quite aggressive towards me, saying that I was Irish, and was playing "rebel" music. I stopped and tried to tell him that they were in fact English tunes, because I was English and I had written them ! I tried to explain that we were filming and pointed him in the direction of the camera, but it was too far away for him in his state to see. As he became much more menacing, calling me an "Irish Bastard" etc, thankfully a couple of guys from the film crew came and escorted him away.

I played "The Stranger Jig" and when Dominick came and started trying to give me competition, I sped up into "Mollison's First" in an attempt to beat him. Of course he wins, and I gave up. My part was over - a short day's filming for me.

I said my goodbyes and left, disappearing into oblivion ! "

The Technology

Technology doesn't feature greatly in this science fiction, as a consequence of which, the viewer is more willing to take for granted that the society of 2130 is naturally more advanced without having to see every geeky detail. In addition to this, the minimal amount of technology that is seen allows the play the ability not to date through erroneous prediction. The following are descriptions of the technology that is seen:

The Flying Saycer The flying saucer is really a touch of genious. The time machine could have been made to look like the height of the 1980s scifi fashion in time machines, but instead, it is made to look like the stereotype Beano Comic flying saucer of the '50s - '70s. This in effect adds to the viewer's abillity to suspend disbelief, rather like the TARDIS does in Dr Who, (another maverick time machine).

The Computers

There are two computers seen in Dominick Hide, M.A.G.1 (or Maggy) and S.0.0 (or Soo). M.A.G.1 is the office computer, and coro flight control system, and S.0.0 is the control system of Dominick's appartment. Both computers are voice activated, and are able to talk. Although these computers talk with an even, and mostly unemotional voice, at times they refuse to answer questions when asked showing that they are advanced enough to have some kind of personality. A reference to 2001's Hal perhaps, without the murder and mayhem.

Dominick talks to MAG1

The Utility Ring

Dominick wears a signet ring which is a multi-purpose tool. The Swiss army knife of the future. It is a communication device with which he can contact S00, and in the second play, use as a musical instrument and an ultrasonic corkscrew amongst other things. Perhaps this is a tribute to Dr Who's ultrasonic screwdriver.

The Entertainment System

The entertainment system is under the control of S00. It is a 2D television system, video-phone, and a 3D holographic projector. In most of the first play it is seen projecting holographic medieval musicians playing Beatles melodies. At the begining of the second play Dominick and family are watching the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol on it when Caleb Line's videophone call appears.

The entertainment system

It appears that the entertainment system is based on a view on demand system rather than sheduled broadcast chanels. Requested entertainment is piped on demand to the appartment, to be taped for later review, or instant watching:

Dominick 	"S00, I have left a tape at EVCC for conversion, is it ready yet?"

S00 		"Yes Dominick, they are piping it through now"

Dominick 	"Play Please"

S00 		"Yes, Dominick"

Perhaps we are seing here, a prediction of the internet and future web-television entertainment. It is interesting to note that when this was broadcast, the internet was still ten years in the future, yet the background assumptions to this technology are in unison with today's predictions of internet development.

The Kitchen

There isn't much of a kitchen here. All food appears to be in de-hydrated cubes kept in a Japanese cabinet on a work surface. Ava places two cubes into two rice bowls, presses a button and they dissappear into a slot in the work surface to reappear a few moments as two hot and rehydrated bowls of chinese food. In the second play Ava is taking a Christmas turkey out of the cooker. Lovely and hot with roast vegetables placed on the foil all around the bird. Yet the roasting tin is cool enough for Ava to pick it up and carry to the table with her bare hands. The oven obviously has a focussable heat projector which can cook only the parts of the oven's contents which need cooking, and presumably in sequence too. Imagine that, you could put the whole meal in at the same time and the oven will know automatically when to put the potatos and peas on!

Filming Locations

The Flipside of Dominick Hide

Portobello Road, Notting Hill

Isle of Wight (final beach scene)

Another Flip For Dominick

Isle of Wight (opening beach scene, same as final scene of flipside)

Euston Station

Euston Square (busking scene - see links below)

The Frog and Firkin, 96 Ladbrook Grove, London

References

Throughout the plays, there are continual references which make the viewer accept the play's premise more readily. This seems to be done for several reasons. Firstly, if a reference can be made which is instantly understandable to the viewer, this eliminates the necessity for explanation of background detail. Secondly, it instills a comfort in the viewer that organisations in existance today will also exist in the future. This puts the viewer at ease, and in and makes them more readily accept those futuristic concepts which are alien. Although the BBC do not advertise, this is a kind of product placement to add realism, rather like Kubrick's 2001:

Dominic commutes to and from areas that exist today, Pinner, Rayners Lane, and Hemel Hempsted. At the begining of the first play, Dominick is seen sitting on a supersonic London Underground Train. Dominick watches the stations go by on an electronic map which, although more technological, is in the same design format as those positioned in the same place on the carriage walls of trains today.

Ava works for the travel company Tom Cook, which can be assumed to be the evolution of todays company Thomas Cook who, by 2132 are doing such holidays as "Round moon trips to Bermuda".

Trivia

The Flipside of Dominick Hide

The Introductory flying scene at the begining of the play is from the Beeb's stock footage, and has appeared in many other plays, most notable of which is the TV classic "The Knowledge".

The keyboard on the dashboard of Dominick's saucer is a keyboard from a Sinclair ZX81.

Another Flip for Dominick

This play was the final work of Patrick Magee, who died three weeks after filming.

Goofs

The Flipside of Dominick Hide

You can see Dominick's leg though the landing light holes as the saucer takes off for the last time.

Another Flip for Dominick

On the second attempt at the dinner evening. The shadow of the camera man and the camera is visible on the side of the sofa.

Broadcast Dates

The Video

In 1991, BBC Enterprises Ltd released Dominick Hide as a video double pack (PAL-VHS). The video was deleted in 1993. If you wish to get a copy today, you will have to scan the boot sales. Alternatively, you could try a video search with Black Star. They are really good, and so far have managed to get everything that I have been after within a month of me placing the search.

There is a Dominick Hide discussion group, the traffic is very slight, so you won't overload your PC with emails if you join it.

Instructions will be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dominickhide

The Internet's Second Dominick Hide Site

Puts mine to shame really!

The Flipside of Dominick Hide, From Script to Screen

A great article about the differences between the original script and the final production. The article is from the magazine

issue no. 18

The magazine is now getting a web incarnation, thanks to the dedication of its editor Tony McKay

Martyn Oram's Web Site

Martyn was the Euston Square Busker in another Flip (see Music)

The Dennis Lawson Obsession

Dennis Lawson played Felix the sad economist

Computer Renderings based on Dominic Hide

Another part of this site

If you have a Dominick Hide related site, please email me with the link.

Dominick Hide Desktop Theme

Hope you enjoyed the page!

Copyright Notice: All rendered images on this page were created by me, including animations. The two stills and Video Cover are the copyright of of the BBC, and the clip of the newspaper item is the copyright of the Daily Express.

©2000 J S Farley