They Came From Somewhere Else

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They Came From Somewhere Else is a British sitcom that was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. It had science fiction leanings, as it centred on aliens taking over the world, disguised as roadworks.

One of the more notable characters was Wendy, a laughing police officer who sounded a bit like Sybil Fawlty. Towards the end of the series, her demise came as she literally laughed her head off.

This programme was produced by TVS and filmed in Maidstone, Kent, during 1983. The producer was Jim Hill, and the programme edited by John Price. Wendy was played by Rebecca Stevens and included Hilda Braid, who later played Nana Moon in the BBC1 soap, EastEnders. Other characters included the 'stranger' and 'Martin'. Pete McCarthy also starred in the programme. This production was written by the Brighton group 'Cliffhanger'.

The series comprised six thirty minute episodes and was set in the fictional British newtown Middleford (as I remember it). The story centred upon the arrival of a mysterious American to the area and featured, among other things, exploding butchers, giant killer prawns, consumerist zombies, evil party masks and a red coated dwarf.

As the plot thickened, the inhabitants of Middleford came to realise that their town had no children living in it and that none of them had ever been anywhere else. The series concluded with the original and entertaining revellation that Middleford was in fact a prison satellite orbitting the Earth some time in the future and that its inhabitants were all criminals undergoing rehabilitation. The American stranger had infiltrated the satellite in the hope of springing free his imprisoned wife, Wendy.

Predating Spaced by over a decade, the show made regular reference to popular culture and included pastiches and homages to such films as Dawn of the Dead and Don't Look Now.

This was a superb and original show and it seems incredible that it has never been repeated. We can only hope that some day the issues over the show's ownership are resolved and the inhabitants of the Middleford prison satellite are once again released to run amock upon our TV screens.

My own personal favourite line from the show, "It all fits together. Like a fish".

Hilarious stuff.