Probably around the year 1980 or 1981, I first saw "THE OMEGA FACTOR" on PBS and loved it. The first episode particularly was a knockout punch! Jack Gerson wrote this 10 part occult BBC series starring James Hazeldine and Louise Jameson (DOCTOR WHO's noble savage Leela) which, owing mostly to the influence of blue-nosed harridan Mary Whitehouse, never lived to see a second series. "THE OMEGA FACTOR" concerned skeptical journalist Tom Crane (Hazeldine) who wrote a series of articles about the occult. Tom's non-belief was soon shaken by the emergence of his own latent psychic powers in the wake of some nasty personal attacks by an Aleister Crowley-type evil magician who belonged to the mystical group called Omega. Crane's budding psychic powers bring him to the attention of a branch of the British government called Department 7 which specializes in research in the occult and psychic phenomenon as well as training those who demonstrate psychic ability. Teamed with Dept. 7's Dr. Anne Reynolds (Jameson), Crane joins the department in investigating occult phenomena years before anyone ever heard of THE X-FILES. This fairly popular TV series was torpedoed, as I said, by moralistic screeching from un-elected busybody Mrs. Whitehouse who, especially after watching an episode involving a girl possessed by a demon, proclaimed the show "evil"; the BBC disappointingly let the show lapse into oblivion.
However, now that superb purveyor of DOCTOR WHO audio adventures Big Finish Productions has resurrected "THE OMEGA FACTOR" from the grave and just released the first in what I hope will be a series of new audio adventures. While both star Hazeldine and writer Gerson are no longer with us, Louise Jameson returns as Dr. Anne Reynolds - now in charge of Department 7 - with John Dorney playing the late Tom Crane's estranged son Adam in dramas set in the present day. From everything I've read and heard, I'm excited to give this a listen. And hopefully, in a little while, you can check back on this space for me reactions after hearing the episodes. Stay tuned...
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