They Came from Somewhere Else

Very hard to find nowadays, this was a cult classic from late night Channel 4. A development of a stage show by the Cliff Hanger Theatre company, starring its members Pete McCarthy, Rebecca Stevens, Robin Driscoll and Tony Haase, it was deliberately amateurish in execution, unremittingly silly in script, and intriguing enough to make you tune in next week. It lovingly spoofed the Invasion of the Body Snatchers genre of sci-fi, with inane characters who were the only ones who could grasp the unfolding takeover.

It was successful enough to warrant a move for the Cliff Hanger company to the BBC for their series Mornin' Sarge, but there the company's run ended. Only Pete McCarthy went on to major success, but a small number of those following his popular travelogues remembered his early days as the idiot Colin, forever mentioning his friend Ant.

Recommended, if ever anyone is sensible enough to bring this out on DVD.

It's odd that Channel Four seem to have completely forgotten about this gem. A DVD release would be most welcome. It's such a long time ago since I've seen this that my memories are a bit jumbled but salient points: Giant prawns in the sewers, liver raining from the skies, more Donald Sutherland references than you can shake a stick and and possibly the only time in history that a TV programme - A TV PROGRAMME FOR GODS SAKE - has received a spontaneous standing ovation at the commercial break - not even the end of the programme! - by the assembled viewers in the grotty shared house I was living at when it was first aired......

I have a nasty feeling that it won't have aged gracefully, but for the memories and excitement it produced at the time 10/10.

DVD? Pretty Please?

Tap dancing through the liver.....

8/10-this is from memory,not from recent viewing....so, "they came from somewhere else" from channel 4,i remember this series fondly although as with other peoples comments i too have only stand out memories and cannot rem" in depth episodes by episode.i remember two of the characters sitting in a car whilst it rained liver and entrails and them chatting with the window wipers on.i also remember semi vividly the end credits where all the household appliances came to life such as the swing bin,toaster etc and a chaps legs dangling from the sofa,however I'm sure we all remember this,so onto the real reason for this posting..i have been searching for a copy of this series since i was 16 or 17 having seen it once thru when i was 13/14.how i wish id recorded it too,there must be someone who has VHS(or beta,or even Philip's)cassettes of the series or part series as video recorders were in full swing when this aired and had come down in price so that most households had one,it was around 1984??? I have put requests on ebay time after time year after year,I have trawled VHS,beta etc tapes in secondhand shops,car boots and auctions but with no luck,not even finding one recording.in our age of DVD release i find it disheartening to find that it is in a almost unreleasable state,according to one posting that the rights of ownership are unclear,yet we get crap from the same year released,re-released over and over.this has no relation to this posting but i found the same with the goodies,another great show that we at least have 3 DVD releases of but again no repeats on TV and no complete catalogue to buy,whereas Australians have it played out in full on terrestrial TV i have been informed.so as usual we are let down and must go without,network DVD have done a great job releasing hard to find old classic series,maybe i should write to them,has anyone else done this?? I'm sure if anyone could track down and be able to release it commercially they could? id love to have a copy in my collection,lets just hope that the original negatives still exist or at the very least studio copies that can be duplicated,it would be a shame if its gone the way of the BBC and either lost forever,recorded over or used as landfill in and around London's roads(as was the practise of disposing of unwanted BBC gems-to be lost forever as with Hancock+dads army).so fingers crossed and lets hope we will see this one day,also before i go i would love to see Hancock's(the ATV show) but roger Hancock(Tony's bro)owns the rights to distribution and will not allow them to be shown on TV/DVD because he claims tony was never happy with them and that his performance was marred with drink,i myself would love to see them,having seen a couple of clips on Hancock documentaries.ow well such is my disappointment.thanks for reading..

This is very surreal but actually very funny if you have been lucky enough to see it.

Sadly a DVD is unlikely as the company that produced this series, TVS Television were taken over in 1993 after they lost their ITV franchise.

Since then the programme archive has been passed about from company to company and is held in several different locations. To make matters worse the official documentation to say who actually owns the archive has been lost which means its even more unlikely that this series will ever get a DVD release or even a TV repeat.

For the record I think I am right in saying that Disney now technically own this series.

They came from somewhere else is one of the truly groundbreaking alternative comedy shows from the early 80s, when alternative comedy was something new. The series concerns surreal goings on in a small town with a secret. As the other reviewer stated, we are treated to killer prawns in the sewers, raining liver, tinned crabs cutting themselves out of tins, all kinds of really weird stuff.

I have seen this recently again, and I can confirm that it is as funny now as it was back in the early 80s. It hasn't aged at all.

I actually contacted C4 to see if there was any plans to release this and they said no.

I was also a bit concerned that this might have suffered from junking as so much television has. I contacted C4 to ask if they still have a copy in their archives and they were unable to confirm this. So if it was chucked in a skip at some point then we definitely wont get a DVD release.

Definitely worth watching if you can track down a copy of this rare and essential comedy show.