Have You Been Watching...? BEASTS: Baby (1976)

 

“Baby” is either the first or the fourth episode of a short lived anthology series called Beasts, from the pen of Quatermass scribe Nigel Kneale. Why the confusion? Several online sites list “Baby” as episode 4, but the official DVD lists it as episode 1. Fortunately, as with other anthologies, there’s no running theme, so it doesn’t matter which order you watch them in. According to the information booklet in the DVD set, Baby is officially designated episode 1. Watching it as the first helps, and I will explain why later.

Beasts was broadcast in 1976 and ran for only 6 episodes. The series came about on the back of a one-off play Kneale had written for another series called “Against the Crowd” in 1975. Kneale’s episode, called “Murrain” told the story of a supernatural event in a very rural setting, something Kneale excels at: making the ordinary downright terrifying. If you haven’t seen any of Kneale’s work, he created the legendary BBC science-fiction series Quatermass, which ran for 3 series on the BBC (later a 4^th on ITV) and 3 successful Hammer horror movies which were based on the BBC serials. He also wrote the intriguingly titled “Year of the Sex Olympics” and the Jane Asher starring BBC horror story “The Stone Tape”.

Murrain was so successful, Kneale was able to pitch the idea of an anthology series with a unique theme, mankind versus the primeval raw state: Beasts, if you will. Each episode ran for 1 hour, including adverts.

“Baby” tells the story of a well-to-do young couple, Jo Gilkes (played by Poldar star Jane Wymark) and Peter Gilkes (played by pre-Manimal and Holby City regular Simon McCorkindale). Other roles include Irish actor (and another Dr Who and Blakes 7 alum) T.P. McKenna.

Jo and Peter have moved from the city to the countryside, where they are renovating an old farmhouse. Jo is heavily pregnant and Peter, a successful vet, has joined a practice with TP McKenna’s Dick Pummery. Of course, the eerie is never too far away and the first indication is Jo’s cat, which goes berserk when it enters the house in it’s travel cage. As soon as it gets a chance, it runs out of the house, never to be seen again (alive, anyway). As the work is taking time, Peter decides to have a go himself and takes a chisel and hammer to one of the internal brick walls. It’s quite the scene as it does indeed appear to be real cemented bricks he is chipping away at, and the scene seems to take longer than it should! Eventually, he discovers a concealed alcove, containing an old jar. Peter and Jo take the jar from the alcove and eventually unseal it. Peter then removes a “thing” from inside. I refer to it as a thing as it’s not clearly discernible. Peter thinks it’s the remains of a pet.

As the story progresses, Jo becomes more and more disturbed by the jar and thing. I mentioned above that being episode 1 helps the series because this uses so many of Kneale’s tropes, it eases the viewer into the series. The building/renovation work, the finding of a concealed area and a container that contains a “thing” are very reminiscent of Quatermass and the Pit. Jo becomes increasingly deranged, but Peter is no help. McCorkindale is always good in whatever he is in, but he plays Peter as a total brute, having little to no consideration for Jo. Jo clearly needs help and support but she gets neither from Peter, indeed he just gets drunk and lies to her.

The intriguing aspect of Baby, is whether the events occur at all. As Jo begins to see shadows and a physical form, nobody else seems to.  Is this down to her pregnancy as Peter suggests, and she is over-reacting, seeing things that aren’t there? Have they unleashed something supernatural from the jar? I won’t spoil the exceptionally creepy ending, but even as the credits roll, the viewer is left with no answers to those questions. Are we watching a supernatural drama or a phycological one where we watch a hormonal and heavily pregnant woman have a breakdown? Is man’s fear of the unknown resorting to folklore and horror to fill in the gaps where we have no answers? The “primeval” side of man?

It's a very good, if slow burner this one and might not be to everyone’s taste. The cast are very good, and as someone who only knows McKenna from Blakes 7 and Dr Who, hearing him with a strong Irish accent is quite strange. I can’t say it sets the series up well as each episode is tonally different, but it is a good example of 70s folklore horror.

Year – 1976

Series count – 1

Episode count – 6

Availability - DVD