Oktober
OKTOBER

Jim Harper (Stephen Tompkinson) with the object
of his desires and the cause of all his problems, Rochelle Genoud

This is one of those programmes that I had to approach with an open mind. I am the least sci-fi/thriller orientated person in the land - the only person who has no desire to ever see an episode of the X-Files, so Steve starring in a slightly sci-fi thriller didn't exactly fill my heart with joy. But, being Steve of course I watched and taped it loyally, ready to give it a chance.

I had already read the book (thanks Becks!) so I knew what to expect but it took a while for me to get into it. But, I'm glad to say that I did get into it so I feel I can now give a balanced review.


Jim Harper is an English teacher (nationality and subject) in an international school in the Swiss Alps. One of his pupils has an older sister, Rochelle Genoud, who Jim has taken a fancy to. In order to see her, he sneaks into a demonstration of a new drug that she is giving. however, he soon realises that he has no idea how much he shouldn't be there. He is injected with the drug which causes all sorts of mental and physical problems. He knows that he is now worth a lot to these people as he is a walking experiment and he goes into hiding. But, it becomes clear that he cannot even trust those that he thinks are his friends

This was a totally different role for Stephen, as far removed as you could get from Peter Clifford and, as expected, he was very impressive. He brought an air of innocence to the character which meant that the viewer did feel sympathy with Jim and his plight, which isn't always the case. Also, knowing that he did all of his own stunts did make a difference - I was on the edge of my seat every time he was punched! I'm not a fan of the blood and guts side of things either, especially where cardiac needles are concerned but it was convincing enough to make me wince!

However, what made this programme most interesting was that we had known a lot about the filming of it before it was shown and it was the first time that I had really been able to follow a programme right the way through, from the filming to the transmission and it was good to see things on screen that I had read about and heard the actors discuss from the beginning.

This review was written after episode two. There is a final episode to follow so this page will be updated with a final analysis and I promise I'll try not to mention nipples!!!.

Jim on the run!