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| Pilot First Aired in UK: 9th March 2002 First Aired in Canada: 14th October 2003 Written by: Andrew Marshall Directed by: Joe Ahearne John Strange: Richard Coyle Jude Atkins: Samantha Janus Canon Black: Ian Richardson Doddington: Samuel Barnett Kevin: Timmy Lang Joey: William Tomlin Guest Cast: Damian Asher (Milkman) , Peter Copley (Reverend Rutt) , John Delaney (Billy) , Bryan Dick (Toby) , Abi Eniola (Nurse Mandy) , Alistair MacKenzie (Rich/Azal) , Richard Manson (Nurse Patrick) , Charles Simon (Mr Livings) UK Ratings: 5.83 million viewers What Happened... In this Pilot episode, first screen about a year before the launch of the regular series, we are introduced to our three leads, John Strange, Jude Atkins and Canon Black, in reverse order. The tension begins when Nurse Jude Atkins cannot find her son, and local Vicar Arthur Rutt falls victim to some unseen attack. The dots begin to connect when Jude’s boyfriend Rich attempts to deliver a package to Mr Strange, encountering Canon Black instead, and then being introduced in quick succession to Strange, vibe-sensitive Kevin, and computer wizard Toby, as he, and the audience, is introduced to the world of demon hunting John Strange inhabits. As Black makes efforts to keep everything covered up, Strange and Jude finally meet, and she is also introduced to the world of demons. When Arthur Rutt is killed after naming the demon Azal, the new duo comes up against the Canon, who denies the involvement of anything supernatural. The tension mounts as Jude and Strange discover more about Azal, while Black tries to warn her off. It is Jude’s scientific background that helps her reach the conclusion that Azal is in fact a creature of electricity, and the revelation quickly follows that he is in fact Rich. When a final confrontation occurs both in the church and, through the magic of electricity, the hospital as well, Strange saves the day, leaving Jude and Joey to adapt to life without demonic Rich. What I thought... The interesting this about this pilot episode that it was quite unlike anything that had gone before in recent years. Since the success of the new Doctor Who, we’ve started to become accustomed to attempts at sci-fi drama popping up on the schedules now and then, but when the Strange pilot aired, it was really quite unusual. But that’s not what hooked me at first... when the pilot was first shown, I was on holiday, I forget where. As usual, I browsed upcoming TV before I went away, and seeing that Coupling’s Richard Coyle had a new drama on, I set the VCR and thought little more of it. Once I got back and got around to watching it, I was hooked, this site was born, and the rest was history. Having seen the episode so many times, it’s difficult for me to remain objective. What I actually thought of the plot on the first airing has long since left my head... but watching it now, everything slots together well, and everybody is introduced in an effective, but slightly mysterious manner. Canon Black is marvellously creepy, Jude fills her roles as resident sceptic, concerned mother and clueless girlfriend all very well, if perhaps sounding a little patronising here and there, while John Strange lives up to his name, while Richard Coyle shows us he’s quite capable of carrying a show by himself. It’s surprisingly far into the episode before Strange and Jude have their first encounter, as writer Andrew Marshall seems to prefer to fully introduce us to each of them and the world they inhabit before throwing them together, which in my opinion plays brilliantly for the unravelling of the plot. Although we’d been learning throughout what the show was about, it’s not until Strange and Jude’s meeting that we are fully introduced to the concepts the series exists on, as well as description of the plot structure itself... “it’s a sort of supernatural whodunit, only one of them’s a demon.” You can’t put it clearer than that! What They Said... At the time of airing, the Pilot received little in the way of press coverage, or not much that I saw anyway... there may have been the odd article in the listings magazines, but sadly nothing that survives in my little archive! “You would be forgiven for having missed the original pilot of Strange, broadcast in March 2002,” MJ Simpson explained in Shivers #104, “with no advance publicity and a misleading Radio Times billing,” while going on to summarise the essence of the show, suggesting “Everything in Jonathan Creek is rationally explained, whereas Strange is full-blown Horror Fantasy, a sort of British answer to Buffy.” Meanwhile the much interview Samantha Janus spoke to David Richardson in Cult Times #92, explaining what attracted her to Strange in the first place. “Strange was the first thing that was unlike anything else I’d read...” she recalled, “It wasn’t a cop show, it wasn’t based in a hospital, it was new.” The BBC website offered coverage of the Pilot, with it’s usual trivia facts including the history of 17th century Window taxing, and the Doctor Who origins of the name Azal. The Pilot coverage lacks written contributions from writer Andrew Marshall, but in video footage he discusses the origins of the series. “Originally the idea,” he explains, “was that the devil himself lived in England literally, and someone was trying to find him, but I couldn’t quite work out actually how that would work in practice.” Back To: Episode Guide StrangeOnline Home |