Viewers were blown away by the first episode of Russell T Davies' BBC1 drama which aired on Tuesday evening. The hour-long programme, that had us on the edge of our seats right until the credits, followed the Lyons family from 2019 to 2024, focusing on the political, economic and technological advances that have affected the family's everyday lives. At the end of the first episode of the six-part series, a nuclear war erupts between America and China, impacting Britain directly. The tense cliffhanger ending sparked exciting debates on Twitter, but there was one clever moment earlier on in the episode that really grabbed the audience's attention…
In an earlier scene, one of the characters was listening to the radio when the news bulletin announces the death of Doris Day. However, fans were taken aback by the news since in reality the news of Doris' sad death was announced just one day before the show aired. As such, many viewers questioned just how the news bulletin was put into the programme that was filmed back in October 2018, months before her death – and if it was actually just a spooky coincidence.
The BBC1 drama has six episodes
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One viewer wrote: "Crikey - a very contemporary drama, in its opening episode it references the death yesterday of Doris Day aged 97. How did they manage that?" Whilst another added: "Whoever said, 'Yeah let's record today's news to play in and freak everyone out' was a genius. I thought Russell T Davies was a fortune teller for a second."
The dystopian near future drama was praised on Twitter
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However, some eagle-eyed viewers knew exactly how the show managed the reference, assuring everyone that it was not a spooky prediction, but quick and clever planning: "Quick and clever editing! They left the original subtitles in: the news report was originally about Donald Trump and North Korea." That makes total sense now!
The show received positive feedback for the masterpiece that was the first episode, and despite the dystopian near future drama leaving us terrified, we can't wait for 9pm on Tuesday to watch the next installment!
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