Lost in Teatime TV - Irwin Allen’s Time Tunnel

To myself, the early to mid 70s are now but a blur of Snake belts, Sherbert Fountains, Dandelion and Burdock, Billy Bremner and bruised knees. However, I clearly recall rushing home Speedy Gonzalez-style to catch a glimpse of TV Shangri-La - those magical golden few hours between 4 and 7 o'clock, Monday to Friday that allowed all the young dudes (and dudettes) a chance to gaze upon titanic televisual treasures.  Amongst all the Double Deckers, Children Of The Stones, Timeslips and Tomorrow People a whole submarine full of American programmes and one that stood head and shoulders above the rest - The Time Tunnel.

Starring James Darren, Robert Colbert and Lee Meriwether, it followed two scientists as they plunged through time courtesy of the eponymous Project TicToc op art tunnel into which they had been sucked into. Over 29 exciting episodes, they traverse the future, present and past, encountering aliens, pirates, enemy agents and General Custer amongst others.

This was part of a 70s re-run for a bunch of series produced by Irwin Allen throughout the 60s. Starting with the ever-so-slightly stodgy (and progressively daft) Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, he went on to give us the sublime Lost In Space and Land Of The Giants - all featuring stern looking male leads, mini skirted female support, wicked theme tunes, unforgettable credit sequences and occasionally forgettable plots.

Lost In Space runs like a Space Family Robinson with all manner of monsters threatening the castaways, with the series drifting into the high echelons of camp thanks to the OTT performance of one Jonathan Harris and his Dr Smith character. He was also in an episode of Land Of The Giants, which again has lost travellers up to their necks or should I say, up to someone else's ankles in a brightly hued world full of oversized folk. Smashing stuff!

Irwin Allen of course, went on to produce Towering Inferno and other genre defining disaster flicks. He departed this mortal coil in 2001 a week after the death of fellow provider of cultish fare, Gene Roddenberry. These were fantastic, tongue in cheek adventures and although they got a tad silly at times, really made tea times a treat.

Mark Ellis

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