Journal jd's Journal: Review: Bird of Prey 4
TL;DR version: 80s dystopian techno-horror geekfest with relatively accurate portrayal of cryptography and hacking.
Long version: Pretty much the same as above. It's a low budget BBC production that scores highly on accuracy of methods, exploits and technology of the era, insofar as TV ever gets.
The premise: a low-rank civil servant, tracking down bank fraud, discovers a trail of blackmail, corruption by intelligence services, deliberate weaknesses in security and criminal gangs operating with impunity.
By season 2, he's keeping himself alive the same way the Wikileaks journalists did, his wife has what we would call severe PTSD and the body count isn't slowing down.
Given trauma was barely understood in the 80s, the portrayal there and the bouts of temporary insanity are extremely close to what happens, again allowing for this being TV drama and not a psychological documentary.
The storyline deals with cryptography, surveillance society, backdoors and institutional corruption. All hot button issues of today. It even covers the inevitable issues of DIY security.
The conspiracy aspect is a trifle OTT bit, again, it's TV. It has to be to have a program.
It's geared to nerds, geeks and dystopia lovers, though, rather than the mainstream. I saw more reviews in computer journals than in TV guides.
It's the sort of show that would really need updating to be watchable by modern audiences, but fans of older shows would likely enjoy it.
It wasn't unusual for the time, which is the great thing
The 80s were a time for really bleak geek television - Codename Icarus (for the younger viewers), Edge of Darkness, Terry Nation's Survivors, Threads - all productions in this decade.
(Even late 70s had some dark stuff, Blake's 7, The Omega Factor, Day of the Triffids, and ABC/Central's Sapphire & Steel were not light watching. You have to go back to the start of the decade and Doomwatch to see a plausible contemporary dystopia.)
The stuff of a thousand bad dreams, these shows.
i'd like to get that ... (Score:2)
can't find it on my favorite locker websites.... nor the BBC website (since it's 40 years old)
Re: (Score:2)
You can buy a copy through Darth Vader: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-... [amazon.co.uk]
Or through the bay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/51340... [ebay.co.uk]
But, yes, it's very hard to find.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like these guys sell it too.
https://www.dvdplanetstore.pk/... [dvdplanetstore.pk]
Can't find any streamed version.
Is there a book version? (Score:2)
I don't see much TV. From your description it reminded my of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson or several of Gibson's books. The obvious search in my usual set of libraries only returned a couple of books about raptors.