ADAM

This 1970s British series painted bleak picture of the 1980s. Britain is under marshal law and the population live in fear of the serial killer, Adam. Since his appearance eight years ago Adam had cut a path of destruction up and down the country. Each night scores of people fall before his blade.

When the series starts hundreds of people have been killed and many more have fled the country. Everyone has lost someone to Adam and the government are powerless to stop him.
The main character was journalist Alex Knight (played by Colin Born). When we are first introduced to Alex we find him returning home to find his wife has been murdered. Our first glimpse of Adam is a lumbering silhouette, slowly dragging his huge blade along the ground as he vanishes into the night.

Five years on Alex is one of the few journalists left at the London Herald. Covering stories of increasing civil disobedience and attacks against the government Alex continued to investigate the big story, who was Adam and how could he be stopped?

The word that describes this series best is 'bleak'. The world is crumbling, society falling apart. Each episode someone close to Alex would be killed by Adam. The only reason Alex didn't leave the country himself was that he had nothing to live for.

The series examined how serial killers can fascinate people and even inspire hero worship. In the episode 'MARK OF A MAN' Alex finds trading cards have been made of Adam's victims. Included among them is a picture of his own wife.

The increasingly disenfranchised teenagers were regularly seen wearing T-shirts bearing the legend 'I WANT TO BE A VICTIM'. A declaration that their lives could only be given meaning if they were killed by Adam.

Ironically the public loved Adam and the character gathered a large fan base. Realising that the following for the character was increasing ratings they would tease at Adam's presence throughout the episode, usually saving his appearance until the end of each show.

Strange that the character of Adam never spoke on screen. Everything we knew about him was either from what he did or the scant information that Alex gathered about him, some of which contradicted the other information.

To maintain the mystic of Adam the role was uncredited. It has long been rumoured that he was played by Jeremy 'Bone crusher' Jones, the infamous wrestler. The wrestler would only laugh when asked if it was him.

The series rang for four years, each season consisting of six episodes. It was one of the few series that became cheaper to film as it went along as the main cast shrunk and shrunk as it progressed.

By the final episode Britain has descended into anarchy, the government losing any pretence of control. Those that do still live in the Britain have formed a cult dedicated to Adam, making sacrifices in his name.

In an abandoned laboratory Alex witnesses the scene of Adam's birth. Searching through classified dossiers he makes a horrifying discovery about the identity of Adam's mother. Before we can learn who that is Adam himself arrives.

Alex drops the dossier, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“I want to be a victim,” Alex says and Adam is all to happy to oblige.
In the end there was no redemption, no hope. Only death. The perfect summation of the series.

SELECTED EPISODES:

SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE
Alex discovers that recent Adam victims have all been political activists who oppose the government. He begins to suspect that the men were in fact murdered by government agents and just made to look like they were killed by agents.
The dreaded secret police close in on Alex, determined to stop him from breaking the story. To make matters worse Adam arrives to kill those who are using him for their own purposes.

SUFFER THE CHILDREN
A mass graves containing the bodies of children is uncovered during construction work. Sent to report on the story Alex remembers the incident in which Adam locked himself inside a school and began to kill all the of the children.
The story takes a sinister turn when it is revealed all the children in the mass grave are related. Alex learns the government were developing a breeding program to develop trained killers.
Could Adam be the result of this experiment? If he is was could he be responsible for killing his sisters and brothers?

A MILE IN HIS SHOES
In this fourth season episode Alex is being pursued by Adam cultists in the New Forest. Arming himself Alex finds he is forced to kill to survive. To his distaste he finds that his knowledge of Adam is useful in slaying his pursuers.

TRIVIA:

Five hundred and fifty four character died on screen during the four seasons. 90% of these were due to Adam.

In his biography, released in 1985, Colin Born claimed that not only did he never meet the actor who played Adam with his mask off but none of the cast knew who he was either. Apparently he would just turn up on set and perform his part, without having to read the script.

During the sacrifice scene in 'IN HIS NAME' the bonfire went out of control setting fire to the nearby forest. The footage gained from this accident was used in the episode 'THROUGH THE FLAMES'.