The Equalizer is the latest in a long line of 1980s TV shows and movies to make a comeback. Here few other TV shows that I think might be ripe for a reboot or a sequel.
Blake’s 7
Second only to Doctor Who in the annals of classic BBC TV sci-fi, Blake's 7 was created by the writer Terry Nation – who also created Doctor Who's greatest foes, the Daleks – and ran for four seasons between 1978 and 1981. Set in a bleak, dystopian future, it told the story of idealistic freedom fighter Roj Blake, who assembles a crew of criminals on board a stolen spaceship to battle a fascist Federation that rules Earth and much of the galaxy through fear. Envisioned as a sort of "Dirty Dozen in space", the heroes were all deeply flawed, many of them loathed each other, and they frequently were defeated – or even killed, most famously in the final episode where the entire crew was shot dead... or were they? There have been several attempts over the years to get a sequel off the ground, and an entirely new US reboot was announced two years ago but progress seems to have stalled again.
Sapphire and Steel
A rare attempt from Britain's ITV network to produce a sci-fi rival to the BBC's Doctor Who, Sapphire and Steel – created by writer P J Hammond – starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum as mysterious extra-dimensional agents who are part of a larger group of similar beings, each with distinctive special powers, tasked with ensuring time functions correctly and is not manipulated or compromised by malicious beings from outside the time stream, who are trying to find and take advantage of weak spots to break through and destroy humanity.
Knight Rider
Actually, there have already been several Knight Rider revivals and sequels, the latest of which was in 2008, to the classic David Hasselhoff show about a crime-fighter (Michael Knight) and his super-intelligent talking car (KITT). However none of them managed to recapture the charm of the original. A big-screen version has been in the works for years and is still in development, with Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt the latest name linked to the lead role.
Automan
Back in early 1980s, video games were booming. In 1982, Disney cashed in on their growing popularity with the movie Tron, in which a computer programmer was sucked into the virtual world of a computer mainframe. A year later, the legendary American TV producer Glen A Larson put a TV spin on the idea with Automan, in which a character from a computer programme is brought to life in the real world to fight crime, complete with his own computer-generated vehicles and a little digital friend called Cursor. The series lasted for only 12 episodes.
Manimal
The late British actor Simon McCorkindale starred in Manimal, another strange US TV drama created by Glen A Larson, this time about a crime-fighter who could change into any animal – although for TV budgetary reasons, he always seemed to choose either a black panther or a hawk. The show was cancelled after only 8 episodes, although the character was revived briefly in 1998 in an episode of Night Man, another Larson show.
Max Headroom
The quirky character of Max Headroom first appeared in a cyberpunk TV movie – Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future – made by the UK's Channel 4 network in 1985. He then hosted a music-video show and proved so popular that he got his own talk show before appearing in a cult TV sci-fi drama series, based on the TV movie, that ran for two seasons on US TV. Max and his human altar ego, journalist Edison Carter, were played by the American actor Matt Frewer, who wore prosthetic make-up that made him look like he was a computer-generated character at a time when the available digital technology was not capable of doing the job. Glitches in his "programming" meant that he often stuttered and stammered when speaking.
Quantum Leap
Dr Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) spent five seasons bouncing through time after a quantum experiment went wrong, “leaping” into the bodies of people at turning points in their lives, who needed his help “to put right what once went wrong” by changing their destinies. He was aided along the way by his friend from his own time, Al Calavicci, (Dean Stockwell), who appeared in the form of a hologram. In the final episode, Sam selflessly gave up the chance to return home, instead remaining lost in time, helping people forever.
Moonlighting
The show that launched Bruce Willis's career. He starred as David Addison, a private detective at an agency owned by former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd), which she discovers is the only asset she has left after a crooked accountant steals all her money. Moonlighting was a groundbreaking show, with the characters frequently breaking the "fourth wall" to talk directly to the viewers, and regularly broadcasting experimental episodes such as a Shakespeare-style period comedy based on The Taming of the Shrew, a black-and-white dream sequence episode (introduced by Orson Welles, no less) and one episode with an extended dance routine to the sound of the Billy Joel song Big Man on Mulberry Street. When the series was released on DVD a few years ago, both Willis and Shepherd expressed an interest in a TV reunion, but nothing more came of the idea.
The Fall Guy
Fresh from the success of The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors followed it up with The Fall Guy – created by, you guessed it, Glen A Larson – in which he played Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman who spent his time between making movies utilising his death-defying skills to hunt down criminals as a bounty hunter.
lcairney@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20EduPloyment%3Cbr%3EDate%20started%3A%20March%202020%3Cbr%3ECo-Founders%3A%20Mazen%20Omair%20and%20Rana%20Batterjee%3Cbr%3EBase%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Recruitment%3Cbr%3ESize%3A%2030%20employees%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20Pre-Seed%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Angel%20investors%20(investment%20amount%20undisclosed)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Manchester United's summer dealings
In
Victor Lindelof (Benfica) £30.7 million
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) £75 million
Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) £40 million
Out
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Released
Wayne Rooney (Everton) Free transfer
Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad) £9.8 million
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
