THE TOMORROW PEOPLE now seems very “yesterday”. It is fondly remembered as a poor man’s Doctor Who – and as Doctor Who was notoriously cheap, that’s not saying much. Yet when The Tomorrow People was produced in the 1970s, children adored it. They forgave (or were oblivious to) the laughable production values and wooden performances. For them, the show was something special.

But none of this explains why, three decades later, the DVDs and audio plays are selling so well. This is not just nostalgia. Many of the series’ current fans were not even born when The Tomorrow People ceased production in 1979. For people raised on the digital effects of The Matrix, The Tomorrow People looks like amateur night. A short-lived revival, produced in the 1990s, was glossier, with better acting – but nobody cares. The original, tacky series is still the favourite.