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Codename Icarus is a five-part British children's television drama serial written by Richard Cooper, which was produced by the BBC in 1981.[1]
The serial combined elements of teenage drama and conspiracy thriller, and involved child prodigies being manipulated as the basis for a complex scheme involving nuclear missiles and the mysterious Icarus Foundation's plot to take over the world.
It starred Barry Angel as child prodigy Martin Smith and Philip Locke as John Doll. Cooper also novelised the serial, which was published by the BBC and Knight Books in 1981.
The serial was released on VHS in compilation form by BBC Video in 1985 in the UK, and in 2006 it was made available in its original, unedited episodic format on Region 1 DVD by Home Vision Entertainment in the United States.
The location for the scenes when the children were at school was the Redrice, just outside Andover, Hampshire, UK. This school has since been renamed as the Farleigh School. All the child extras came from the Harrow Way Community School in Andover.
The credits for all five episodes of the serial bore the captions 'Scientific Advice – Professor John Taylor' and 'BBC wishes to thank: Imperial War Museum, Duxford'.
The title music was Koschei's Infernal Dance from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky.
Episode 3 'Harlequin' was nominated for 'Best Drama/Light Entertainment' at the 1982 BAFTA Awards.
The serial was broadcast twice-weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the original transmission dates being as follows:
- Part One – 8 December 1981
- Part Two – 9 December 1981
- Part Three – 15 December 1981
- Part Four – 16 December 1981
- Part Five – 22 December 1981
- ^ Selway, Jennifer (6 December 1981). "The Week in View". The Observer. p. 44.