Television series
The Tomorrow People
Other titles called The Tomorrow People: the 2013 series (The CW).
A British sci-fi series about telepathic teenagers who can teleport themselves across space. Made in the early 70s on a shoestring budget, it's earnest, colourful, and genuinely inventive despite dodgy effects. For anyone curious about the roots of British youth-oriented SF, or who love the scrappy charm of vintage television.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like old-fashioned children's science fiction where the wonder comes from modest sets, earnest teenagers and a clear sense of the ordinary world being quietly tilted sideways.
Skip it if you need slick effects and fast pacing, because each 30-minute episode is plainly staged, talky television that ambles at its own unhurried pace.
What it asks of you: Expect short episodes, plenty of talk and a steady, unfussy rhythm; attention matters more than spectacle, and the tone leans gentle rather than dark.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Doctor Who2005
The obvious ancestor—time-travelling adventure with elaborate ideas on minimal budgets. But unlike Who's roaming chaos, Tomorrow People builds a coherent mythology across seasons, so if you loved the story arcs more than the episodic wandering, this scratches that itch differently.
But The production values are even thriftier than early Who, and the pacing assumes patience for long, talky scene-setting. Not for anyone needing constant visual momentum.
The Avengers1961
Stylish 60s British spy-fi with a similar sense of inventive threat and a core team with unshakeable rapport. Both shows know how to do colour, costume, and the peculiar confidence of low-budget British genre television done with absolute seriousness.
But The Avengers moves faster and has sharper wit. Tomorrow People's earnestness might feel slower, more plodding by comparison.
Blake's 71978
British space-opera with similarly modest effects but sharper writing and genuine darkness. A brilliant evolution of everything Tomorrow People was trying: a team, a cause, betrayal, and a world that doesn't owe them victory.
But Blake's 7 gets progressively bleak and cynical. If you're watching Tomorrow People for its hopefulness, this is the anti-thesis.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Tomorrow People
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Guardians1971
Both are British youth-oriented SF from the early 70s built on identical premises—special-ability teenagers as a evolutionary leap—but where Tomorrow People became iconic, The Guardians vanished. They're siblings in the same creative moment.
A nearly-forgotten BBC series about teenagers with extraordinary abilities—precognition, telepathy, physical strength. It shares Tomorrow People's DNA exactly, executed with possibly even more intelligence and visual flair, but somehow never broke through. If you love Tomorrow People's core premise, this is the road not taken.
But Only one season survives, and it's genuinely hard to find. Commitment required, and no guarantee of satisfaction when you do.
More like this (6)
The New Avengers1976
Later-70s continuation with the same visual language and confidence in pulp ideas. Same DNA as Tomorrow People—colour, costume, unapologetic silliness mixed with genuine peril.
But It's a nostalgia play that relies on you already loving the original. Weaker without that foundation, and the shine has worn off the format by this point.
Space Academy1977
American Saturday-morning answer to the same impulse—teenagers with special abilities in a sci-fi setting. Camper than Tomorrow People but made with the same earnestness and practical ingenuity.
But It's American, which means sappier writing and less edge. The production is slicker but less visually inventive.
Sapphire and Steel1979
British SF that works in an almost opposite register—uncanny, slow-burn, focused on atmosphere rather than action. But it shares Tomorrow People's conviction that a small cast and big ideas can carry a series.
But It's deliberately chilly and unsettling where Tomorrow People is warm. Some will find it too slow; others will prefer it precisely because it is.
Return of the Saint1978
Another ITV action show from the same era with similar production values and that particular British TV confidence. If you want more of the style and pacing of Tomorrow People outside the sci-fi frame.
But It's a crime-of-the-week show without SF's permission to be genuinely strange. Familiar and efficient, but less imaginative.
Timeslip1970
An earlier BBC time-travel series for young people with clever plotting and that same low-budget inventiveness. Tighter scripts than Tomorrow People but less world-building.
But Episodic rather than serial, so it never builds the mythology momentum that makes Tomorrow People compelling. Feels slight alongside it.
The Changes1975
Both place teenagers at the centre of a sci-fi catastrophe, but The Changes removes the comfort of a safe base and allies. It's what Tomorrow People would look like if everything went wrong.
A BBC children's serial where mysterious forces cause all machines to malfunction, leaving society in chaos. Completely different genre—post-apocalyptic rather than futuristic—but it shares Tomorrow People's conviction that young people are the only ones capable of understanding and surviving what's happening. Brilliant, eerie, structurally perfect.
But It's bleak in ways Tomorrow People isn't. No team of friends fighting back—just children navigating a world that's actively hostile. Some will find it too dark.
People
Cast
Production
- Roger Damon PriceProducer
- Ruth BoswellProducer
Recommended by
Please Sir!, Metal Mickey, Chocky, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Tripods, The Magician's House, Aquila, Dark Season, Space Academy