A fascinating take on the brilliant, conflicted physicist and father of the atom bomb.
I don’t remember this but I was somewhat distracted by divorce and re-location at the time.
AFAIK, thereafter, the series was never shown again in the UK but became available much later on DVD. Reviews of it continue to be good to excellent.
Now that it’s freely available on BBC iPlayer, I’ll be watching it soon.
Well, I watched Episode 1 and was not impressed.
The production was “stagey” and the pace slow. Although there was some portrayal of Oppenheimer as a well-known physicist, much of the “action” was about his dalliances with women and the Communist Party.
Episode 2 will get short shrift if there’s no improvement.
ETA
Episode 2 was better with more time spent on the preparations for creating a bomb but the production was still “stagey” and some of the acting was very “hammy”.
Episode 3 was a massive jump to the building of the Los Alamos compound, where the thousands of construction workers and civilians were portrayed by a couple of dozen actors and the same number of extras. More stagey interiors and hammy acting, involving cocktail parties and the Communist Party.
Far too many words and not near enough facts for me - terminated.
Not seen the recent film yet or this old series. But just read a book by Martin Cruz Smith (of Gorky Park fame) called Stallion Gate. This showed the native Indian perspective on the whole New Mexico area that they developed and tested the first bomb. It also covered the paranoia that the US secret service showed about Oppy’s possible communist leanings, the technological challenges and the sheer scale of the operation. Very good book that brought the ill-treatment of the local indigenous people to the fore. I’d not known there was an Indian Service before but it seems clear that this was section of the US military or police that went out of their way to persecute native indians.
Myself and my husband watched the film yesterday.
We enjoyed it,we enjoy true stories which makes the difference.
Great acting too.
Thanks Bob you certainly gave something to mankind that they deserved…
Countries need more Bob’s…
