At about this time...

When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.

Bill Masen’s day only worsens as he tries to survive the apocalyptic onslaught of mobile, venomous plants.

John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids doesn’t feel like an outdated menace even though the book was published in 1951. Furthermore, the central character’s initial condition serves as an excellent hook that gives both a brief history of the triffids and underlies the high tension with which the book starts off. Where Cormac McCarthy’s The Road focuses on the harshness of personal survival and meaning after an apocalypse, Triffids considers the ways a society might try to emerge from one.

The 1981 BBC adaptation stays very close the book’s plot and pacing. Read the book first, as the time-capsule aspect of the mini-series might distract you – 80s hair styles, control panels, and lens flares. But if you’ve been devoted to Doctor Who since the Tom Baker era (or before), you’ll feel right at home.