Bird of Prey is a British techno-thriller television serial written by Ron Hutchinson and produced by Michael Wearing and Bernard Krichefski for the BBC in 1982. From its video game-inspired opening titles to its pervasive electronic music track, Bird of Prey went to great lengths to demonstrate its credentials as 'a thriller for the electronic age'. These elements, together with a clever and complex plot that combines a breathless fascination with the still-young field of computing with pan-European fraud, international terrorism, rogue intelligence operatives and organised crime, link it firmly to the early 1980s, expressing that era's growing anxieties about the burgeoning 'Eurocracy'.
CreatorRon Hutchinson
Input Classified
Apr 22, 1982
Henry Jay: Civil Servant, mid-thirties. Good Head for Detail. Prospects: Steady promotion. Index-linked pension. Hobbies: Philately, Hi-fi. Current Project: Computer Fraud Report for Whitehall Trade Ministry. Altogether a seemingly puny obstacle to a massive financial conspiracy - with the bureaucratic clout to silence the inquisitive.
Mode Murder
Apr 29, 1982
Murder and the power to subvert officialdom: Henry Jay has good reason to believe in "Le Pouvior" and its likes with the growing evidence of a financial conspiracy. A dead detective's legacy - a file pointing to a Euro MP and a girl in Brussels - leaves Henry no option but to pick up the trail.
Process Priority
May 6, 1982
One name recurs in Henry Jay's single-handed investigation into the affairs of "Le Pouvoir" - Euro MP Hugo Jardine. With British Intelligence now implicated in the cover-up, Henry has a story to sell - if he can stay alive long enough.
Printout Urgent
May 13, 1982
Henry at bay. His home in ruins, his allies and hard-won.
