Computers You Didn't See in Bandersnatch
If you've watched Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and enjoyed it as much as we have, you'll probably appreciate the amount of attention to detail you saw. But there was actually a whole lot more detail that never made the final cut!
Jason Fitzpatrick, CEO of The Centre for Computing History also runs Pure Energy, a company that supplies retro technology for TV, film and events, so was the natural choice when it comes to finding someone to supply, set-up and dress the computers into each set. Jason talks us through the all of the computers used set by set ...
I couldn't not have the Amstrad CPC464 represented! Along with it's matching monitor no less. Cigarettes and dirty ash trays seem to be a running theme ...
Well ... it was the eighties ...
Here's a wider shot of the office in general. It looks kinda busy and worked in. Spot the Sinclair calculator?
On the opposite side of the room (behind where Stefan sat) was a Roland SH-101 and a TB-303 along with an Armatron toy! You can just about make these out for a couple of seconds in the film!!
Jason Fitzpatrick, CEO of The Centre for Computing History also runs Pure Energy, a company that supplies retro technology for TV, film and events, so was the natural choice when it comes to finding someone to supply, set-up and dress the computers into each set. Jason talks us through the all of the computers used set by set ...
Tuckersoft
The biggest set I worked on in Bandersnatch was the Tuckersoft set. It took over an entire floor near the top of One Croydon building, and I don't like heights! It's the building you see Stefan look up at when he visits Tuckersoft. There were 8 desk set-ups to be dressed as well as Tuckers swanky office! It was an absolute pleasure to work with a crew where detail really mattered. A huge amount of effort went into dressing the office but as is often the way in films, much of it never made the final cut. Here's some of that detail ...
Colin's Desk
Let's start with Colin's desk. He had a standard ZX Spectrum with a Fuller interface. It was connected to the classic Sony TV-1400 in charcoal grey. These TVs were the telly of choice for lots of adverts back in the day! Many programmers didn't actually write code directly on the ZX Spectrum. Instead they wrote the code on another computer (with a better keyboard for typing) and 'dumped' the code over to the Spectrum using a special cable. So, we also had a Tandy TRS-80 next to the ZX Spectrum for Colin to write his code on. He'd need floppy disks to save his code, so I gave him a couple of TRS-80 floppy drives and an interface! On the side desk you can see his archive of floppy disks!
Anyone that knows the story of Imagine, will know there was another game in development at the time of their demise called Psyclapse. It was for the Commodore 64 and the script mentions the 'great sound chip' of the Commodore 64, so naturally, there needed to be one on Colin's desk. But Colin was Tuckersoft's star programmer, so we could just give him a Commodore 64, it had to have the official Commodore 1401 monitor and not one, but two 1541 disk drives! I kinda stole that 'twin' 1541 floppies look from 'Halt and Catch Fire' which was a fantastic series - I highly recommend it!
I created a program that would allow Colin to step through some Z80 assembly code, but again it didn't really make it into the film. You just about see something on the screen in one shot, but when he comes to look at the code it cuts to their faces. It would have slowed down the pace if they cut to the code again. Don't bother trying to work out what it does - it's rubbish! ;)
Charlie Brooker specifically requested the hero joystick to be a Kempston joystick, so there atop the TV is an iconic Kempston joystick that connects to the Fuller interface. There's also a couple of Quickshot joysticks on the desk for good measure. I thought he'd need a few along with some random interfaces for good measure!
Toshiba HX10 Desk
So in the early scenes at Tuckersoft they had only just moved in, but later the office becomes more developed. As they say in the script 'Tuckersoft was going to be a hit factory', so we put a range of computers around the office so they could develop for different platforms. Here's the desk with the Toshiba HX10 on it. Spot the Boots blank C15 cassette, and yes there's a Dragon 32 magazine there too. That ended up on another desk ...
Part of the set direction was to have 'computers with two monitors'. Now, computers like these in the 80s didn't really have two monitors so I had to think about why and how! I chose the HX-10 because it fitted the time period and had both a composite video output and an RF output. So my thinking was that this programmer was making sure the output looked good on both monitor and television. That sounds plausible, so I went with that! If you're sharp or sad you'll notice the code on the screens is NOT the output from the MSX. You're correct! None of the screens were actually connected to the computers. I'll explain why later ...
Atari 800XL Desk
We dressed in an Atari 800XL into one of the back desks. It had a floppy drive and cassette deck along with an original and iconic Atari joystick. You notice the monitor is a Philips CM8832. Now, the set direction requested a 'run' of monitors meaning 'matching monitors' so the office looked like they had gone out and bought a quantity of new and matching monitors for their lovely new office. That was a problem! They had to be of the correct year and be capable of being fed from a modern playback source! To cut a long story short, we finalised on the CM8832 monitors even though they actually weren't available until 1988! They were the only ones we had 14 of and sometimes you just have to make compromises. I'm not even sure you see any in the film??
Background Desks
Here's another couple of desks featuring a Dragon 32 and a Sinclair ZX Spectrum+. There was practically no chance these would have been seen by the camera, but they were dressed in just in case! There's another one of the Philips monitors and a Grundig television on the Spectrum.
Here's a more detailed picture of the Spectrum+. I put a light pen with the Spectrum ... just for fun. Checkout the Tuckersoft compliments slip, printouts and other paperwork around these pictures. The art department were on fire!! :)
The other side of the office partition was another Sinclair ZX Spectrum. This time with an Interface 1 and a couple of microdrives and even a printer!
I couldn't not have the Amstrad CPC464 represented! Along with it's matching monitor no less. Cigarettes and dirty ash trays seem to be a running theme ...
Well ... it was the eighties ...
Here's a wider shot of the office in general. It looks kinda busy and worked in. Spot the Sinclair calculator?
The Tech Desks
Just outside Tuckers office was a run of desks I called the tech desks. This is the are where lots of techie parts and computers boards could be seen. But again, sadly, they couldn't be seen :) You might spot the main board from an Acorn Atom and you'll definitely spot the BBC Micro on the right!
The Reception Desk
At the far end of the office is the reception desk. I gave the receptionist an Acorn BBC Micro with floppy drives and a Juki daisy wheel printer. Look! Tuckersoft had their own office applications software! You'll see it also seems to run on the Sanyo computer in Tuckers office. Hmmm???
Tuckers Office
Since Tucker was the boss, he obviously had the swanky office to suit! Not only did he have the Spectrum+ but he had a Sanyo MBC-555 running his office suite and a state-of-the-art STC Executel on his desk! And he couldn't make do with a portable TV, instead he had to have a brand new Mitsubishi television!
This is the STC Executel. A communications terminal that could connect to early online data services, store all your contacts, be a calculator, keep your diary and even make telephone calls! You see Tucker slamming the handset down far too often! (Don't panic, it's just a spare used for this kind of work!) It's a bit dusty in this picture but we polished it up for the cameras!
Hmm, the Sanyo MBC-555 seems to want to boot into Windows 8 safe mode! That'll be the feed to the monitor. The computer itself wasn't connected to the screen.
The Store Room!
This is one of the unused offices just outside of the Tuckersoft set. It became my home from home for a couple of weeks. When these pictures were taken, when it was fairly empty! It was full of spares, alternatives and options!
Colins Flat
The set-up Colin had reflected the same set-up he had on his desk at Tuckersoft. A Sinclair ZX Spectrum but this time it was upgraded to a full travel keyboard by using a DK'tronics case. You can see the original keyboard on top of the monitor.
Colin had a Beta-Disk interface allowing him to read and write 5.25" floppy disks. You can see he had a bare drive to the right of the computer. I guessed Colin would be a bit more electronics savvy so his set-up was a bit more home-brew!
He also had his Commodore 64, but since he'd been earning some good money after having a published game I thought he should splash out on a Commodore SX64, the portable (and expensive) version of the Commodore 64.
Then, to the right, he had a Tandy TRS-80, but I don't think this was visible at all in the final cut. This is the Model IV with a built in screen as compared to the Model I he had at Tuckersoft. Again, I reckon that now he had a bit of cash from his last game he went out and got himself the latest model ...
Right in the corner of the room was a filing cabinet and on top was a pile of tech, soldering iron and a little tray of random electronic components to give it that techie feel ...
On the opposite side of the room (behind where Stefan sat) was a Roland SH-101 and a TB-303 along with an Armatron toy! You can just about make these out for a couple of seconds in the film!!
To the right hand side of the turntable was a Sinclair ZX80 on display, some Nintendo Game & Watches and a couple of VFD games including Grandstands Scramble!
So after all this can you think of a reason NOT to come and visit our museum? :)
All these computers are on display and are hands-on so you can play with them and perhaps even have a crack at creating your own Bandersnatch?? Or perhaps it's best you don't!
Come and visit us!!
Jason
