What to watch
Electric Dreams: The Father Thing
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
After a first run split pretty evenly between stunners and misfires, the final four adaptations of short stories from pulp sci-fi icon Philip K Dick begins with a derivative but entertaining piece from Michael Dinner, showrunner of excellent modern western Justified.
The setting is an unnamed Midwest town, where young baseball-loving Charlie (Jack Gore) lives with his parents, hangs out with three other misfits and avoids the bullies; it’s as cosily familiar a slice of apple-pie Americana as you could find. And then the aftermath of a meteor shower causes Charlie to suspect that some of the town’s inhabitants may have been replaced by aliens, his own father (Greg Kinnear) included.
Based more directly than some of its predecessors on Dick’s original story, this cannot help but nod to Invasion of the Body Snatchers,
although the Cold War paranoia replaced by… what, exactly? There’s a parable of father-son relations in here, along with an allegory of divorce
and a Stranger Thingsinfluenced romp, but it shows its hand a little early and features a climax that will split opinion down the middle. That said, it’s never less than diverting. Gabriel Tate