h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK I love big budget shows like Battlestar G, but does BBC need to compete at that level?

I recently watched some of my collection, specifically Sapphire and Steel and the Stone Tapes and these are impressive shows whose effects budgets run to little more than a couple of flashing lights and atmospheric sound effects.

It is unreasonable to suggest that the BBC could find an audience for a new "Journey to the Unknown" were the strength of the story and acting is more important than the cgi?

Having looked at what the BBC produced in the past (there is a list of the main ones up until the 1980s here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A53229512 ) it is surprising to see what there is that would not really need an expensive budget.

I will not say that CGI has created problems for the genre, it has created new opportunities, but, not everything needs expensive CGI, and it could, and should, be carried, in the main, by the characters and the plot. And some could be entirely theatrical, rooted in a stage, rather than a cinematic tradition. That is where some of our greatest stengths have lain in the past.