History Series / LifeForce

* ActorAllusion: Pauline [=McLynn=] as demented robot killer granny Polly Phemus in episode #6 ("Yesterday Island"). The role bears similarities to her more well-known part as Mrs. Doyle in ''Series/FatherTed'', albeit with a more crazed, sinister edge.

* ActorAllusion: Pauline [=McLynn=] as demented robot killer granny Polly Phemus in episode #6 (''Yesterday Island''). The role bears similarities to her more well-known part as Mrs. Doyle in ''Series/FatherTed'', albeit with a more crazed, sinister edge.

* ArtisticLicenceNuclearPhysics: Seen most prominently in episode #11 (''Paradise Island''), where Greg, Ash, and Mai-Li meet Hepzibah [=McKinley=], an ageing eccentric scientist who off the back of her father's old research claims to have discovered the secret of something long theorised to not actually be possible -- cold fusion. Though significant breakthroughs have been made, many still contest its viability.

Four children displaced by the arrest - teenage Webber siblings Greg and Karen, and students Mai-Li and Ash - pick up the pieces to continue their mission despite the danger to their lives. The latter two are [[PsychicChildren 'senders']], given extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic abilities by [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetic engineering]]. This makes them targets for The Commission, but also powerful assets in fighting back. With new guardian Goodman, they become the titular Life Force - aiming to protect lives and help rescue the world.

* ArtisticLicenceBiology: Genetic Modification was becoming a bigger topic at the time of the series' inception, and this is made clear by its explanation for the existence of psychics. Even allowing for concepts such as cloning being made possible by it, most recently seen in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep) Dolly the sheep]] at the time of the series' creation... [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke could GM telepaths really be possible]], especially with the range of powers they have here?

* ArtisticLicenceNuclearPhysics: Seen most prominently in episode #11 (''Paradise Island''), where Greg, Ash, and Mai-Li meet Hepzibah [=McKinley=], an ageing eccentric scientist who off the back of her father's old research claims to have discovered the secret of something long theorised to not actually be possible - cold fusion. Though significant breakthroughs have been made, many still contest its viability.

* BodyHorror: Plenty for a series of its type, right from the start with episode #1 (''The Girl Who Flipped'') with the hand/pencil impalement scene that allegedly caused many of the complaints about the series and facial rashes from the nerve agent in episode #4 (''Greenhouse Effect'').

* BreatherEpisode: The series is first and foremost a dramatic thriller, but episode #6 (''Yesterday Island'') serves as a slightly lighter entry with a comedic tone not evident elsewhere.

* BrotherSisterTeam: Greg and Karen Webber, strengthened after their parents are arrested in episode #2 (''Greenwatch''). Both have each other's backs, portrayed in the likes of Karen's bid to rescue Greg from the clutches of the sun cult in episode #9 (''Siren Song'').

* CreepyChild: Subverted a lot of the time, but invoked in episode #5 (''The Village That Dreamed Itself to Death'') with Gemma, a disturbed young girl who appears to be the only living inhabitant of her village.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: There's a reason that Goodman, the children's guardian for much of the series, is in hiding at a secret laboratory within a mill - he was connected to Greenwatch, the group of ecologic scientists that tried in vain to prevent the devastating floods.

* DrugsAreBad: Heavily implied in episode #12 (''No Quick Fix'') with 'tags', holographic chemical strip patches used to stimulate and enhance psychic abilities at the risk of burnout if used constantly. Ash gets addicted to these, and comes perilously close to health complications.

* TheFagin: Skylar in episode #12 (''No Quick Fix''), who convinces Ash to steal for him with his psychic powers in exchange for supply of 'tags'.

* InsideAComputerSystem: Played with in episode #6 (''Yesterday Island'') and #8 (''Return to Sender''), the former with {{Cyberspace}}, the latter with a ComputerVirus.

* {{Kid Hero}}es: Greg, Karen, Mai-Li and Ash. Invoked out of pure necessity for their livelihoods a lot of the time, with the former two's parents imprisoned and the latter two the subject of a hunt by the government.

* LeftHanging: Numerous plot threads were left unresolved by episode #13 (''The Thought Fish''), the series finale - e.g. who was the shadowy boss of The Commission, and what were their real aims? Where is Richard Webber, father of Greg and Karen and husband of Amy?

* {{Mutants}}: Seen with the strange people in episode #7 (''Beware of The Dog''), that have been raised to live like a pack of dogs in amongst the waste of a dump.

* PeopleJars: Featured in episode #11 (''Age Before Beauty'') for the purposes of imprisonment and taking [[LifeEnergy actual life force energy]] from Mai-Li in an experiment.

* PostModernMagik: Pretty much every single seemingly implausible concept introduced in the programme receives a scientific explanation by the end of each story - e.g. the strange shared hallucinogenic coma in episode #5 (''The Village That Dreamed Itself to Death'') being the result of a disease passed on by fish to gulls, then to humans via consumption of eggs.

* PowersInTheFirstEpisode: Mai-Li is the focal point of episode #1 (''The Girl Who Flipped''), as she discovers her abilities - first by turning a tennis ball inside out with her mind ('flipping'), then impaling a pencil through her hand with little harm done.

* PsychicChildren: Seen most significantly with Mai-Li and Ash. Not {{Creepy Child}}ren, but are being hunted by the government. Also touched upon with supporting characters Skylar and Luke in episode #12 (''No Quick Fix''), as well as Joshua in episode #8 (''Return to Sender'').

* PsychologicalTormentZone: Created telepathically by Kurt Glemser for fellow psychic Amy in episode #3 (''On The Run'') to make her give up information against her will.

* RapidAging: Gradually experienced by supporting character Marianne in the form of a seemingly incurable disease during episode #11 (''Age Before Beauty'').

* ReligionOfEvil: Episode #9 (''Siren Song'') features a weird sun-worshipping cult, who are determined to stop people from 'interfering' with nature.

* SeasonFluidity: The series is both episodic and serialized. Though it launches with a linked serial format, this is jettisoned as soon as the main plot has been fully established - episodes #4-12 are all largely self-contained MonsterOfTheWeek-style instalments. The initial plot threads from earlier in the series are then reactivated in episode #13 (''The Thought Fish'').

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: A prime example in episode #4 (''Greenhouse Effect''); if the farm using highly illegal toxic nerve agents to promote the growth of plants wasn't enough, they are also enslaving French climate refugees for labour.

* {{Trilogy}}: All three initial episodes of the series (''The Girl Who Flipped'', ''Greenwatch'', ''On The Run'') make use of a linked serial format and gradually set up the foundation for the rest of the series, which is otherwise largely episodic and self-contained.

* VisualPun: Particularly potent in episode #6 (''Yesterday Island''), when technologically-modified old woman Polly Phemus plugs a wire into her 'eye socket' (groan!).

''Life Force'' is a British children's science-fiction drama series made by Childsplay Productions for {{Creator/CITV}}. Produced in the late 1990s and aired only once in its country of origin during early 2000, it is set in a PostApocalyptic {{Dystopia}}, where GlobalWarming has flooded nearly all of Earth and an [[TheGroup oppressive Orwellian government]] rules what little is left of Britain.

* ArtisticLicenceBiology: Genetic Modification was becoming a bigger topic at the time of the series' inception, and this is made clear by its explanation for the existence of psychics. Even allowing for concepts such as cloning being made possible by it... [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke could GM telepaths really be possible]]?

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: Although GlobalWarming is an inescapable truth, the finer points about it in ''Life Force'' may have not been exactly watertight. Needless to say, predicting that much of Earth could be underwater all at once in 2025 seems slightly premature from today's perspective...

* ArtisticLicenceNuclearPhysics: Seen most prominently in episode #11 (''Paradise Island''), where Greg, Ash, and Mai-Li meet Hepzibah [=McKinley=], an ageing eccentric scientist who claims to have discovered the secret of something long theorised to not actually be possible - cold fusion.

* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: The series is both episodic and serialized. Though it launches with a linked serial format, this is jettisoned as soon as the main plot has been fully established - episodes #4-12 are all largely self-contained MonsterOfTheWeek-style instalments. The initial plot threads from earlier in the series are then reactivated in episode #13 (''The Thought Fish'').

* VisualPun: Particularly potent in episode #6 (''Yesterday Island''), when technologically-modified old woman Polly Phemus plugs a wire into her 'eye socket' (groan!).

* WelcomeEpisode: All three initial episodes (''The Girl Who Flipped'', ''Greenwatch'', ''On The Run'') make use of a linked serial format and gradually set up the foundation for the rest of the series, which is otherwise largely episodic and self-contained.

* LaResistance: Greenwatch, the underground group of ecologic scientists that are trying to right The Commission's wrongs. Suffers a set back when Richard and Amy Webber are arrested, but their children and students try to continue the work passed down to them.

* LeftHanging: Numerous plot threads were left unresolved by episode #13 (''The Thought Fish''), the series finale. Who was the shadowy boss of The Commission - and what were their real aims? Where is Richard Webber, father of Greg and Karen and husband of Amy?

''Life Force'' is a British science-fiction drama series made by Childsplay Productions for {{Creator/CITV}}. Produced in the late 1990s and aired only once in its country of origin during early 2000, it is set in a PostApocalyptic {{Dystopia}}, where GlobalWarming has flooded nearly all of Earth and an [[TheGroup oppressive Orwellian government]] rules what little is left of Britain.

* Mutants: Seen with the strange people in episode #7 (''Beware of The Dog''), that have been raised to live like a pack of dogs in amongst the waste of a dump.

* ArtisticLicenceGeology: Although GlobalWarming is an inescapable truth, the finer points about it in ''Life Force'' may have not been exactly watertight. Needless to say, predicting that much of Earth could be underwater all at once in 2025 seems slightly premature from today's perspective...

[[quoteright:265:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lifeforce.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:265:Mai-Li (Sarah Hollis), Kurt Glemser ({{Creator/Damian Lewis}})]]

Against this backdrop, some [[LaResistance resistance groups]] remain. Among them is Greenwatch, an international collective of ecologic scientists that have been forced underground by federal agency The Commission [[ScienceIsBad outlawing their practise and scapegoating them for causing the floods]]. Husband and wife team Richard and Amy Webber seek to assist them by raising a new generation of physicists at their school; however, they are soon imprisoned in a raid by Commission agent Kurt Glemser.

Four children displaced by the arrest - teenage Webber siblings Greg and Karen, and students Mai-Li and Ash - pick up the pieces to continue their mission in the face of the danger to their lives. The latter two are [[PsychicChildren 'senders']], with extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic abilities thanks to advanced genetic engineering. This makes them a big target for The Commission, but also a powerful asset in fighting back. With new guardian Goodman, they become the titular Life Force - aiming to protect lives and help rescue the world.

The series' thirteen episode run originally premiered between 10 January 2000 and 9 April 2000 in the United Kingdom on ITV. Reruns were shown only in Australia by ABC during the early 2000s. Though highly praised by critics and viewers alike at the time of its release, it was swiftly ScrewedByTheNetwork and {{Cancelled}} with the excuses of {{UsefulNotes/Ratings}} and [[OvershadowedByControversy a few viewer complaints]]. ''Life Force'' has not been made commercially accessible since.

* InsideAComputerSystem: Played with in episode #6 (''Yesterday Island'') and #8 (''Return to Sender''), the former with Cyberspace, the latter with a ComputerVirus.

* PeopleJars: Featured in episode #11 (''Age Before Beauty'') for the purposes of imprisonment and draining actual life force energy from Mai-Li in an experiment.