The epic 1980’s battle between computing giants Sinclair and Acorn will be covered in an upcmoming BBC4 documentary, The Guardian reports. Sir Clive Sinclair will be played by Alexander Armstrong, while Martin Freeman will fill the shoes of Sir Clive’s ex-colleage and Acorn founder Chris Curry. The show’s creators are aiming for a comedy approach, evidenced by the excellently geeky working title of Syntax Era.

The 90 minute programme specifically covers the marketing fight between the BBC Micro and the Sinclar ZX Spectrum (which we covered in some detail here), and will include genuine retro archival footage as well as the new “docu-comedy”. BBC4 controller Richard Klein had this to say:

“Those of us who lived through the 1980s will remember the sense of excitement when gadgets and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival. Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman are excellent choices to portray Sir Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry at a time when battling to have the UK’s most-loved home computer was their number one priority.”

Syntax Era is due to be shown on BBC4 “later this year”. I can’t wait.

Other TTB Posts Like This One

• Review: Electric Dreams – The Eighties (TV – BBC4)
• Retro Computing Corner: The 1980s British Invasion
• Review: Micro Men (TV – BBC4)
• ‘Elite’ Is 25!
• Retro Computing Corner: The World’s First Laptop? (c. 1982)