For a teenage Atwood heading off to university, The Midwich Cuckoos “was certainly a graphic metaphor for the fear of unwanted pregnancies as experienced by the teenage girls of that pre–birth-control era”.

Indeed, The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood has described herself as “an avid John Wyndham reader throughout the 1950s” and highlights 1957’s The Midwich Cuckoos as his masterpiece.

Elsewhere, dystopian tale The Chrysalids’ depiction of fundamentalist Christianity and its savage implications for women and fertility can be seen as an antecedent to The Handmaid’s Tale. Day of the Triffids is perhaps the best-known of his novels, detailing an apocalypse of carnivorous plants (and inspiring the set-up for 28 Days Later). Through a series of mid-20th century classics, English author John Wyndham left a lasting impact on science fiction and pop culture. Across seven episodes, there’s plenty of room for the slow-burn story to breathe, with an increased focus on the story’s characters, writes Steve Newall. In 1946 he went back to writing stories for publication in the USA and decided to try a modified form of science fiction, a form he called 'logical fantasy'.A British sci-fi classic gets a chilling contemporary adaption in new series The Midwich Cuckoos – stream it on Neon from July 4. During the war he was in the Civil Service and then the Army. From 1930 to 1939 he wrote stories of various kinds under different names, almost exclusively for American publications, while also writing detective novels. He tried a number of careers, including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, and started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. The Midwich Cuckoos is the classic tale of aliens in our midst, exploring how we respond when confronted by those who are innately superior to us in every conceivable way.Ībout the author: John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Benyon Harris was born in 1903, the son of a barrister. They grow up too fast, and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realisation dawns on the world outside. The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant. In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious.

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham