Editing The Day of the Triffids

{{short description|1951 novel by John Wyndham}}
{{Other uses|The Day of the Triffids (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox book|<!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name = The Day of the Triffids
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = JohnWyndham TheDayOfTheTriffids.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = First edition hardback cover
| author = [[John Wyndham]]
| cover_artist =
| country = England
| language = English
| series =
| genre = [[Science fiction]], [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction|post-apocalyptic science fiction]]
| publisher = [[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]]
| release_date = December 1951
| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages = 304 (first edition, hardback)
| isbn = 0-7181-0093-X
| isbn_note = (first edition, hardback)
| oclc = 152201380
| preceded_by = Planet Plane
| followed_by = [[The Kraken Wakes]]
}}

'''''The Day of the Triffids''''' is a 1951 [[apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic novel]] by the English science fiction author [[John Wyndham]]. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent [[meteor shower]], an [[triffid|aggressive species of plant]] starts killing people. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen name combinations drawn from his real name, this was the first novel published as "John Wyndham".

The story has been made into [[The Day of the Triffids (film)|the 1962 feature film of the same name]], three radio drama series (in 1957, 1968 and 2001) and two TV series (in [[The Day of the Triffids (1981 TV series)|1981]] and [[The Day of the Triffids (2009 TV series)|2009]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=Drama&series=The%20Day%20Of%20The%20Triffids|title=Series: The Day of the Triffids|website=RadioEchoes}}</ref> It was nominated for the [[International Fantasy Award]] in 1952, and in 2003 the novel was listed on the [[BBC]]'s survey [[The Big Read]].<ref>[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit154.html#5768-1951 Locus Index to SF Awards]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626004233/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit154.html |date=26 June 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml|title=The Big Read|publisher=BBC|date=April 2003|access-date=31 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018142944/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top200.shtml|archive-date=18 October 2012}}.</ref>
It was the inspiration for the zombie movie ''[[28 Days Later]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kaye|first1=Don|title=Exclusive: Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland on 'small' sci-fi films, sentient machines and going mainstream|journal=Syfy Wire|date=28 April 2015|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/exclusive-ex-machina-writerdirector-alex-garland-small-sci-fi-films-sentient-machines-and|access-date=25 October 2019|archive-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215085619/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/exclusive-ex-machina-writerdirector-alex-garland-small-sci-fi-films-sentient-machines-and|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2021, the novel was one of six classic science fiction novels by British authors selected by [[Royal Mail]] to feature on a [[Great Britain commemorative stamps 2020–2029#2021|series of UK postage stamps]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/national/19220163.stamps-feature-original-artworks-celebrating-classic-science-fiction-novels/|title=Stamps to feature original artworks celebrating classic science fiction novels|website=Yorkpress.co.uk|date=9 April 2021|access-date=20 September 2022}}</ref>

==Summary==
The protagonist is Bill Masen, a [[biologist]] who has made his living working with [[triffid]]s—tall, venomous, [[carnivorous plant]]s capable of locomotion. Due to his background, Bill suspects they were [[bioengineering|bioengineered]] in the [[Soviet Union]] and accidentally released into the wild. Because of the excellent industrial quality of an oil produced by and obtained from the triffids, there is heavy triffid cultivation around the world.

The narrative begins with Bill in hospital, his eyes bandaged after having been splashed with triffid poison from a stinger. During his recovery he is told of an unexpected green [[meteor shower]]. The next morning, he learns that the light from the unusual display has rendered any who watched it blind (later in the book, Bill speculates that the "meteor shower" may have been orbiting satellite weapons, triggered accidentally). After unbandaging his eyes he finds the hospital in chaos, with staff and patients without sight. He wanders through a chaotic [[London]] full of blind inhabitants and meets wealthy novelist Josella Playton, whom he rescues after discovering her being forcibly used as a guide by a blind man. Intrigued by a single light on top of the [[Senate House (University of London)|Senate House]] in an otherwise darkened city, Bill and Josella discover a group of sighted survivors led by a man named Beadley, who plans to establish a colony in the countryside. They decide to join the group.

The [[polygamy]] implicit in Beadley's scheme for rebuilding society appalls some group members, especially the religious Miss Durrant. However, before these plans can be put in place, a man named Wilfred Coker stages a fire at the university and kidnaps a number of sighted individuals, including Bill and Josella. They are each chained to a blind person and assigned to lead a squadron of the blind, collecting food and other supplies, all the while beset by escaped triffids and rival scavengers.

Soon Bill's followers begin to fall sick and die of an unknown disease. When he wakes one morning to find the survivors have left him, he returns to the Senate House to seek Josella but his only lead is an address left behind by Beadley's group. Joined by a repentant Coker, Bill drives to the address, a country estate called Tynsham in [[Wiltshire]]. He finds part of the Beadley group, now led by Durrant, who eventually tells him that Beadley went to [[Dorset]] a few days before he arrived; there has been no sign of Josella. Bill and Coker decide to follow Beadley, finding small groups of blind and sighted people along the way. Eventually they decide to separate, Coker returning to help at Tynsham, while Bill heads for the [[Sussex Downs]] after remembering a remark Josella made about friends she had there.

En route, Bill rescues a young sighted girl named Susan, whom he finds trapped alone at home, while her young brother lies dead in the garden, killed by a triffid. He buries the boy and takes Susan with him. A few days later, during a night of heavy rain, they see a faint light in the distance. Upon reaching it, they discover Josella and her friends.

The survivors attempt to establish a self-sufficient colony in Sussex with some success but are constantly under threat from the triffids, which mass around the fenced exterior. Several years pass, until one day a representative of Beadley's faction lands a [[helicopter]] in their yard and reports that his group has established a colony on the [[Isle of Wight]]. Durrant's talk of Dorset was a deliberate attempt to throw Bill off on his journey to find Beadley. While Bill and the others are reluctant to leave their own settlement, the group decide to see the summer out in Sussex before moving to the Isle of Wight.

Their plans are hurried by the arrival in an [[Armored car (military)|armoured car]] of the militaristic representatives of a self-appointed, [[Despotism|despotic]] government. Bill recognises the leader as a ruthless young man he had encountered on a scavenging expedition in London, whom he had watched cold-bloodedly execute one of his own group who had fallen ill. The latter plans to give Bill a large number of blind people to care for and use on the farm as [[slavery|slave labour]]; he will also take Susan as hostage. Feigning agreement, Bill's group throw a party, during which they encourage the visitors to get drunk. Creeping out of the house whilst the visitors are fast asleep, they disable the armoured car by pouring honey into the fuel tank and drive through the gates, leaving them open for the triffids to pour in. The novel ends with Bill's group on the Isle of Wight, determined one day to destroy the triffids and reclaim their world.

==Publication history==
In the United States, [[Doubleday & Company]] holds the 1951 copyright. A condensed version of the book also was serialized in ''[[Collier's]]'' magazine in January and February 1951. An unabridged paperback edition was published in the late 1960s, in arrangement with Doubleday, under the Crest Book imprint of [[Fawcett Publications]] World Library.<ref>{{Citation|first=John|last=Wyndham|title=The Day of the Triffids|edition=paperback|at=title page|publisher=Fawcett Crest|number=449–01322–075|date=April 1970}}, 6th printing.</ref>

==Influences==
Wyndham frequently acknowledged the influence of [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' (1897) on ''The Day of the Triffids''<ref>{{Citation|last=Morris|first=Edmund|title=Introduction|year=2003|author-link=Edmund Morris (writer)}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Määttä|first=Jerry|title=Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition|chapter=The Politics of Post-Apocalypse: Ideologies on Trial in John Wyndham's the Day of the Triffids|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56577-4_13|publisher=Springer|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-56575-0|pages=207–226|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-56577-4_13}}</ref>— Wells's working title had been ''The Day of the Tripods''.

The triffids are related, in some editions of the novel, to brief mention of the theories of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[agronomist]] [[Trofim Lysenko]], a proponent of [[Lamarckism]] who eventually was thoroughly debunked. "In the days when information was still exchanged Russia had reported some successes. Later, however, a cleavage of methods and views had caused biology there, under a man called Lysenko, to take a different course" (Chapter 2). [[Lysenkoism]] at the time of the novel's creation was still being defended by some prominent international [[Stalinism|Stalinists]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Link|first=Miles|date=2015|title='A Very Primitive Matter': John Wyndham on Catastrophe and Survival|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1728716664|journal=The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies|pages=63–80,161|id={{ProQuest|1728716664}}|via=ProQuest}}</ref>

During [[the Blitz]], Wyndham was a fire watcher and later member of the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]]. He witnessed the destruction of London from the rooftops of [[Bloomsbury]]. He described many scenes and incidents, including the uncanny silence of London on a Sunday morning after a heavy bombardment, in letters to his long-term partner Grace Wilson. These found their way into ''The Day of the Triffids''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Binns|first1=Amy|title=HIDDEN WYNDHAM : life, love, letters.|date=October 2019|publisher=GRACE JUDSON PRESS|isbn=9780992756710}}</ref>

==Critical reception==

The book has been praised by other science fiction writers. [[Karl Edward Wagner]] cited ''The Day of the Triffids'' as one of the thirteen best [[science fiction horror]] novels.<ref>{{Citation|first=N. G.|last=Christakos|contribution=Three By Thirteen: The Karl Edward Wagner Lists|title=Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner|editor-first=Benjamin|editor-last=Szumskyj|publisher=[[Gothic Press]]|year=2007}}.</ref> [[Arthur C. Clarke]] called it an "immortal story".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Clarke|first1=Arthur C.|author-link1=Arthur C. Clarke|title=Sir. Arthur Charles Clarke|url=http://www.neo-forum.com/sir-arthur-charles-clarke_topic12280.html<!--Well-known author-->|access-date=21 June 2018|quote=Another writer that I knew very well was John Benyon Harris, better known as John Wyndham, whose 1951 The Day of the Triffids seems an immortal story. It's often being revived in some form or another. John was a very nice guy, but unfortunately suffered from an almost fatal defect for a fiction writer: he had a private income. If he hadn't, I'm sure he'd have written much more.}}</ref> [[Anthony Boucher]] and [[J. Francis McComas]] praised it, saying: "rarely have the details of [the] collapse been treated with such detailed plausibility and human immediacy, and never has the collapse been attributed to such an unusual and terrifying source".<ref>{{Citation|title=Recommended Reading|journal=[[F&SF]]|date=August 1951|page=83}}.</ref> [[Forrest J. Ackerman]] wrote in ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science Fiction]]'' that ''Triffids'' "is extraordinarily well carried out, with the exception of a somewhat anticlimactic if perhaps inevitable conclusion".<ref>{{Citation|title=Book Reviews|journal=[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science Fiction]]|date=August 1951|page=142}}.</ref>

[[Brian Aldiss]] coined the disparaging phrase [[apocalyptic fiction#Cozy catastrophe|cosy catastrophe]] to describe the subgenre of post-war apocalyptic fiction in which society is destroyed save for a handful of survivors, who are able to enjoy a relatively comfortable existence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aldiss|first=Brian W.|author-link=Brian Aldiss|title=Billion year spree: the history of science fiction|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=1973|isbn=978-0-297-76555-4|page=293}}</ref> He singled out ''The Day of the Triffids'' as an example and described ''Triffids'' as "totally devoid of ideas".<ref name=Boluk>{{cite book|last1=Boluk|first1=Stephanie|last2=Lenz|first2=Wylie|title=Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jc3Or27Mzr0C&pg=PA156|year=2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8673-1|page=156}}</ref> However, some more recent critics have argued against this view. [[Margaret Atwood]] wrote: "one might as well call World War II—of which Wyndham was a veteran—a 'cozy' war because not everyone died in it".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Atwood|first1=Margaret|title=The Forgotten Sci-Fi Classic That Reads Like a Prequel to E.T.|url=https://slate.com/culture/2015/09/margaret-atwood-chocky-the-kindly-alien-invader-in-john-wyndhams-last-book.html|access-date=25 October 2019|work=Slate Magazine|date=8 September 2015}}</ref>

[[John Clute]] commented that the book was regularly chosen for school syllabuses, as it was "safe".<ref name=Boluk/> Robert M. Philmus called it derivative of better books by [[H. G. Wells]].<ref name=Boluk/> [[Groff Conklin]], reviewing the novel's first publication, characterised it as "a good run-of-the-mill affair" and "pleasant reading... provided you aren't out hunting science fiction masterpieces".<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Conklin, Groff|author-link=Groff Conklin|title=Five Star Shelf|journal=[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]|date=August 1951|page=99}}</ref>

==Cultural impact==

According to director [[Danny Boyle]], the opening hospital sequence of ''The Day of the Triffids'' inspired [[Alex Garland]] to write the screenplay for ''[[28 Days Later]]'' (2002).<ref name="guardian2">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/06/features.review |title=A capital place for panic attacks|access-date=2024-11-09 |work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Mark |last=Kermode |authorlink=Mark Kermode |location=London |date=6 May 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508020800/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/may/06/features.review |archive-date=2021-05-08}}</ref>

The 2012 short story "How to Make a Triffid" by Kelly Lagor includes discussions of the possible genetic pathways that could be manipulated to engineer the triffids.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lagor |first=Kelly |title=How to Make a Triffid |url=https://reactormag.com/how-to-make-a-triffid/ |website=[[Reactor (magazine)|Tor.com]] |access-date=2024-11-09 |date=2012-11-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109192436/https://reactormag.com/how-to-make-a-triffid/ |archive-date=2024-11-09}}</ref>

== Themes ==

=== Science and technology ===
''The Day of the Triffids'' touches on mankind's advances in science and technology as a possible contributor to the collapse of society that's depicted in the novel.

{{Blockquote|text=I saw them now with a disgust that they had never roused in me before. Horrible alien things which some of us had somehow created, and which the rest of us, in our careless greed, had cultured all over the world, One could not even blame nature for them.|character=Bill Masen|title=''The Day of the Triffids''}}

In a master's thesis entitled ''Social Critique in the Major Novels of John Wyndham: Civilization's Secrets and Nature's Truths'',<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Social critique in the major novels of John Wyndham: civilization's secrets and nature's truths|url=https://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/1011/|publisher=Concordia University|date=2000|degree=masters|first=Michael Douglas|last=Green}}</ref> Michael Douglas Green writes about other scientific contributions to the novel's apocalypse:

{{Quote|text=The apocalypse in ''The Day of the Triffids'' is not merely a result of the creation of the triffids, however. It is instead, a sort of compound disaster; the triffids only gain free rein after another man-made horror—a satellite—goes awry. The narrator describes the advent of a sort of orbital missile (not utterly unlike an ICBM) developed in both the East and West carrying not only atomic weapons but also "such things as crop diseases, cattle diseases, radioactive dusts, viruses, and infections not only of familiar kinds, but brand-new sorts recently thought up in laboratories, all floating around up there."|source=''Social Critique in the Major Novels of John Wyndham: Civilization's Secrets and Nature's Truths'', pp. 28–29}}

=== Post-WWII British politics ===
Critics have highlighted the parallels between the triffids and the [[decolonization]] that took place in Europe after 1945. In an essay entitled "The Politics of Post-Apocalypse: Ideologies on Trial in John Wyndham's ''The Day of the Triffids''",<ref name=":02"/> literary critic Jerry Määttä writes:

{{Quote|text=It could be argued that one of the reasons why John Wyndham's ''The Day of the Triffids'' reached such a vast audience is that it can be read as a symbolic negotiation of the British situation in the first few years after the Second World War. Elsewhere, I have also suggested that the curiously under-analysed triffids could be read as distorted metaphors for the colonised peoples of the British Empire—then in the middle of the process of decolonisation—coming back to haunt mainland Britain, much as the Martians did in H. G. Wells' ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898), one of Wyndham's main influences.|source=''The Politics of Post-Apocalypse: Ideologies on Trial in John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids'' 13.2, "The Politics of Post-Apocalypse: Ideologies on Trial in John Wyndham's ''The Day of the Triffids''"}}

Robert Yeates, in his essay "Gender and Ethnicity in Post-Apocalyptic Suburbia",<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yeates|first=Robert|date=2016|title=Gender and Ethnicity in Post-Apocalyptic Suburbia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26321146|journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts|volume=27|issue=3 (97)|pages=411–434|jstor=26321146|issn=0897-0521}}</ref> proposes another connection to colonialism:

{{Quote|text=The title ''The Day of the Triffids'' shows a colonial role reversal of this kind in which humanity is no longer the most powerful species, and Masen remarks that it is "an unnatural thought that one type of creature should dominate perpetually."|source="Gender and Ethnicity in Post-Apocalyptic Suburbia", p. 112}}

At the time of the novel's writing there was an emerging welfare state in Great Britain after the formation of the [[Attlee ministry]]. Coker's forced shackling of sighted people to the blind echoes the sentiments that some middle-class British citizens felt in the wake of the changes introduced by the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour party]] after their 1945 election victory.<ref name=":02"/>

=== Loss of identity ===
The novel frequently brings into question the utility of [[individualism]] during the apocalypse. [[Colin Manlove]] highlights this phenomenon in his essay "Everything Slipping Away: John Wyndham's ''The Day of the Triffids''":<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Manlove|first=C. N.|date=1991|title=Everything Slipping Away: John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43308099|journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts|volume=4|issue=1 (13)|pages=29–53|jstor=43308099|issn=0897-0521}}</ref>

{{Quote|text=Simultaneous with this process, people lose their identities. Part of this comes from the fact that all now exist in a shared situation, the catastrophe: no longer can one be an agronomist, a doctor, a farmer, a novelist, but only one more individual up against the triffids, one only real distinction being if one is sighted.}}

==Adaptations==
===Film adaptations===
* London-based film producers [[Albert R. Broccoli]] and [[Irving Allen]] purchased the film rights and in 1956 hired [[Jimmy Sangster]] to write the script.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meikle|first=Denis|title=A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer|url=https://archive.org/details/historyhorrorsri00meik_261|url-access=limited|edition=revised|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2008|isbn=9780810863811|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyhorrorsri00meik_261/page/n65 49]}}</ref> Sangster believed that Wyndham was one of the best [[List of science fiction authors|science fiction novelists]] writing at the time and felt both honoured and "a little bit intimidated" that he was about to "start messing" with Wyndham's novel. Sangster claims he was paid for his work but never heard from the producers and the film was not made. He later said that he did not think that his script was good.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sangster|first=Jimmy|author-link=Jimmy Sangster|title=Do You Want It Good or Tuesday? From Hammer Films to Hollywood! A Life in the Movies: An Autobiography|publisher=Midnight Marquee Press|year=1997|isbn=9781887664134|pages=43–45}}</ref>
* A British [[The Day of the Triffids (film)|cinematic version]], directed by [[Steve Sekely]], with a screenplay by [[Bernard Gordon (writer)|Bernard Gordon]], was filmed on location in Spain and released in [[1962 in film|July 1962]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Day of the Triffids|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055894/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast|publisher=IMDb|date=22 May 2013|access-date=22 May 2013}}</ref> Not in agreement with the novel, it suggested that the triffids arrived on Earth via spores from the meteor shower.
* In September 2010, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' announced that a 3D film version was being planned by producers [[Don Murphy]] and Michael Preger.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/3d-triumph-for-triffids-1118024517/ |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=23 September 2010 |access-date=2024-11-09 |first=Dave |last=McNary |title=3D triumph for 'Triffids'? |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023032220/http://variety.com/2010/film/news/3d-triumph-for-triffids-1118024517/ |archive-date=2020-10-23}}</ref>
* The [[anime]] film ''[[Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack!]]'' (2015) had a similar setting with Triffids replaced by killer [[Cactus|cacti]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cinematoday.jp/review/1850|language=ja|title=Cinema Today Review|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509165013/http://www.cinematoday.jp/review/1850|archive-date=9 May 2015}}</ref>

===Game adaptations===
* Prázdninová škola Lipnice, a non-profit organisation that pioneered [[experiential education]] summer camps in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, developed an outdoor game based on the story.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zapletal|first=Miroslav|year=1990|title=Zlatý fond her|trans-title=Golden collection of games|language=cs|volume=1|location=Prague|publisher=Mladá fronta}}</ref>
* The Italian version of the 1983 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons "Shambling Mound" Fantasy Adventure Figure by TSR, Inc. named the creature ''Il Trifido dinoccolato'' "The slouching Triffid."
* An article in issue 53 of the magazine Dragon, released in 1981, contains mechanics for triffids as monsters in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition. The article is titled "Ways of the Triffids, The" and was written by Mark Nulver.

===Print adaptations===
* [[Marvel Comics]] adapted the story in the magazine ''[[Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction]]'' (1975).

===Radio adaptations===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Character !! ''1957'' !! ''1968'' !! ''2001''
|-
| Bill Masen || [[Patrick Barr]] || [[Gary Watson]] || [[Jamie Glover]]
|-
| Josella Playton || Monica Grey || [[Barbara Shelley]] || [[Tracy-Ann Oberman]]
|-
| Coker || Malcolm Hayes || [[Peter Sallis]] || [[Lee Ingleby]]
|-
| Col. Jacques || [[Arthur Young (actor)|Arthur Young]] || Anthony Vicars || [[Geoffrey Whitehead]]
|-
| Michael Beadley || John Sharplin || Michael McClain ||
|-
| Ms. Durrant || Molly Lumley || Hilda Krisemon || [[Richenda Carey]]
|-
| Dr. Vorless || Duncan McIntyre || Victor Lucas ||
|-
| Susan || [[Gabrielle Blunt]] || Jill Cary || Lucy Tricket
|-
| Denis Brent || [[Richard Martin (British director)|Richard Martin]] || [[David Brierly]] ||
|-
| Mary Brent || Shelia Manahan || [[Freda Dowie]] ||
|-
| Joyce Tailor || Margot Macalister || [[Margaret Robinson]] ||
|-
| Torrence || [[Trevor Martin]] || Hayden Jones ||
|}
* There were readings of the novel in 1953 ([[BBC Home Service]] – 15 × 15 minutes, read by Frank Duncan)
* [[Giles Cooper (playwright)|Giles Cooper]] adapted the novel in six 30-minute episodes for the [[BBC Light Programme]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Df-dCAAAQBAJ&q=BBC%2520Light%2520Programme%2520the%2520day%2520of%2520the%2520triffids&pg=PA104|title=Historical Dictionary of British Radio|last=Street|first=Seán|date=2015-04-21|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781442249233|pages=104}}</ref> first broadcast between 2 October and 6 November 1957. It was produced by Peter Watts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/26ad9bf0249b4a7c8c203accbbbb06e7|title=Patrick Barr in 'THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS' – Light Programme – 23 October 1957 – BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk|date=23 October 1957|access-date=2016-07-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916222614/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/26ad9bf0249b4a7c8c203accbbbb06e7|archive-date=16 September 2016}}</ref>
* A second version of Cooper's adaptation, for [[BBC Radio 4]], was first broadcast between 20 June and 25 July 1968. It was produced by John Powell, with music by [[David Cain (composer)|David Cain]] of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/89dd027219ad49b781243d337b5aa6a3|title=The Day of the Triffids: Part 1: The End Begins|publisher=BBC Genome Beta|date=20 June 1968|access-date=27 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/0a469db94e5d4ee5b8a9b4e5cbb9ec76|title=The Day of the Triffids: Part 6: Strategic Withdrawal|publisher=BBC Genome Beta|date=25 July 1968|access-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>
* It was adapted in Germany in 1968 by Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) Köln (Cologne), translated by Hein Bruehl.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Milner|first1=Andrew|title=Locating Science Fiction|date=14 November 2012|publisher=Liverpool University Press|location=Liverpool|isbn=9781846318429|pages=Chapter 4: Radio Science Fiction and the Theory of Genre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXV5AgAAQBAJ&q=day+of+the+triffids+Westdeutscher+Rundfunk&pg=PT116|access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref> Most recently, it was re-broadcast as a four-episode series on WDR5 in January 2008.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}
* It was adapted in Norway in 1969 by Norsk Rikskringkasting ([[NRK]]), translated by Knut Johansen, and most recently re-broadcast as a six-episode series on NRK in September and October 2012. The Norwegian version is also available on CD and [[iTunes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/radioteatret/1.8312380|title=Nostalgisk grøss|first1=Else|last1=Barratt-Due|first2=Nan Kristin|last2=Myhre|date=6 September 2012|publisher=NRK|language=no|access-date=1 October 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510203433/http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/radioteatret/1.8312380|archive-date=10 May 2013}}</ref>
* There were readings of the novel in 1971 ([[BBC Radio 4]] – 10 × 15 minutes, read by [[Gabriel Woolf]])
* A 20-minute extract for schools was first broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on 21 September 1973, adapted and produced by Peter Fozzard.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}
* There were readings of the novel in 1980 (BBC Radio 4/[[Woman's Hour]] – 14 × 15 minutes, read by David Ashford)
* An adaptation by [[Lance Dann]] in two 45-minute episodes for the [[BBC World Service]] was first broadcast on 8 and 22 September 2001. It was directed by Rosalind Ward, with music by [[Simon Russell (composer)|Simon Russell]]. Episode 2 was originally scheduled for 15 September 2001, but was rescheduled due to the [[September 11 attacks]]. Each episode was followed by a 15-minute documentary on the book.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}}
* There were readings of the novel in 2004 ([[BBC Radio 4 Extra|BBC Radio 7]] – 17 × 30 minutes, read by Roger May)

===Television adaptations===
* ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' episode "[[Specimen: Unknown]]", an episode of the anthology series in which humans are threatened by aggressive alien plants, and which shares some similarity with the end of the 1962 film adaptation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schow|first1=David J.|title=The outer limits companion|date=1998|publisher=GNP/Crescendo|location=Hollywood, Calif.|isbn=0966516907|page=92|edition=[2nd]}}</ref>
* A six-episode (each episode 30 minutes in length) television serial [[The Day of the Triffids (1981 TV series)|version]] was produced by the BBC in 1981 and repeated first on UKGold in the early 1990s (as 3x50 minute episodes, as it was edited for international sales) then on [[BBC Four]] in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2014. It starred [[John Duttine]] as Bill Masen and was fairly faithful to the novel, albeit moving the timeline to a then-contemporary setting, with Triffid oil being farmed as an energy-saving fuel additive.
* In December 2009, the [[BBC]] broadcast a [[The Day of the Triffids (2009 TV series)|new version]] of the story, written by ''[[ER (TV series)|ER]]'' and ''[[Law & Order]]'' writer Patrick Harbinson.<ref>{{cite news|title=Coming to the BBC in 2009... The Day of the Triffids|date=27 November 2008|publisher=BBC|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/11_november/27/triffids.shtml|access-date=21 December 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905074944/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/11_november/27/triffids.shtml|archive-date=5 September 2010}}</ref> It stars [[Dougray Scott]] as Bill Masen, [[Joely Richardson]] as Jo Playton, [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]] as Dennis Masen, [[Vanessa Redgrave]] as Durrant, [[Eddie Izzard]] as Torrence and [[Jason Priestley]] as Coker.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Day of The Triffids attracts all-star cast to BBC One|publisher=BBC Press Office|date=11 February 2009|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/11/triffids.shtml|access-date=11 February 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215192709/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/11/triffids.shtml|archive-date=15 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Day of the Triffids, BBC1/Tsunami: Caught on Camera, Channel 4|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-day-of-the-triffids-bbc-1brtsunami-caught-on-camera-channel-4-1855856.html|work=The Independent|location=London|first=Tim|last=Walker|date=3 January 2010|access-date=12 August 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105190921/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-day-of-the-triffids-bbc-1brtsunami-caught-on-camera-channel-4-1855856.html|archive-date=5 November 2012}}</ref> An estimated 6.1 million people viewed the first episode.<ref>{{cite web|date=3 January 2010<!--, 19:02 GMT -->|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a193479/triffids-remake-brings-in-61-million.html|title='Triffids' remake brings in 6.1 million|work=TV News|publisher=Digital Spy|access-date=12 August 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017051735/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a193479/triffids-remake-brings-in-61-million.html|archive-date=17 October 2012}}</ref> In this version the Triffids originally evolved in [[Zaire]], and their oil is used as an alternative fuel, averting global warming. The elements of repopulating the Earth and the plague were overlooked in this adaptation; another difference in the plot was that the Earth was blinded by a [[solar flare]] rather than a meteor shower.
* [[Amazon Studios]] announced a planned television series adaptation of the novel with [[Johan Renck]] set to direct and executive produce for Angry Films.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Andreeva|first1=Nellie|title='The Day of the Triffids' TV Series in Works at Amazon With Johan Renck Directing & Angry Films Producing|url=https://deadline.com/2023/03/the-day-of-the-triffids-tv-series-amazon-johan-renck-directing-angry-films-1235275294/|publisher=Deadline Hollywood|date=1 March 2023}}</ref>

==Sequels==
[[Simon Clark (novelist)|Simon Clark]] wrote a sequel ''[[The Night of the Triffids]]'' (2001). This is set 25 years after Wyndham's book, and focuses on the adventures of Bill Masen's son David, who travels to New York, USA. [[Big Finish Productions]] adapted it as an audio play in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-night-of-the-triffids-1091|title=The Night of the Triffids|website=Big Finish|access-date=2017-10-25}}</ref> The dramatisation featuring [[Sam Troughton]] was later broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in June 2016.

Simon Gould published ''The Land of the Triffids'' in 2016, continuing the story of Christina Schofield, picking up where Simon Clark's ''The Night of the Triffids'' left off.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gould|first=Simon|title=Land of the Triffids|date=2016-12-29|publisher=Independently published|isbn=978-1-5202-5744-0|editor-last=Masters|editor-first=Kelly}}</ref> However, {{As of|2023|lc=y}}, the book is unavailable for purchase and has not been dramatised in any form.

In 2020, English science fiction and fantasy author [[John Whitbourn]] published a sequel, entitled ''The Age of the Triffids''. Set in the Isle of Wight "Colony" in the lead-up to the Millennium, it details the rallying of survivors from across Britain for one last attempt to defeat the triffid threat. For copyright reasons, the book is not for sale outside Canada and New Zealand.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Age of the Triffids: Amazon Books|id={{ASIN|171274982X|country=ca}}}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Citation|url=http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/l.j.hurst/weredead.htm|type=essay|first=L. J.|last=Hurst|title=Were dead|publisher=Pipex|ref=none|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810155228/http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/l.j.hurst/weredead.htm|archive-date=10 August 2013}}.
* {{Citation|url=http://triffids.guidesite.co.uk/|type=reader's guide|title=The Day of the Triffids|place=United Kingdom|ref=none}}.
* {{IMDb name |0943909 |John Wyndham}}

{{John Wyndham}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day of the Triffids, The}}
[[Category:1951 British novels]]
[[Category:1951 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:1950s horror novels]]
[[Category:1957 radio dramas]]
[[Category:1968 radio dramas]]
[[Category:British science fiction novels]]
[[Category:British horror novels]]
[[Category:British post-apocalyptic novels]]
[[Category:Biopunk novels]]
[[Category:Novels by John Wyndham]]
[[Category:Novels set in London]]
[[Category:Novels set in Wiltshire]]
[[Category:Novels about blindness]]
[[Category:Novels about diseases and disorders]]
[[Category:Works about plants]]
[[Category:Monsters in popular culture]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:British novels adapted for radio]]
[[Category:British science fiction radio programmes]]
[[Category:Horror fiction radio programmes]]
[[Category:British radio dramas]]
[[Category:BBC Radio programmes]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into television shows]]
[[Category:Science fiction horror novels]]
[[Category:Science fiction novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Horror novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Michael Joseph books]]
[[Category:Fiction about meteoroids]]