20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About George RR Martin
9. He Wrote For Max Headroom...
Max Headroom was a bizarre cultural icon. The character recently returned to screens after decades of quiet, advertising Channel 4's digital switch-over to older viewers. Headroom was created as a fake digital VJ who introduced music videos on the nascent TV channel back in the eighties, somehow spawning a cultural tidal wave that encompassed an ABC sitcom, a talk show, and Coke adverts. It ended up being the ABC show that finally burst the bubble, the radical cyberpunk show set twenty minutes in the future apparently falling victim to its constant prodding and biting critique of commercial-lead television. It wasn't for quality reasons, anyway, with the show boasting an impressive cast (including Arrested Development's Jeffrey Tambor) and a great writing team. Which included - amongst others - George R.R. Martin. The writer was still penning books and short stories but had also dipped his toes into screenwriting during the eighties to supplement his income. Martin wrote a handful of episodes, including a Christmas special about the commercialisation of the holiday, which never actually got produced because of the shows untimely cancellation.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
