‘Giant plants attack people’. Now, there’s a high concept idea from a time when Simpson and Bruckheimer were barely into puberty, let alone slipping Tom Cruise into a fighter jet. It’s also the premise for the BBC commissioned, modern day remake of the (somewhat iconic) 1962 sci-fi flick, The Day of the Triffids. Itself an adaptation of John Wyndham’s 1951 novel, the film is one of those camp relics that, though known well by title and poster, is disproportionately famous when compared to the number of people that have actually seen it. I suspect, much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Planned as a two part drama for BBC1 the script will come courtesy of Patrick Harbinson, the writing talent behind ER and Law & Order. The Beeb has had a go at a Triffids remake in the past – a 1981 version was set in the late 20th Century – but this version promises to update the story with a topical twist involving the search for fossil fuels in 2011. Earlier this year The Ruins had a go at making flora scary again, but for all its ancient-civilization-with-savage-rituals and copious blood letting, the sorry fact is that giant, angry plants just aren’t that scary. Comical maybe. Scary? Not so much. Hopefully the powers that be will err on the side of sci-fi over horror, and if it comes to budget CGI versus a guy in a rubber plant suit, the latex wins every time.