Museum-piece computers programmed into TV show

COMPUTERS from a Haverhill museum will star in a television show about the race to lead the home computer market.

In Micro Menon BBC 4 tomorrow night, alongside Martin Freeman of The Office, and Alexander Armstrong, half of comic duo Armstrong and Miller, will be Jason Fitzpatrick, curator of the Centre for Computing History.

The drama documents the rivalry between maverick visionary Sir Clive Sinclair (Armstrong) and his former colleague Chris Curry (Freeman) as they go head to head to dominate the growing home computer market, with Sinclair's ZX Spectrum and C5 battling Curry's BBC Micro.

Fitzpatrick plays David Johnson- Davies after he - and his 70s hairstyle - was an extra at West Drayton filming the Acorn scenes.

Jason said: "It was a unique experience - just watch out for me dancing at a 70s- style party. On a more serious note, I also designed and built from scratch the prototype BBC micro that is seen in the film. The original no longer exists, so I had to build it based on two old photos of the machine and guidance from the original designers.

"It's all been quite breathtaking but this latest production was particularly special for me as it deals with two of my heroes from that era."