
Micro Men - 720p (2009)
About this video
Micro Men is a 2009 BBC comic drama about the early 1980s British home computer boom. It follows the rivalry between Clive Sinclair and Acorn founder Chris Curry over the BBC Micro contract and the ZX Spectrum.
Why it appears in the archive
HN recommends it often as an entertaining and authentic dramatization of Sinclair versus Acorn, the story from which ARM grew.
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From the Hacker News discussion
I can highly recommend the BBC drama "Micro Men", about the early years of the British home computer boom and the rivalry between Sinclair and Acorn. It gives a real flavour of the mad, maverick years before the IBM clones took over. [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗If you haven't already seen it, 'Micro Men' is an excellent TV drama that details the history of the BBC's computer project and the battle to be the chosen computer: [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗The excellent Micro Men docudrama ( [LINK] ) has somehow been on Youtube since 2013: [VIDEO] (1h24m) Micro Men, working title Syntax Era, is a 2009 one-off BBC drama television programme set in the late 1970s and the early-mid 1980s, about the rise of the British home computer market. It focuses on the rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair (played by Alexander Armstrong), who developed the ZX Spectrum, and Chris Curry (played by Martin Freeman), the man behind the BBC Micro. (Sinclair didn't exactly like it though.)
Read original comment ↗Nice reference there! Micro Men really is a great docu-drama, it really feels like it captures the time very well. As my first computer was a BBC Micro, it really struck a chord. It’s great seeing the specs for the (yet to be built) ARM chip on the board in the Acorn office, and it’s also awesome that Sophie Wilson playing the barmaid too! For those that haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth a watch [1] [1] [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗Micro Men is available on youtube [1] and is definitely worth a watch. The scene were one of the characters is eating noodles using multimeter probes as chopsticks made me smile. [1] [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗"26 years" is oddly precise, but the sinclair C5 was 1985, 34 years ago, so it's probably just how long he's served or something. [LINK] BONUS "Micro Men" documentary/drama about Sir Clive Sinclair vs Acorn (from which grew Acorn RISC Machine -> ARM) [VIDEO] (1h 24m) "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Read original comment ↗[VIDEO] The full BBC movie without commentary. An authentic drama about the heyday of British home computing featuring Clive Sinclair plus Curry, Furber, and Hauser from Acorn computers. Also appearing are the ZX Spectrum, the BBC Micro, and the ARM processor on a whiteboard.
Read original comment ↗ah yes you are right, the in-line ELSE Obligatory shout out for 'Micro Men', about the making of the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗