Micro Men

Sophie Wilson has a cameo role as the landlady of the pub.

In 2015 Sir Clive Sinclair endorsed the re-launch of the ZX Spectrum called the Sinclair Spectrum Vega. The computer has fewer buttons than the original but will run thousands of retro games.

The BBC did not actually make this drama. It was commissioned by them but made by a third party production house. As such the BBC do not actually own the domestic rights. This might explain why it wasn't released on DVD or has not been made available on any streaming service as of February 2023.

Despite the massive success of the Sinclair Spectrum home computer, Sinclair Computers went bust in 1986 after backing several notorious flop projects, most notably the Sinclair C5 electric vehicle and the Sinclair QL microcomputer. The company was eventually sold to AMSTRAD later in the year.

Sir Clive Sinclair is often thought of as a genius inventor but a poor businessman. In the 1972 his then company, Sinclair Radionics, who had started out making transistor radio kits, developed and marketed the first affordable battery operated electronic pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive. This was followed 3 years later by the Sinclair Scientific, a proper pocket sized electronic scientific calculator. Two years after that he introduced a version that was programmable, which made it appealing to maths students as well as the scientific and engineering community. He also introduced the TV1A compact monochrome television set in 1977 with a 2.5 inch screen that could run off batteries and an electronic calculator worn on the wrist like a watch that proved popular. However financial problems plagued him and he was forced to sell off the company. In 1980 he launched the Sinclair ZX80, the UK's first affordable home computer (at £79.95 in kit form or £99.95 already made) which used a domestic TV for a VDU. Although a moderate success the following year he released the Sinclair ZX81 (licensed as the Timex ZX81 in the U.S.), a slightly more sophisticated but still monochrome machine which proved to be a huge seller and is credited with introducing computing to the masses. In 1982 he introduced the first affordable color home computer to the UK, the Sinclair Spectrum 16k and the 48k version (priced at £125 and £175 respectively).