Max Headroom

Max Headroom TV Show

Max Headroom (1987 – 1988 on ABC) was a sci-fi series spun from a 1985 made for TV movie that came out of the United Kingdom (called Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future).  Max then found himself as the D.J. for a music video series on Cinemax, and the idea for a new series was born.  The show ran for two seasons for a total of 14 episodes.  The Max Headroom character was played by Matt Frewer.

In this futuristic show, it was against the law to turn off your TV.  The future brought the world a dystopian society ran by television networks.  At news station Network 23, a computerized reporter was created using a real reporter and was named Max Headroom.  Max was created after a Network 23 reporter named Edison Carter was in a motorcycle accident, and his mind was uploaded into a computer.  Evidently the clearance in a parking lot ended up being too low for him, as “Max Headroom” was the last words from his human mouth.  The staff at Network 23 then used their talents, along with Max Headroom's help, to solve crimes, create news stories, and squash the competition.  Max went about the business of exposing the corruption of all the networks, including his own, and his friends went about the business of finding ways to air his controversial news stories.