GALLAGHER’S TAKE ON THE Midwich Cuckoos progressed no further than a 1,900-word pitch document, written in December 2001. It’s split into two parts: an introduction explaining the rationale behind how he’d approach it, followed by a 15-point breakdown of the main plot beats – reproduced here in full.

1 Midwich is cut off, but instead of the two-puzzled-coppers-and-a-piece-of-string response it quickly escalates into the full emergency turnout which results in the extent of the “invisible dome” being fully perceived but not explained. Its effects are undeniable but the causes are undetectable. They send in robot cameras, they photograph from the air in all parts of the spectrum. Maybe they send