‹ Back

TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS is the Scrappy Cousin of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By. Professor Horror

                                                                                    

 

Imagine a film that feels like a lower-budget, cheekier cousin of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy...not quite on the level of the BBC’s nostalgic 1981 series (which now looks like auteur filmmaking by comparison), but plenty of giddy charm and scrappy wit packed into every frame. TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS, a 2024 British mockumentary directed by Chris Reading (who co-wrote it with Anna-Elizabeth and Hillary Shakespeare), leans hard into that DIY energy, and it’s that very spirit that mostly carries it through its stumbles. At its core, it’s an absurd and affectionate portrait of friendship, misadventure, and a fairground dodgem car that doubles as a time machine. Ruth (Ruth Syratt) and Megan (Megan Stevenson) are real-life vintage shop owners in Muswell Hill, playing mock-fictionalised versions of themselves. When they discover a discarded time machine, they realize they’ve hit (literal) paydirt: they can travel to past eras and “borrow” historically valuable items to stock their struggling bric-a-brac emporium...no cost, all vintage. 

                                               

 

Plot-wise, the film starts playfully. Ruth and Megan pop into different timelines, grab an articulated dinosaur toy here, a medieval candlestick there, presenting the story in interview-style segments with wry commentary, handheld camera work, and delightful absurdity. The cast around them elevates even the quirkiest moments. Johnny Vegas turns up as Robert (nicknamed “Botty”) a mustachioed android host from an ’80s-style science TV show the characters love, parodying the old Tomorrow’s World vibe. Brian Bovell is Ralph, a former presenter of that same show and a member of the local “Science Club,” who originally had the machine and was supposed to destroy it. Guy Henry plays Martin, the officious, rule-bound president of the Science Club, whose increasingly exasperated warnings about cosmic consequences go unheeded. Plus Stephen Fry providing the gently sardonic narration! The time travel is all breezy until they’ve used the machine one time too many. They awaken a manifestation of chaos called The Unreason...a netherworld where reality unravels, and Megan disappears. Now, Ruth must team up with Ralph, Martin, and the eccentric club members to patch time itself and rescue her friend before the universe collapses under its own silliness.

 

                                                                        

 

The cast’s performances are infectious. Syratt and Stevenson bring a warm, believable chemistry that tethers the film’s more ridiculous turn. While Vegas and Bovell mine emotional resonance even amidst comedy, and Henry is a joy of precisely calibrated exasperation.  That said, the story occasionally drags. The mockumentary format works best in small doses, and by feature length the structure starts to feel overstretched...like a wild Doctor Who trip that needed tighter editing. Subplots meander and pacing flags in the middle, and some characters, especially Ruth and Megan’s deeper backstory or why their bond is so unwavering, could use more development. 

                                                      

 

But TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS earns its charm in spades. It celebrates low-budget ingenuity, nostalgic sci-fi tropes, and the messy thrill of making-do with what you have. The practical effects are gleefully rough...wormholes look like DIY craft projects, and the time machine seems cobbled together in a garage, which is part of the film’s heart. If you’re the sort of person who delights in the ban on polished perfection, who loves a wry British ensemble cast, and who doesn’t mind a story that spills beyond the bounds of tight structure, this is a film that’ll make you grin. In the end, it might not reinvent time travel cinema. Nor does it hit every note with seamless precision. But it’s a loving, absurd romp and a convivial, madcap adventure where the cosplays of history are more fun than historically accurate. It feels like going to a neighborhood science-club play starring all your friends...and in that context, TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS absolutely wins.