Memorable TV

DOOMWATCH

UK / BBC / 37x50 minute episodes / Broadcast 1970-72

Creators: Kit Pedlar,Gerry Davis / Music: Max Harris / Titles: Alan Jeapes / Script Editors: Gerry Davis(Seasons 1-2), Anna Kaliski (Season 3) / Producer: Terence Dudley

Scifi drama series. The Government sets up a special department to counteract unwanted scientific development. One episode made for season three has never been show (but still exists) called Sex and Violence, the show included footage of a real military execution and was deemed too sensitive.

cast
JOHN PAUL as Dr Spencer Quist
SIMON OATES as Dr John Ridge
ROBERT POWELL as Toby Wren(70)
JOBY BLANSHARD as Colin Bradley
WENDY HALL as Pat Hunniset
VIVIEN SHERRARD as Barbara Mason
JOHN NOLAN as Geoff Hardcastle
JEAN TREND as Dr Fay Chantry

SEASON ONE

Regular Cast:
John Paul (Dr. Spencer Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. John Ridge), Robert Powell (Tobias Wren) with Joby Blanshard (Colin Bradley), Wendy Hall (Pat Hunnisett).
Series devised by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Music composed by Max Harris
Scientific Adviser: Dr. C.M.H. Pedler
Make-Up: Elizabeth Rowell
Costume: Dorothea Wallace
Graphics: Alan Jeapes
Lighting: John Treays/Ron Purdie
Sound: Larry Goodson/ Ray Angel
Script Editor: Gerry Davis
Assistant to Producer: Glyn Edwards {not all episodes}
Producer: Terence Dudley

9th February 1970
THE PLASTIC EATERS
by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Directed by Paul Ciappessoni.
Designers: Ian Watson, Barry Newbery.
Guest Cast:
First Airline Crew: Gracie Luck (First Stewardess), Tony Sibbald (First Captain), Richardson Morgan (First Engineer), Monty Brown (First Co-Pilot); John Barron (The Minister), Christopher Hodge (Commissionaire), Jennifer Wilson (Miss Willis), Michael Hawkins (Jim Bennett), Kevin Stoney (Hal Symonds) Second Airline Crew: Pat Wallen (Second Stewardess), Caroline Rogers (Third Stewardess), John Lee (Second Captain), Eric Corrie (Second Co-Pilot), Edward Dentith (Second Engineer); Andreas Malandrinos, Mike Lewin, Pat Beckett, Toba Laurence, Cynthia Bizeray, Peter Thompson, Michael Earl, Tony Haydon (Passengers).
An airliner bound for San Pedro in South America crashes when all the plastic on board starts to melt. Toby Wren arrives to apply for a job with Dr Quist's new watchdog group, named Doomwatch, and finds himself despatched to investigate whilst John Ridge looks into the goings on at a laboratory in Beeston.
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230 16th February 1970

FRIDAY'S CHILD
by Harry Green
Directed by Paul Ciappessoni.
Designer: Ian Watson
Guest Cast:
Alex Scott (Dr. Patrick), Mary Holland (Mrs. Patrick) with Delia Paton (Mrs. Norman), John Tucker (Shopkeeper), Susan Lawrence (Passer-by), Bill Straiton (Det-Sgt.), John Graham (Prosecuting Solicitor), Margaret John (Defending Solicitor), Richard Caldicot (Gwilliam). {without Joby Blanshard or Wendy Hall} 
Doomwatch are unwillingly drawn into a controversy which confronts Dr Quist with one of the fundamental ethical questions of the day: genetic engineering. What has Dr Patrick been doing to the newly born in his care? 
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230 23rd February 1970

BURIAL AT SEA
by Dennis Spooner
Directed by Jonathan Alwyn.
Designer: Moira Tait.
Plymouth Lifeboat and Crew by permission of the RNLI.
Guest Cast:
Steve Emerson (Lifeboatman), Nova Sainte-Claire (Angela Connor), Julian Barnes (Cobie Vale), Brian Spink (Peter Hazlewood), Peter Copley (Tranton), Gerald Sim (Dr. Collinson), John Stone (Johnny Clive), Alec Ross (Superintendant), Venetia Maxwell (Nurse), John Horsley (Astley), John Savident (The Minister).
A luxury cruiser is found adrift in the Channel and a lifeboat sails out to investigate. On board are a group of rich popstars and their girlfriends, one of whom is dead. Quist's team find themselves investigating the dumping of a chemical warfare compound and defoliant in a deep sea trench.
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230 30th February 1970

TOMORROW, THE RAT
by Terence Dudley
Directed by Terence Dudley.
Designer: John Hurst.
Rats trained by John Holmes
Guest Cast:
Penelope Lee (Dr. Mary Bryant), Hamilton Dyce (Minister) with Stephen Dudley (Small Boy), Eileen Helsby (Joyce Chambers), Robert Sansom (Dr. Hugh Preston), Ray Roberts (Fred Chambers), Ian Elliott (Ambulance Driver), Marcelle Samett
(Nurse), John Berryman (Reporter). 
When children are attacked by rats, Doomwatch investigate the home of one of the victims. Brad and Toby set traps, but the rats prove too intelligent, jamming the cages open with cutlery. It seems that the rats with artificially increased intelligence created by Dr Bryant have escaped, but they should not be carnivorous.
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230  9th March 1970

PROJECT SAHARA
by Gerry Davis.
Additional material by N.J. Crisp.
Directed by Jonathan Alwyn. Designer: Moria Tait.
Guest Cast:
Nigel Stock (Commander Keeping), Hildegard Neil (Dr. Stella Robson) with Robert James (Barker), Margaret Pilleau (Computer Technician), Peter Hawkins (Computer Voice), Philip Brack (Jack Foster), Erik Chitty (Old Man), John Linares (Young Man).
Whilst Dr Robson joins the Doomwatch team to carry out tests on the Sahara spray which destroys all plantlife, Quist receives a call from the ministry ordering the immediate suspension of Robson and Wren with no explanation. It seems the computerised security system run by Keeping and Barker is becoming over-zealous
and over-powerful. 
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230  16th March 1970

RE-ENTRY FORBIDDEN
by Don Shaw
Directed by Paul Ciappessoni.
Designer: Ian Watson
Guest Cast:
Joseph Furst (Charles Goldsworthy), Veronica Strong (Carol Larch) with Dougal Fraser (TV Commentator), Craig Hunter (Bill Edwards), Noel Sheldon (Max Friedman), Michael McGovern (Dick Larch), James Burke (BBC Man, London), Michael Aspel (BBC Man, Houston), Kevin Scott (Gus Clarke), Grant Taylor (Colonel
Kramer), John Kidd (Johnson), John Boxer (Brown).
Sunfire One, the first nuclear powered rocker, enters orbit with the first British astronaut, Dick Larch, on board. Larch feeds in an incorrect course alteration and fails to see the error indicator, causing the capsule to splash down. Dr Goldsworthy asks Quist to check on Larch's suitability for future missions, as one mistake could turn the craft into a nuclear bomb. 
Broadcast: 2140 - 2230 23rd March 1970

THE DEVIL'S SWEETS
by Don Shaw
Directed by David Proudfoot.
Designer: Ian Watson
Guest Cast:
Maurice Roëves (Shipton) with Penny Dixon (Miss Cooper), William Fox (Scott), Bay White (Mrs Tyler), John Comer (Jack), John Law (Pegg), Pamela Sholto (Miss James), John Young (Benson), Mary Loughran (Dr. Gray), Patrick Connell (Dr.
Green).
Pat Hunnisett takes a free promotional chocolate on the way to work. The Doomwatch team, investigating the sharp increase in people who smoke, are amazed when Pat lights a cigarette for the first time in five years. Is there a link between Checker Board cigarettes and the free liquor, which is making Pat very ill.
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235  6th April 1970

THE RED SKY
by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Directed by Jonathan Alwyn. Designer: Moria Tait.
Guest Cast:
Paul Eddington (Reynolds), Aubrey Richards (Bernard Colley) with Edward Kelsey (Captain Gort), Jennifer Daniel (Dana Colley), Dudley Jones (Dr. O'Brien), Sheila Raynor (Mrs. Knott), Michael Elwyn (Duncan). 
Quist takes a holiday with Colley and his daughter Dana in Cornwall, and hears about the death of Captain Gort, who threw himself off the nearby cliffs, having scrawled the phrase 'the flames of hell' in his lighthouse home. Colley is there when he too sees the sky turn red and Quist suspects excessive noise is the
cause. 
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235 13th April 1970

SPECTRE AT THE FEAST
by Terence Dudley
Directed by Eric Hills. Designer: Moria Tait.
Guest Cast:
William Lucas (Fielding), Richard Hurndall (Whitehead) with Bruno Barnabe (Head Waiter), Oscar Quitak (Bau), George Pravda (Egri), David Morrell (Royston), Karen Ford (Mrs. Bonenti), Helen Downing (Laura Lindsay), Roy Stewart (Negro).
Quist convenes a conference of the world's top scientists to make
recommendations on various dangers of pollution. Many of the delegates become ill, victims of what is thought to be food poisoning. Are they being got at?
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235 20th April 1970

TRAIN AND DE-TRAIN
by Don Shaw
Directed by Vere Lorrimer.
Designer: Ian Watson.
Guest Cast:
George Baker (Mitchell), David Markham (Ellis) with Mark Sinclair (Boy), Peter Whitaker (Ministry Inspector), Ron Gregory (Guard), Bill Wilde (Branston), Patricia Maynard (Miss Sephton), Rosemary Turner (Miss Jones), Brian Badcoe (Stephens).
Doomwatch look into the mass extermination of wildlife in Somerset, and the person to blame appears, to Wren's horror, to be Ellis, his old tutor. But as Ellis finds himself slowly pushed out of his job by American 'de-training' methods, suspicion slowly falls on Mitchell's firm.
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235 27th April 1970

THE BATTERY PEOPLE
by Elwyn Jones
Directed by David Proudfoot.
Designer: Stuart Walker.
Guest Cast:
Emrys Jones (Colonel Smithson), Jeremy Young (Vincent Llewellyn), Ray Mort (Jones) with Edward Evans (Dai), Michael Newport (Bryn), David Davies (Davies), Eliza Ward (Elizabeth Llewellyn), Mary Hignett (Mrs. Adams), Jay Neill (Laing).
{without Wendy Hall}
Tough ex-miners in South Wales drinking gin instead of the traditional beer, giving their wives the cold shoulder and secretly turning to cock-fighting. It all sounds wildly out of character to Dr Quist and his team. They investigate the possibility that pheromones have been introduced into the local food, despite the fact that all this is occurring in the Minister's own constituency.
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235 4th May 1970

HEAR NO EVIL
by Gerry Davis
Directed by Frank Cox. Designer: Tim Gleeson
Guest Cast:
Griffith Jones (Falker), Michael Ripper (Reid), Brian Cox (Owen) with Derek O'Connor (Operator), Peter Miles (Cook), Tessa Shaw (Mrs. Reid), Sheila Sands (Stripper).
How do you combat unofficial strikes? One northern firm's answer is to use the latest scientific discovery to manipulate the lives of their employees - private as well as public. Quist is forced to fight them with their own methods.
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235  11th May 1970

SURVIVAL CODE
by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Directed by Hugh David.
Designer: Ian Watson.
Guest Cast:
Ray Brooks (Geoff Harker), Hamilton Dyce (Minister), Tommy Godfrey (Sam Billings) with Donald Morley (Air Commodore Parks), Colin Rix (Wing Commander), Stephanie Turner (Toni Harker), Robert Cartland (Commander Sefton), Edwin Brown
(Len White), John Dawson (Chief Supt. Charles), David St. John (First Man on Pier).
An object is washed up near Byfield Regis pier on the South Coast as the RAF search for a plane which has ditched with three nuclear devices on board. To Geoff and Sam, the object seems to be a weather detecting device, so they start to strip it down for spare parts ... 
"I've done it! ....
"There's another wire."
"Don't pull it! Follow it back to the terminal!"
Broadcast: 2145 - 2235

SEASON TWO
Regular Cast:
John Paul (Dr. Spencer Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. John Ridge), John Nolan (Geoff Hardcastle), Jean Trend (Dr. Fay Chantry) with Joby Blanshard (Colin Bradley), Vivien Sherrard (Barbara Mason).
Series devised by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Music composed by Max Harris
Scientific Adviser: Dr. C.M.H. Pedler
Make-up: Pat Hughes
Costumes: Mary Husband/Juanita Waterson
Studio Lighting: Dave Sydenham/Eric Monk
Studio Sound: John Holmes
Script Editor: Gerry Davis
Producer: Terence Dudley

14th December 1970
YOU KILLED TOBY WREN
by Terence Dudley
Directed by Terence Dudley.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Pre-Title Sequence by Gerry Davis and Kit Pedler, directed by Hugh David
Guest Cast:
John Barron (Minister), Donald Morley (Air Commodore Parks), Edward Underdown (Chairman of Tribunal), Macdonald Hobley (Permanent Secretary) with Robert Powell (Tobias Wren), Edwin Brown (Len White), David St. John (First Man on Pier), Margie Young (Barmaid), Elizabeth Weaver (Dr. Anne Tarrant), Shirley
Dixon (Dr. Judith Lennox), Tommy Godfrey (Sam Billings), Robert Gillespie (Dr. Warren), Graham Leaman (Professor Eric Hayland). [without Jean Trend]
"I'd say Quist's goose is cooked: in fact I'd say it's positively overdone!" 
Toby Wren has been killed trying to defuse the device at Byfield Regis pier. Quist, riddled by self-doubt, turns to a psychiatrist for help to face the tribunal ahead, and fires Ridge who turns against him. It is left to Ridge to listen to Geoff Hardcastle when he arrives at the office with terrifying news about Professor Hayland's genetic experiments.
Broadcast: 2150 - 2240

21st December 1970
INVASION
by Martin Worth
Directed by Jonathan Alwyn.
Designer: Jeremy Davies.
The BBC thanks the 7 Field Squadran, Royal Engineers for their cooperation 
Guest Cast:
Simon Cain (Soldier), Barrie Cookson (Wilson), Leslie Meadows (Reggie), David Lincoln (Dave), Victor Platt (Joe Bates), Arthur Brough (Sandy Larch), Anthony Sagar (Sergeant Harris), Peter Welch (Tom Hedley), Sheila Raynor (Mrs. Smith), Joyce Windsor (Mrs. Hunter), Kim Butcher (Child), Geoffrey Palmer (Major Sims),
Bill Straiton (Sergeant), Michael Elwyn (Duncan). [without Jean Trend, Joby Blanshard or Vivien Sherrard]
"Are you saying that anything that comes up out of the ground in this place gets shot?"
Two boys go missing whilst exploring caves beneath a mansion and when Ridge visits the local village he is arrested by an army unit which has invaded the area and evacuated all the locals. It seems chemical weapons stored in the area have leaked into the water supply.
Broadcast: 2150 - 2240

4th January 1971
THE ISLANDERS
by Louis Marks
Directed by Jonathan Alwyn.
Designer: Stanley Morris
Guest Cast:
David Buck (Isaac) with George A. Cooper (Thomas), Charles Rea (Inspector), Shelagh Fraser (Joan), Geraldine Sherman (Alice), Geoffrey Chater (Mullery), Rachel Treadgold (Miss Marshall), George Waring (Busby), Robert Sansom (Dr. Somerville), Geoffrey Davison, Ian Mackenzie and Guy Graham (Islanders).
[without John Nolan, Jean Trend or Vivien Sherrard]
"You say if we go back out lives will be shortened. What if we stay here? Isn't it the same? The air you breathe here ... and the food you eat ... all the chemicals ... I don't know how much but aren't there poisons here too? Don't you die younger because of them?"
Recent earth tremors in the area of the tiny pacific island of St. Simon prompt the government to evacuate the outpost's two hundred inhabitants to the mainland. But once in the metropolis of London, the islanders find they are joke fodder and curios. More importantly, the culture shock to them could be deadly.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

11th January 1971
NO ROOM FOR ERROR
by Roger Parkes
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
John Wood (Nigel Waring) with Anthony Ainley (Senior House Officer), Anthony Sharp (Dr. Ian Phelps), Angus Mackay (Professor Lewin), Michael Culver (Minister's PPS), Freda Dowie (Hilda), Norman Scace (Elliott), Sheila Grant (Gillian Blake). [without John Nolan]
"We could be on the verge of an epidemic, and absolutely no effective drugs to fight it with."
Doomwatch is approached by Dr Fay Chantry, who is worried about the work her firm is doing on the new 'wonder drug' stellamycin. It seems that several children could have died from its use ...
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

18th January 1971
BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS ...
by Robin Chapman
Directed by Eric Hills.
Designer: Tim Gleeson
Guest Cast:
Bernard Hepton (Oscar Franklin), Patsy Byrne (Mary Franklin) with Martin Howells (Jenkins), Barry Stokes (Stephen Franklin), David Janson (MacPherson), Robert Yetzes (Painton), Olaf Pooley (Ensor), Colin Jeavons (Botting), David Jarrett (Avery), Sally Thomsett (Judy Franklin), Julie May (Woman Shopper), Paula Smith (Ground Hostess), Patrick Milner (Airport Policeman). [without Joby Blanshard]
"It's ironic, really, that images as beautiful as these should come from the blood of violent men."
Sixteen year old Stephen Franklin may have a slight abnormality of his hands, but suddenly he is expelled from his local comprehensive school after being involved in a laboratory prank. His father, journalist Oscar Franklin, claims that this is because of an obscure genetic defect - an extra Y chromosome - found after his son's blood test by a scientist called Ensor.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

25th January 1971
THE IRON DOCTOR
by Brian Hayles
Directed by Joan-Kemp Welch.
Designer: Ian Watson.
Guest Cast:
James Maxwell (Dr. Whittaker), Barry Foster (Dr. Carson) with Harold Bennett (George), Frederick Schiller (Mr. Faber), Gloria Connell (Duty Nurse), Keith Grenville (Dr. Godfrey), Amanda Walker (Sister Trewin), Frank Littlewood (Mr. Kemp), Raymond Young (Mr. Tearson), Jeanie James (Second Nurse), Paul Nemeer
(Doctor); Michael Ely, Clive Rogers, Joyce Freeman (Visitors).
"Without this machine I could not exist. But I'm sentimental and I would prefer to hold hands with a human being."
A patient dies at the intensive care unit at Parkway Hospital when the computer treating him stops treatment. Dr Carson warns Quist that Dr Whittaker's modified 20/90 computer is able to learn and watch and take decisions on who should live, and who should not.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

1st February 1971
FLIGHT INTO YESTERDAY
by Martin Worth
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Christine Ruscoe
Guest Cast:
John Barron (Minister), Robert Urquhart (Ainslie), Michael Elwyn (Duncan) with John Quarmby (Secretary), Jennifer Wilson (Miss Wills), Desmond Llewellyn (Thompson); Mary Loughran, Penny Service (Air Hostess); Bill Bailey, Steve Preston (Reporters).
"Is the Minister aware of recent tests conducted by industry and the Minister of Defence into the physical and mental dislocation likely to be brought on by rapid long-distance flights across different time zones ...?"
On the eve of battling major businesses and addressing a major ecological conference in Los Angeles, Quist is ordered back to London by the Minister. After his flight back he is very tired, and it is assumed drunk. The Minister and Ridge replace him, but the Minister falls foul of the scheming conglomerations.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

8th February 1971
THE WEB OF FEAR
by Gerry Davis
Directed by Eric Hills.
Designer: Jeremy Davies
Guest Cast:
John Savident (Minister), Michael Elwyn (Duncan), Desmond Cullum-Jones (Patterson), Walter Horsburgh (Dr. Seaton), John Lee (Jenson), Glyn Owen (Griffiths), Stephanie Bidmead (Janine), Anthony Newlands (Dr. George). 
"Be careful! ... these spiders are infected. Don't let either spider or web come into contact with your skin ... Be very, very careful!"
The Scilly Isles are sealed off following an outbreak of Yellow Fever on one of the islands, which at first is thought to be an outbreak of flu at an exclusive health clinic for top people. Quist's team gets permission to investigate and suspect that an experiment into yellow fever vaccines has got out of control.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

15th February 1971
IN THE DARK
by John Gould
Directed by Lennie Mayne.
Designer: John Hurst
Guest Cast:
Patrick Troughton (McArthur), Alethea Charlton (Flora Seton) with Jane Dore (Receptionist), Simon Lack (Andrew Seaton), David Purcell (Journalist), Michael Ellison (Naval Officer), Joseph Greig (Dr, Jackson).
"Have you considered the implications once this gets out? Look what happened when they started heart transplants before they were ready!" 
Quist travels to the south coast to investigate mustard gas dumped in the sea during the war. He learns that a colleague he respected, McArthur, is living nearby. But his friend's life is now only sustained by machines, and soon McArthur will lose all life signs completely.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

22nd February 1971
THE HUMAN TIME BOMB
by Louis Marks
Directed by Joan Kemp Welch.
Designer: Colin Shaw
Guest Cast:
Joan Phillips (Mrs. Hetherington), Talfryn Thomas (Hethrington), Laurence Bulaitis (Laurence), John Quayle (Cavendish), Ursula Hirst (Mrs. Frank), Philip Bond (Inspector Drew), Gloria Connell (Policewoman), Ray Armstrong (Donovan), Patrick Godfrey (Grant), Roddy McMillan (Scobie), Kevin Brennan (Sir Billy
Langley), Doreen Andrew (Mrs. Scobie), Tom Collister (Man in Lift). [without John Nolan, Joby Blanshard or Vivien Sherrard]
"By the year 2000 there'll be over eighty million people living in this country. They'll want cars and places to park them. They'll want clothing and feeding, and education, and work to do ... to say nothing of housing ..."
A new age demands a new architecture: this is the call by property millionaire Sir Billy Langley at the Institute of Town Planning. But the battery idea of housing people in tower blocks has dangerous side effects, and Fay learns about the deeply depressing urban neurosis.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

1st March 1971
THE INQUEST
by Robert Holmes
Directed by Lennie Mayne.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Frederick Treves (Dr. Fane), Laurie Webb (Dog Owner), David Spurling (Philips), Judith Furse (Mary Lincoln), Frederick Hall (Pritchard), Jean Marlow (Marge), Robert Cawdron (McAlister), Garry Smith (Harry), Edward Evans (Coroner), George
Giles (Policeman). [without Simon Oates, Jean Trend or Vivien Sherrard]
"How long is it since anyone in this country died of rabies? A ten year old child is dead, and they don't even know how she got it!"
At the noisy inquest into the death of Marion Duffy, the schoolgirl who died of rabies, Colin Bradley's recommendation that every dog within a five mile radius of Silby is destroyed is met with uproar.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

15th March 1971
THE LOGICIANS
by Dennis Spooner
Directed by David Proudfoot.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Robin Davies (Malcolm Priestland), Stuart Knee (David Wagstaffe), Peter Duncan (Colin Tredget), Robert Barry Jr. (Richard Whetlor), John Kelland (Withers), Stanley Lebor (Handyman), Noel Johnson (Priestland), Michael Gover (Kelsey),George Selway (CID Sergeant), Irene Prador (Mrs. Grantz). [without Vivien
Sherrard]
"Logic, in a child, is in many ways superior to that of an adult."
Industrial spies are blamed for a break-in at Beresford Chemicals in Hampshire. The police have no clues as to how the thieves penetrated the sophisticated electronic security system to steal vital papers, vital to the company according to Managing Director Jack Priestland. Nobody considers his son Malcolm, a
mathematical genius taught by computers ...
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

22nd March 1971
PUBLIC ENEMY
by Patrick Alexander
Directed by Lennie Mayne.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Glyn Houston (Gerald Marlowe), Trevor Bannister (Lewis), Derek Benfield (Arnold Payne) with John Trayhorn (Jimmy Brookes), Terry Bale (Walsh), Roy Purcell (Dr. Barton), Rhoda Lewis (Mrs. Freeman), Barbara Bolton (Mrs. Jones), Bill Weston (Nicholls), Norman Florence (Donovan), Frances Pidgeon (Secretary), Michael Elwyn (Duncan).
"At the rate we're going ... at the rate we're polluting ... overcrowding ... chemicals ... noise ... we've got thirty years. Thirty years of slow, dirty dying."
When a boy retrieving a ball from a factory roof and then a man at work on a chimney have their lungs burnt out, Doomwatch investigates pollution from a new chemical process introduced at the northern firm of Carlingham Alloys, with respect to the factory's waste disposal and ventilation systems. But the workforce are not happy that Quist's team are threatening their jobs.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

SEASON THREE
Regular Cast:
John Paul (Dr. Spencer Quist), Simon Oates (Dr. John Ridge), John Barron (The Minister), Elizabeth Weaver (Dr. Anne Tarrant), John Bown (Cmdr. Neil Stafford) with Joby Blanshard (Colin Bradley), Vivien Sherrard (Barbara Mason)
Series originated by Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis
Script Consultant: Anna Kaliski
Lighting: John Dixon/Ralph Walton
Sound: Chick Anthony/John Lloyd
Producer: Terence Dudley

5th June 1972
FIRE AND BRIMSTONE
by Terence Dudley
Directed by Terence Dudley.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Henry Knowles (Dr. Richard Poole), Caroline Rogers (Julie), Michael Elwyn (Duncan), John Drake (Police Sergeant); Marcelle Samett, Julia Hand (Bystanders); John Berryman (Reporter), Eric Longworth (Prison Officer Clarke), Talfryn Thomas (Warren), Clifford Cox (Radio Operator); Jonathan Pryce, David Waterman (Police Constables); Frank Singuineau (Chemist).
Ridge finds the pollution in the world too much to bear and resorts to new levels to get the governments to meet his anti-pollution terms. He steals phials of anthrax and threatens to destroy humanity. The hunt is on to find him before it is too late.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2215

12th June 1972
HIGH MOUNTAIN
by Martin Worth
Directed by Lennie Mayne.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Ronald Hines (Ian Drummond), John Scott (Cowley), Kedd Senton (Barman), Ian Elliott (Manservant), Moultrie Kelsall (Drummond), Betty Cardno (Mrs. Bell), David Grahame (Gillie). {without Simon Oates} 
"Every man has his price, and from what I've heard lately, Quist will come cheaper than most."
After the Ridge incident, Doomwatch is assessed. Quist finds himself invited to a large country estate in Scotland where he is offered a high post with power and wealth ... if he curbs his investigations into disocyanate. And the Minister feels he should have his own man in Doomwatch.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

19th June 1972
SAY KNIFE, FAT MAN
by Martin Worth
Directed by Eric Hills.
Designer: Graham Oakley
Guest Cast:
Alan Hockey (Lawson), Peter King (Eddie), Anthony Andres (Carlos), Adrian Wright (David), Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah), Hugh Ross (Ian), Maria O'Brien (Susan), Paul Seed (Michael), Peter Halliday (Rafael), Geoffrey Palmer (Chief Supt. Mallory), Hugh Cross (Professor Holman), Sean Lynch (Williams), Leslie Schofield (Harry). {without Simon Oates or Elizabeth Weaver}
"A kid held a knife to my throat when I was six years old. Even at that age I knew he wasn't going to kill me; but I know he could. That's enough. A state of war exists."
Quist knows that 'Say Knife' is a provoking threat, and 'Fat Man' was the codename of the first atom bomb. A group of student activists break into a plutonium base and with their stolen rods construct their own atomic device.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

26th June 1972
WAITING FOR A KNIGHTHOOD
by Terence Dudley
Directed by Pennant Roberts.
Designer: Ray London.
Guest Cast:
Frederick Jaeger (Richard Massingham), Ann Firbank (Peggy Massingham) with Anthony Oliver (The Rev Frank Simpson), Margaret John (Mrs. Simpson), Stephen Dudley (Stephen Massingham), Julie Neubert (Josie), Glen Walford (Joan Sylvester), Don McKillop (Det-Chief Insp. Logan), Noelle Middleton (Mrs. Duncan-Foster), Bruce Purchase (Norman Sylvester), Anthony Edwards (Mike).
"What we have isn't ours to bespoil and pillage. We have it in trust ... not just for our children but for future generations of mankind."
When Ridge starts his recovery it is decided that he cannot return to Doomwatch. Paint is discovered stored in his garage and Quist suspects that lead poisoning from the paint could have affected his mind, leading to his actions. Minister Richard Massingham finds himself drawn into the debate over the dangerous chemical processes, and is then personally involved when a similarly affected man kidnaps his son.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

3rd July 1972
WITHOUT THE BOMB
by Roger Parkes
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Jeremy Davies.
Guest Cast:
Brian Peck (Dr. James Fulton), Antonia Pemberton (Mrs. Joan Fulton), Charles Hodgson (Harry Brooke), Kenneth Benda (Clive Hughes), Katherine Kath (Lady Holroyd); Penny Dixon, Trevor T. Smith (Young Couple), Kenneth Gardiner (Reporter), Michael Montgomery (TV Reporter), Marcelle Samett (Female Reporter),
Sally Anne Marlowe (Amanda Fulton), John Gregg (Roger Halls). {without Simon Oakes}
"... free will is an illusion. We must manipulate man's behaviour on the pretext of ensuring his survival."
A new brand of lipstick is launched on the market, one using pheromones as an aphrodisiac to make the wearer compulsive to men. Quist and Bradley investigate the effect that pheromones can have on the behaviour of a person, for good and for bad, and its ethical implications.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

10th July 1972
HAIR TRIGGER
by Brian Hayles
Directed by Quentin Lawrence.
Designer: Oliver Bayldon
Guest Cast:
Michael Hawkins (Beavis), Barry Jackson (Dr. McEwan), Morris Perry (Prof. Hetherington), Pamela Saire (Miss Abrahams), Damon Sanders (Robbie), Gillian Lewis (Emily), Victor Platt (Police Inspector), Dan Caulfield (Policeman). {without Simon Oates and Joby Blanshard} 
"Man isn't born free. For him ... the dreadful has already happened. He has to live with the nightmare, or rise above it. And natural evolution is too slow."
Anne Tarrant goes to investigate a research unit where patients with personality disorders and epilepsy are to have their conditions improved by temporal lobotomies. But there are side effects too. People can be balanced so that a single phrase can turn them into killers.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2205

17th July 1972
DEADLY DANGEROUS TOMORROW
by Martin Worth.
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Jeremy Davies.
Guest Cast:
Michael Elwyn (Duncan); Ahmad Nagi, Farhat Shamsi, Talib Shamsi, Rahat Shamsi (Indian Family); Madhav Sharma (Hanif Khan), Cec Linder (Senator Connell), Lorna Lewis (Miss Brandon), Maria O'Brien (Susan); Marc Zuber, Bill Ward, John Wyman
(Reporters), Renu Setna (His Excellency). 
"A bunch of Indians squatting in a tent in St. James's Park ... one of them with malaria? What's it all about?"
"Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow" is the phrase coined by Ridge when he decides to warn about the dangerous side effects of DDT when used in developing countries. As a publicity stunt, he has an Indian family flown in to camp in the centre of London, but one of them has malaria.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

24th July 1972
ENQUIRY
by John Gould
Directed by Pennant Roberts.
Designer: Ray London.
Guest Cast:
Jack Tweddle (Mike Clark), Malcolm Johns (Tractor Driver), Michael Forrest (Dr. Evans), Margaret Ashcroft (Dr. Margery Becker), Eddie Doyle (Dr. O'Dell), Barrie Cookson (Colonel Jones), Ann Curthoys (Susan Lewis), Michael Keating (Stephen Grigg), James Ottaway (Mr. Clark). {without Simon Oates}
"The toxic particles are released in the form of an aerosol ... it makes it possible to defeat an enemy army without inflicting any casualties on them or on the civilian population."
Quist and Anne Tarrant are alerted to the potential dangers of a laboratory where new weapons are being developed for the military, and a new nerve gas may not be kept under the safe conditions that are claimed.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

FLOOD
by Ian Curteis
Directed by Quentin Lawrence.
Guest Cast:
Tim Nicholls (BBC Reporter), Raymond Mason (Critchley), David Landon (Assistant), Wensley Pithey (Ericson), Derek Benfield (Dr. Ridley), Robert Raglan (General), Robert James (GLC Man), Michael Lees (Ministry of Defence Man), Patrick Jordan (Lt.-Cmdr. Morrison). {without Simon Oates and Elizabeth Weaver}
"One more inch! A mere inch! And we would have had a full scale disaster in the very heart of London."
Quist points out that there are certain circumstances which can arise once a century that would cause the level of the Thames to rise so as to cause a flood in London. And it seems these circumstances are about to occur ...
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

7th August 1972
CAUSE OF DEATH
by Louis Marks
Directed by Lennie Mayne.
Guest Cast:
Margaret Ford (First Sister), John Lee (Dr. Cordell), Maria O'Brien (Susan), Jennifer Wilson (Edna), Nicholas Courtney (Phillip), Graham Leaman (Wilfred Ridge), Patsy Trench (Second Sister), Ann Lee (Laboratory Assistant). {without Joby Blanshard}
"Maybe we're creating just the kind of world we deserve. And if it finally destroys us or drives us mad, that'll be what we deserve too." 
When his father falls gravely ill, Ridge devotes his life to taking care of him. His father is admitted to hospital in the care of Dr Cordell, a man who advocates euthanasia for geriatric patients, and when Wilfred Ridge dies, Ridge is immediately suspicious.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

14th August 1972
THE KILLER DOLPHINS
by Roy Russell
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Jeremy Davies.
Guest Cast:
Angelo Infanti (Professor Fillippo Balbo), Maria O'Brien (Susan), Rita Giovannini (Guila), Viviane Ventura (Paola Maria Totti), Richardson Morgan (Bill Manzaro), Frank Duncan (Commodore Aylward), Bruno Barnabe (Cavalli). {without Simon Oates and Elizabeth Weaver}
"Navy people envy its marvellous radar. A dolphin has been trained to choose - blindfold - the larger of two objects that seem identical to man's naked eye."
The US navy are experimenting on dolphins, training them to act as frogmen saboteurs to attach explosives to the hull of ships. But they are also trained to kill, as Quist finds to his cost when he investigates.
Broadcast: 2120 - 2210

Unbroadcast Episode
SEX AND VIOLENCE
by Stewart Douglass
Directed by Darrol Blake.
Designer: Jeremy Davies
Guest Cast:
Nicholas Selby (Arthur Ballantyne), June Brown (Mrs Catchpole), Donald Eccles (Lord Purvis), Bernard Horsfall (Steven Granger), Angela Crow (Mrs. Hastings), Noel Dyson (Mrs. Angela Cressy), Brian Wilde (Professor Faibairn), Llewellyn Rees (The Rev. Garrison), Christopher Chittell (Dick Burns), Queenie Watts
(Demonstrator), Sebastian Graham-Jones (Young Man); Richard Vanstone, John Hood, Paul Nemeer (Stewards). {without Simon Oates}
As a call from housewives for a return to decency sweeps the country, the Minister has Anne Tarrant join a commission headed by Lord Purvis to decide if the laws on sex and violence need tightening. Attending a performance of the play "Do It", she is attacked by irate women.
Duration: 50 minutes

  back to Episode Guides | Home