Doomwatch
Encyclopedia
Doomwatch is a British
science fiction television
programme produced by the BBC
, which ran on BBC One
between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist (played by John Paul
), responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers.
The series was followed by a film adaptation
produced by Tigon British Film Productions
and released in 1972, and a revival TV movie broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.
and Kit Pedler
, who had previously collaborated on scripts for Doctor Who
, a programme on which Davis had been the story editor and Pedler the unofficial scientific adviser during the 1960s. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life had led them to create the popular alien race the Cybermen
for that programme, and it was similar interests that led them to create Doomwatch, which explored all kinds of new and unusual threats to the human race, many bred out of the fear of real scientific concepts, with a "this could happen to us" fear by the public.
The actual name of the department was "Department for the Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work". Officially Doomwatch was an agency dedicated to preserving the world from dangers of unprincipled scientific research. Unofficially it was meant as a Government agency set up with little power meant to stifle protests and secure (green) votes. However the incorruptible Dr Spenser Quist and companions soon gave the agency some real power and people had to listen.
Quist had worked on the development of the atomic bomb and seen his wife die of radiation poisoning, Ridge was the secret agent type and Wren a conscientious researcher. Together they took science into people's living rooms, explaining about embryo research, subliminal messages, wonder drugs, dumping of toxic waste, noise pollution, nuclear weaponry, animal exploitation, etc.
There were other storylines such as genetic mutation creating a particularly large and vicious race of rats, and a virus that ate away at all types of plastics causing aeroplanes to fall out of the sky. There were also everyday stories like when Dr. Quist turned up at a meeting and was thought to be drunk but turned out to have severe jet lag
. However, after Davis and Pedler left the series at the conclusion of the second series in 1971, it turned into a more conventional thriller drama, which the two creators openly criticised.
The first two series both consisted of thirteen episodes, and the third of twelve, of which one - titled Sex and Violence and intended to be shown as the fifth episode - was not transmitted. It has been suggested that this was because of objections to either its use of stock news footage of a public execution in Lagos
, or its presentation of characters designed to be satirical analogues of Mary Whitehouse
, Cliff Richard
and Lord Longford
. The execution footage has appeared on British television a number of times since the 1972, notably in a 1988 edition of Panorama
about violence on television.
The programme was very popular and drew audiences of as high as 13.6 million at its peak for an episode called Invasion, filmed mostly in the village of Grassington
in Yorkshire
(from TV documentary). The start of every series merited a cover feature on the BBC's Radio Times
listings magazine, which even today is a prestigious feat for a programme. The show was also sold abroad, gaining some popularity when transmitted in Canada
.
As was common at the time, the BBC wiped the Doomwatch mastertapes soon after transmission, regarding them to be of little further use. Although many episodes have been returned from Canada or exist as telerecordings, many are still missing, and will likely remain so, although all are being sought by the BBC Archive Treasure Hunt as a whole. However, a copy of the unbroadcast episode survives in the archives, one of only three from the final series to do so. Thanks to the Canadian returns series two is complete, but series one is missing five of its instalments. Some of the existing episodes have had a limited release on VHS
and DVD
in the UK, and all - except Sex and Violence - were repeated on the satellite channel UK Gold during the 1990s, although the episode was erroneously scheduled.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater, although this was not officially a Doomwatch novel and did not contain the characters from the series. The book also re-used the Radio Times
cover photograph of a melted plastic aeroplane in a briefcase
.
, making the first nuclear bomb. He was played throughout the BBC
run by John Paul
, a familiar face from a range of British television series, who later went on to appear in I, Claudius
.
The other main regular character throughout the run was Dr John Ridge, played by Simon Oates
who often did not see eye to eye with Quist, who he called a "bastard" in episode 7 for manipulating one of his own staff. He appeared in only four episodes of the final season. One of the first season's main characters was Tobias 'Toby' Wren, who provided one of Doomwatch’s most memorable episodes when he was dramatically killed off in an explosion at the conclusion of the season one finale, Survival Code. Powell had only signed for one season originally and they wanted him to sign for a second season but he was adamant that he wanted to leave the show on a high, and suggested that they get rid of him by blowing him up, which they did. The BBC got more letters on his unexpected death in the series than any other subject since World War II
(from TV documentary).
Wren was trying to disarm a terrorist's nuclear device, which had been traced to a pavilion at the end of a seaside pier at Byfield Regis. Having thought he was finished, a pair of wire cutters slips from Wren's hands and falls into the sea just before he discovers a last wire as the remaining seconds tick away. Though the nuclear part of the bomb is safe, we see the pavilion explode as the conventional explosive goes off, taking Wren and two others with it. Though this episode is missing, the scene is shown at the start of the first episode of Season 2 in which there are recriminations, guilt and an official enquiry which is intended to get rid of Quist.
Wren was played by Robert Powell
, who later found worldwide fame as the title character in the television series Jesus of Nazareth, and starred in films such as the 1978 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps
and later the BBC medical series Holby City
in the 2000s and 2010s. The ministerial antagonist to the Doomwatch team, determined to keep the department following the government line, was played by John Barron
, better known as 'CJ' from the comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
. Other members of the cast were: Philip Bond
as Inspector Drew, Joby Blanchard as Colin Bradley, Wendy Hall as Pat Hunnisett, Vivien Sherrard as Barbara Mason, John Nolan as Geoff Hardcastle, John Brown as Commander Neil Stafford, Jean Trend as Dr. Fay Chantry, Elizabeth Weaver as Dr Anne Tarrant, and Moultrie Kelsall
as Drummond.
Throughout its run, Doomwatch was produced by Terence Dudley
, who also contributed several scripts himself. Dudley later went on to produce another well-remembered BBC science-fiction drama Survivors
, and in the early 1980s wrote and directed episodes of Doctor Who
. Aside from Davis, Pedler and Dudley, several other writers wrote episodes for the programme, including well-known veterans of several other British television science-fiction productions such as Robert Holmes
, Dennis Spooner
and Louis Marks
.
was produced by Tigon British Film Productions
Ltd under licence from the BBC, and released in 1972. The script was written by Clive Exton
from a story by Davis and Pedler. Although the main characters from the series did all appear, played by their original actors, main billing went to Ian Bannen
and Judy Geeson
as new characters. The film also featured George Sanders
.
In 1999, Channel 5 bought the rights to revive Doomwatch from the BBC, and on 7 December that year screened a 100-minute TV movie produced by the independent production company Working Title Television
. Subtitled Winter Angel, the television movie was a continuation of the story rather than a remake.
Written by John Howlett
and Ian McDonald, only one of the original characters from the series appears, an aged Dr Spencer Quist, now played by actor Philip Stone
as John Paul had died in 1995. Quist is killed off during the course of the TV movie, and the main character was Neil Tannahill, played by Trevor Eve
, who at the conclusion of the story sets up a new 'Doomwatch' group to pursue the same aims as that of the original series. The film was about the creation of a black hole as an energy source but the dark side was revealed that once born, a black hole must be forever looked after or it could explode with force enough to destroy a country.
Although Channel 5 had intended the production to act as the pilot for a possible series and it had been generally well received by critics and public, further episodes were not forthcoming. This was generally accepted to be for reasons of cost.
NB: It's unlikely that Sex and Violence was intended to be run as episode 12, as it's placed fifth in a 'Early Warning Synopsis' booklet for the season, but the precise planned placing isn't definitively known. There are no continuity references which dictate its placing.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
programme produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, which ran on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist (played by John Paul
John Paul (actor)
John Paul was a British actor.He is best known for his television roles, particularly as Dr Spencer Quist in Doomwatch and Marcus Agrippa in I, Claudius , both for BBC Television....
), responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers.
The series was followed by a film adaptation
Doomwatch (film)
Doomwatch is a 1972 science fiction/thriller film directed by Peter Sasdy. The film is based on the BBC series Doomwatch...
produced by Tigon British Film Productions
Tigon British Film Productions
Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company founded by Tony Tenser in 1966. It is most famous for its horror films, particularly Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan's Claw...
and released in 1972, and a revival TV movie broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.
Background
The programme was created by Gerry DavisGerry Davis (screenwriter)
Gerry Davis was a British television writer, best known for his contributions to the science-fiction genre. He also wrote for the soap operas Coronation Street and United!....
and Kit Pedler
Kit Pedler
Dr Christopher Magnus Howard "Kit" Pedler was a British medical scientist, science fiction author and writer on science in general....
, who had previously collaborated on scripts for Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, a programme on which Davis had been the story editor and Pedler the unofficial scientific adviser during the 1960s. Their interest in the problems of science changing and endangering human life had led them to create the popular alien race the Cybermen
Cyberman
The Cybermen are a fictional race of cyborgs who are amongst the most persistent enemies of the Doctor in the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Cybermen were originally a wholly organic species of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas that began to implant more...
for that programme, and it was similar interests that led them to create Doomwatch, which explored all kinds of new and unusual threats to the human race, many bred out of the fear of real scientific concepts, with a "this could happen to us" fear by the public.
The actual name of the department was "Department for the Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work". Officially Doomwatch was an agency dedicated to preserving the world from dangers of unprincipled scientific research. Unofficially it was meant as a Government agency set up with little power meant to stifle protests and secure (green) votes. However the incorruptible Dr Spenser Quist and companions soon gave the agency some real power and people had to listen.
Quist had worked on the development of the atomic bomb and seen his wife die of radiation poisoning, Ridge was the secret agent type and Wren a conscientious researcher. Together they took science into people's living rooms, explaining about embryo research, subliminal messages, wonder drugs, dumping of toxic waste, noise pollution, nuclear weaponry, animal exploitation, etc.
There were other storylines such as genetic mutation creating a particularly large and vicious race of rats, and a virus that ate away at all types of plastics causing aeroplanes to fall out of the sky. There were also everyday stories like when Dr. Quist turned up at a meeting and was thought to be drunk but turned out to have severe jet lag
Jet lag
Jet lag, medically referred to as desynchronosis, is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders...
. However, after Davis and Pedler left the series at the conclusion of the second series in 1971, it turned into a more conventional thriller drama, which the two creators openly criticised.
The first two series both consisted of thirteen episodes, and the third of twelve, of which one - titled Sex and Violence and intended to be shown as the fifth episode - was not transmitted. It has been suggested that this was because of objections to either its use of stock news footage of a public execution in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, or its presentation of characters designed to be satirical analogues of Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
and Lord Longford
Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford KG, PC , known as the Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician, author, and social reformer...
. The execution footage has appeared on British television a number of times since the 1972, notably in a 1988 edition of Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
about violence on television.
The programme was very popular and drew audiences of as high as 13.6 million at its peak for an episode called Invasion, filmed mostly in the village of Grassington
Grassington
Grassington is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England.The town is situated in Wharfedale around from Bolton Abbey and is surrounded by limestone scenery...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
(from TV documentary). The start of every series merited a cover feature on the BBC's Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
listings magazine, which even today is a prestigious feat for a programme. The show was also sold abroad, gaining some popularity when transmitted in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
As was common at the time, the BBC wiped the Doomwatch mastertapes soon after transmission, regarding them to be of little further use. Although many episodes have been returned from Canada or exist as telerecordings, many are still missing, and will likely remain so, although all are being sought by the BBC Archive Treasure Hunt as a whole. However, a copy of the unbroadcast episode survives in the archives, one of only three from the final series to do so. Thanks to the Canadian returns series two is complete, but series one is missing five of its instalments. Some of the existing episodes have had a limited release on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the UK, and all - except Sex and Violence - were repeated on the satellite channel UK Gold during the 1990s, although the episode was erroneously scheduled.
Pedler and Davis re-used the plot of the first episode of the series, The Plastic Eaters, for their 1971 novel Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater, although this was not officially a Doomwatch novel and did not contain the characters from the series. The book also re-used the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
cover photograph of a melted plastic aeroplane in a briefcase
Briefcase
A briefcase is a narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name...
.
Cast and crew
The main character throughout the series was Nobel prize winner, Dr Spencer Quist, who had been given the task of setting-up and running the department by the British government. Quist is haunted by guilt of having worked on the Manhattan ProjectManhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, making the first nuclear bomb. He was played throughout the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
run by John Paul
John Paul (actor)
John Paul was a British actor.He is best known for his television roles, particularly as Dr Spencer Quist in Doomwatch and Marcus Agrippa in I, Claudius , both for BBC Television....
, a familiar face from a range of British television series, who later went on to appear in I, Claudius
I, Claudius (TV series)
I, Claudius is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it proved one of the corporation's most successful drama serials of all time...
.
The other main regular character throughout the run was Dr John Ridge, played by Simon Oates
Simon Oates
Simon Oates was an English actor best known for his roles on television.Born in Canning Town, east London, and subsequently moving to Finchley in his teens, Oates trained as a heating engineer for his father's firm, before becoming an actor...
who often did not see eye to eye with Quist, who he called a "bastard" in episode 7 for manipulating one of his own staff. He appeared in only four episodes of the final season. One of the first season's main characters was Tobias 'Toby' Wren, who provided one of Doomwatch’s most memorable episodes when he was dramatically killed off in an explosion at the conclusion of the season one finale, Survival Code. Powell had only signed for one season originally and they wanted him to sign for a second season but he was adamant that he wanted to leave the show on a high, and suggested that they get rid of him by blowing him up, which they did. The BBC got more letters on his unexpected death in the series than any other subject since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(from TV documentary).
Wren was trying to disarm a terrorist's nuclear device, which had been traced to a pavilion at the end of a seaside pier at Byfield Regis. Having thought he was finished, a pair of wire cutters slips from Wren's hands and falls into the sea just before he discovers a last wire as the remaining seconds tick away. Though the nuclear part of the bomb is safe, we see the pavilion explode as the conventional explosive goes off, taking Wren and two others with it. Though this episode is missing, the scene is shown at the start of the first episode of Season 2 in which there are recriminations, guilt and an official enquiry which is intended to get rid of Quist.
Wren was played by Robert Powell
Robert Powell
Robert Powell is an English television and film actor, probably most famous for his title role in Jesus of Nazareth and as the fictional secret agent Richard Hannay...
, who later found worldwide fame as the title character in the television series Jesus of Nazareth, and starred in films such as the 1978 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Thirty-nine Steps
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...
and later the BBC medical series Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
in the 2000s and 2010s. The ministerial antagonist to the Doomwatch team, determined to keep the department following the government line, was played by John Barron
John Barron (actor)
John Barron was an English actor.-Biography:Born in Marylebone, London, Barron was interested in acting from an early age. For his 18th birthday his godfather paid his entry fee to RADA. After serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, he returned to stage acting...
, better known as 'CJ' from the comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
. Other members of the cast were: Philip Bond
Philip Bond (actor)
Philip Bond is a British actor best known for playing Albert Frazer in 24 episodes of the 1970s BBC nautical drama The Onedin Line....
as Inspector Drew, Joby Blanchard as Colin Bradley, Wendy Hall as Pat Hunnisett, Vivien Sherrard as Barbara Mason, John Nolan as Geoff Hardcastle, John Brown as Commander Neil Stafford, Jean Trend as Dr. Fay Chantry, Elizabeth Weaver as Dr Anne Tarrant, and Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Rowe Kelsall was a Scottish film and television character actor, who began his career in the industry as a radio station director and television producer...
as Drummond.
Throughout its run, Doomwatch was produced by Terence Dudley
Terence Dudley
Terence Dudley was a television director and producer who directed many programs for the BBC over a number of years....
, who also contributed several scripts himself. Dudley later went on to produce another well-remembered BBC science-fiction drama Survivors
Survivors
Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977...
, and in the early 1980s wrote and directed episodes of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. Aside from Davis, Pedler and Dudley, several other writers wrote episodes for the programme, including well-known veterans of several other British television science-fiction productions such as Robert Holmes
Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)
This entry is about the television scriptwriter. For other people with the same name, see Robert Holmes .Robert Colin Holmes was an English television scriptwriter, who for over twenty-five years contributed to some of the most popular programmes screened in the UK...
, Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner
Dennis Spooner was an English television screenwriter and story editor, known primarily for his programmes about fictional spies and his work in children's television in the 1960s...
and Louis Marks
Louis Marks
Louis Frank Marks was a British script writer and producer mainly for the BBC. He attended the Balliol College, Oxford and graduated with a DPhil. He made the surprising choice to become a writer...
.
Film and revival
The Doomwatch feature filmDoomwatch (film)
Doomwatch is a 1972 science fiction/thriller film directed by Peter Sasdy. The film is based on the BBC series Doomwatch...
was produced by Tigon British Film Productions
Tigon British Film Productions
Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company founded by Tony Tenser in 1966. It is most famous for its horror films, particularly Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan's Claw...
Ltd under licence from the BBC, and released in 1972. The script was written by Clive Exton
Clive Exton
Clive Exton was a British television and film screenwriter, sometime playwright, and former actor. He is best known for his scripts of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster, and Rosemary & Thyme.-Early career:He was born Clive Jack Montague Brooks in Islington, London,...
from a story by Davis and Pedler. Although the main characters from the series did all appear, played by their original actors, main billing went to Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
and Judy Geeson
Judy Geeson
Judith Amanda "Judy" Geeson is an English actor.-Early life:Geeson was born in Arundel, Sussex, England on 10 September 1948. She came from a middle class family; her father edited the National Coal Board magazine. Her sister, Sally Geeson, is also an actress and is known for her roles in British...
as new characters. The film also featured George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
.
In 1999, Channel 5 bought the rights to revive Doomwatch from the BBC, and on 7 December that year screened a 100-minute TV movie produced by the independent production company Working Title Television
Working Title Films
Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions, including films starring comic actor Rowan Atkinson...
. Subtitled Winter Angel, the television movie was a continuation of the story rather than a remake.
Written by John Howlett
John Howlett
John Howlett is a renowned writer and director living in Rye, East Sussex. He started his writing career by co-writing the screenplay of the 1968 feature film, if..... Website: -Education:He attended Jesus College, Oxford and studied history....
and Ian McDonald, only one of the original characters from the series appears, an aged Dr Spencer Quist, now played by actor Philip Stone
Philip Stone
Philip Stone was an English actor.He was born Philip Stones in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Stone appeared in three successive Stanley Kubrick films: playing the central character's "Dad" in A Clockwork Orange , "Graham" in Barry Lyndon and as "Delbert Grady," the original caretaker in The Shining...
as John Paul had died in 1995. Quist is killed off during the course of the TV movie, and the main character was Neil Tannahill, played by Trevor Eve
Trevor Eve
Trevor John Eve is a British film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series Shoestring and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC television drama Waking the Dead.-Early life:Eve was born in Sutton Coldfield,...
, who at the conclusion of the story sets up a new 'Doomwatch' group to pursue the same aims as that of the original series. The film was about the creation of a black hole as an energy source but the dark side was revealed that once born, a black hole must be forever looked after or it could explode with force enough to destroy a country.
Although Channel 5 had intended the production to act as the pilot for a possible series and it had been generally well received by critics and public, further episodes were not forthcoming. This was generally accepted to be for reasons of cost.
Series one
- The Plastic Eaters 9 February 1970
- Friday's Child 16 February 1970 (missing episode)
- Burial at Sea 23 February 1970 (missing episode)
- Tomorrow, the Rat 2 March 1970
- Project Sahara 9 March 1970
- Re-entry Forbidden 16 March 1970
- The Devil's Sweets 23 March 1970
- The Red Sky 6 April 1970
- Spectre at the Feast 13 April 1970 (missing episode)
- Train And De-Train 20 April 1970
- The Battery People 27 April 1970
- Hear No Evil 4 May 1970 (missing episode)
- Survival Code 11 May 1970 (missing episode)
Series two
- You Killed Toby Wren 14 December 1970
- Invasion 21 December 1970
- The Islanders 4 January 1971
- No Room for Error 11 January 1971
- By the Pricking of My Thumbs... 18 January 1971
- The Iron Doctor 25 January 1971
- Flight into Yesterday 1 February 1971
- The Web of Fear 8 February 1971
- In the Dark 15 February 1971
- The Human Time Bomb 22 February 1971
- The Inquest 1 March 1971
- The Logicians 15 March 1971
- Public Enemy 22 March 1971
Series three
- Fire and Brimstone 5 June 1972 (missing episode)
- High Mountain 12 June 1972 (missing episode)
- Say Knife, Fat Man 19 June 1972 (missing episode)
- Waiting for a Knighthood 26 June 1972
- Without the Bomb 3 July 1972 (missing episode)
- Hair Trigger 10 July 1972
- Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow 17 July 1972 (missing episode)
- Enquiry 24 July 1972 (missing episode)
- Flood 31 July 1972 (missing episode)
- Cause of Death 7 August 1972 (missing episode)
- The Killer Dolphins 14 August 1972 (missing episode)
- Sex and Violence (not transmitted)
- The Devil's Demolition (production abandoned - not recorded)
NB: It's unlikely that Sex and Violence was intended to be run as episode 12, as it's placed fifth in a 'Early Warning Synopsis' booklet for the season, but the precise planned placing isn't definitively known. There are no continuity references which dictate its placing.