Hood is summoned to meet with an old classmate from university, climatologist Richard Adams, under conditions of strict secrecy, but en route to Adams’ home, Hood and Rachel run into Adams, literally – he dashes out into the road and their car almost hits him, and he disappears again. Hood and Rachel continue to Adams’ home, finding his wife Gillian there, as well as Adams himself, who insists that someone has just tried to kill him because he’s made a major finding about the Earth’s climate that “they” want silenced. Hood offers his help, but Adams thinks Hood is here to discredit him to settle an old grudge – the two were once rivals for Gillian’s affections. Before kicking Hood out of his home, Adams says the Environment Institute, at the behest of petroleum companies, is trying to prevent his findings from ever seeing the light of day. Adams goes back into hiding, quietly trying to find someone who will publish a scientific formula of which he only has half – the other half being held by the Environment Institute. When Hood hears from Gillian again, it’s bad news: Adams has gone missing, and his empty car turns up later on a remote bridge. Hood tries to recover Adams’ research from his home computer, but everything is encoded and encrypted – and password-protected with personal references that only Hood would know. The deeper Hood digs into ADams’ research, the more the Environment Institute seems to take an unhealthy interest in him. Is Hood on the verge of cracking a secret that could change the world, or was his old friend losing his mind? Is Adams actually dead – or will Hood be before he finds the secret?
written by Mike Cullen & Simon Stephenson
directed by Roger Gartland
music by The InsectsCast: Patrick Stewart (Professor Ian Hood), Ashley Jensen (Rachel), Donald Sumpter (Richard Adams), Susan Wooldridge (Gillian), Tom Mannion (Destrano), Ken Drury (Martin Godley), Stephen Tomlin (Baxter), Jessica Hall (Publisher’s receptionist), Belinda Everett (Institute receptionist), Kate Deakin (Godley’s Secretary)
LogBook entry by Earl Green