Category: Knights Of God

After receiving terse last minute instructions – “live, boy!” – from his father, disguised as one of the Knights of God, Gervase is packed off to one of the Knights’ training camps under an assumed name. His first instinct is to engage in a protest of the Knights’ practices, but he soon learns that rebellion is a painful career choice. Gervase confides in a female inmate, telling her some (but not all) of his true identity. Prior Mordrin is facing the reality that the war is becoming too costly to fight, and seeks to end the fighting sooner rather than later. When he learns that the Welsh resistance leader Owen Edwards has a son who may be old enough to have been drafted into one of the Knights’ training camps, Mordrin is eager to find him and use him as a hostage. His desire to reveal his real name to one of his fellow prisoners may prove very costly to Gervase…

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: Claire Parker (Julia), George Winter (Gervase), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Michael Lees (Governor), Crispin de Nys (1st Knight), Lynn Webb-Turner (Wardress), Rosemary Smith (Barmaid), Owen Teale (Dai), Tenniel Evans (Dafydd), Zoe Nathenson (Kate)

Notes: Much of the series’ backstory is revealed in this episode. The British civil war began in 2000, and it is now 2020. The war would seem to have erupted over different interpretations of Christian beliefs, with Prior Mordrin’s order aggressively pushing for a hardline ultraconservative stance at a time when a “weaker” form of religion was prevalent. Mordrin’s concerns that he cannot afford to wage war much longer would seem to indicate that the Knights of God have effectively been isolated since taking over the U.K., and are receiving no foreign aid or support.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

As part of their attempt to be assigned detention in a hut with a known weakness that leads to the outside world, Gervase and Julia deliberately vandalize the prison camp and are caught, but the results aren’t what they expect: Prior Mordrin himself arrives by helicopter in the middle of the uprising and orders the two held for questioning. During the interrogation, Mordrin reveals that he knows Gervase’s true identity and his links to the resistance in Wales. Mordrin offers the boy a choice: renounce the resistance and join the Knights of God, or watch Julia be executed by firing squad.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: Claire Parker (Julia), George Winter (Gervase), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Anne Stallybrass (Nell), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Owen Teale (Dai), Tenniel Evans (Dafydd), Christopher Bowen (Pilot), Michael Lees (Governor), Crispin de Nys (1st Knight), Lynn Webb-Turner (Wardress)

Notes: Actor Christopher Bowen, who appears throughout Knights Of God as Prior Mordrin’s helicopter pilot, would later appear in the 1989 Doctor Who story Battlefield – another story strongly influenced by Arthurian legend – as Mordred, and was one of many British actors who tried out for the part of the Doctor himself in the long casting process leading up to the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Gervase is taken back to Prior Mordrin’s compound for indoctrination into the Knights of God. But Mordrin has special plans for Gervase: not only will he begin training in the Knights’ officer corps, but he will be drugged and subjected to deep hypnosis to ensure his loyalty. Mordrin also takes the opportunity to plant another layer of orders in Gervase’s subconscious: he is to seek out and destroy the greatest threat to Mordrin’s reign of power at all costs, even his own life. In the prison camp, Julia is detained in the hut she hoped to escape from before, but her jailbreak doesn’t go quite as planned.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: John Woodvine (Mordrin), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), George Winter (Gervase), Nigel Stock (Simon), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Claire Parker (Julia), Michael Sheard (Doctor), Tenniel Evans (Dafydd), Lynn Webb-Turner (Wardress), Will Tacey (Bathroom Knight), Roy Evans (Photographer), Michael Lees (Governor), Christopher Bowen (Helicopter Pilot), Tony Guilfoyle (Sergeant), Spencer Leigh (Wilson)

Notes: Michael Sheard (1938-2005) was a well-known face in British SF, appearing in Doctor Who several times throughout that show’s history (The Ark, The Mind Of Evil, Pyramids Of Mars, The Invisible Enemy, Castrovalva, Remembrance Of The Daleks), Space: 1999, The Tomorrow People and Blake’s 7, though he may be better known for his much shorter-lived roles in The Empire Strikes Back as the ill-fated Admiral Ozzel and in an uncredited cameo as Hitler in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. The electronic alarm siren heard in the prison break scenes in this and the previous episode has been used before in episodes of both Doctor Who and Blake’s 7.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Mordrin wastes no time in publicizing Gervase’s betrayal of the resistance movement and his father. When Owen finds out, he begins to question the danger he’s sent his son into, but is powerless to interfere. Nearby, Julia is discovered, injured by gunfire from the helicopter chase but not dead. At the training camp for Knights of God officers, Gervase is proving to be in less-than-ideal physical condition. Talking to fellow recruits, he discovers that he’s the only officer trainee to have been personally inducted by Prior Mordrin, and he begins to quest why – and wants to know what happened to Julia. Mordrin discovers that his most trusted henchman, Brother Hugo, issued orders to kill Julia, when in fact Mordrin wanted her brought back alive.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: Claire Parker (Julia), Don Henderson (Colley), Anne Stallybrass (Nell), John Vine (Williams), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), John Woodvine (Mordrin), George Winter (Gervase), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Christopher Bowen (Pilot), Shirley Stelfox (Beth), Ron Boyd (Fen), John Hallam (Commanding Officer Wetherby), Tony Guilfoyle (Sergeant), Spencer Leigh (Wilson), Nigel Stock (Simon)

Notes: Actor John Hallam (1941-2006) was a recurring player on the short-lived early ’70s BBC sci-fi drama Moonbase 3, and appeared in such later series as The Black Adder and Doctor Who (including the very last episode filmed of the original series). His genre movie appearances included The Wicker Man, Flash Gordon, Dragonslayer, Lifeforce and Kull The Conqueror. Don Henderson (1932-1977) also appeared in Sylvester McCoy-era Doctor Who (as easily the most formidable foe of McCoy’s troubled first season) and Red Dwarf, but most sharp-eyed genre fans will recognize him as General Taggi, the Imperial officer who questions the Emperor’s dissolution of the Senate in Star Wars (1977).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

As Mordrin tries to control and redirect Gervase’s anger at the news of Julia’s death, Brother Hugo begins working in earnest to build his own power base within the Knights, growing paranoid that Prior Mordrin will try to eliminate him soon. Hugo also anticipates that Gervase will be set against him at some point, and so he sets events in motion to try to eliminate Mordrin’s prize catch, using Julia as the bait again.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: Claire Parker (Julia), Anne Stallybrass (Nell), George Winter (Gervase), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Shirley Stelfox (Beth), John Vine (Williams), Christopher Bowen (Pilot), Spencer Leigh (Wilson)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Barely surviving the hit Brother Hugo has ordered on his life, Gervase abandons the Knights of God as quickly as he joined them. He finds Julia, but the woman who has been caring for her is mortally injured in the crossfire. All but one of the Knights trying to ensure Gervase’s assassination are killed, and Gervase wounds the last one and sends him back to base with a message: if Brother Hugo wants Gervase dead, he’ll have to come to the wasteland to see to it personally. The wounded man’s return to Mordrin’s HQ further confirms the prior’s suspicions that Hugo is actively working against him, rather than simply being a bumbling idiot. Gervase’s bittersweet reunion with Julia is cut short by more danger: one of the more recklessly violent resistance cells is pursuing Gervase, still believing him to be a Knight.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: George Winter (Gervase), Claire Parker (Julia), John Vine (Williams), Anne Stallybrass (Nell), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Harrie Cookson (Brigadier Clarke), Don Henderson (Colley), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Christopher Bowen (Pilot), Roy Boyd (Fen), Jackie Webb (Nurse)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Gervase and Julia haven’t wandered very far through the Wasteland before Arthur appears, offering them food and supplies (including a gun) and new instructions: the resistance leader needs Gervase to go to Canterbury, where a lone church has been left standing, the last enclave of Christianity not wiped out by Mordrin. There, Arthur tells him, Gervase will discover the identity of the one man who can reunite England and end the reign of Mordrin and his Knights. But Brother Hugo’s grab for power has split the Knights of God down the middle; Hugo’s loyalists help him escape from Mordrin’s compound and assemble his forces in what’s left of London. Both Mordrin and Hugo are aware of the significance of Gervase’s flight to Canterbury and order their respective forces into action; Mordrin wants Gervase captured alive, Hugo wants the boy dead. And following Gervase and Julia the entire time is Colley, determined to give Gervase the death sentence that Arthur refused to give him.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: George Winter (Gervase), Claire Parker (Julia), Don Henderson (Colley), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Nigel Stock (Simon), Harrie Cookson (Brigadier Clarke), Peter Childs (Tyrell), Christopher Bowen (Pilot), Bunny Losh (Officer), Alan Mock (Communications Officer), Mark Burgess (Knight in Carrier), John Rapley (Crown Maker)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Spared from capture by Julia’s father, Gervase and Julia continue on to Canterbury, where they seek sanctuary in England’s last church. But it’s not considered sacred ground by Hugo’s men, who are already laying in wait. Hugo, in London, has declared himself the new Prior, and attempts to consolidate his power base as Mordrin’s grip on reality slips. In his own compound, Mordrin secretly has a new crown made, believing that declaring himself King of England will end both the division among the Knights of God and the fight from the resistance. He eschews any kind of military strategy or spin control in favor of planning his own coronation. In Canterbury, just as the head priest is about to reveal the identity of the true King, Hugo’s forces strike.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Michael Kerrigan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: John Woodvine (Mordrin), Nigel Stock (Simon), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Claire Parker (Julia), George Winter (Gervase), Barrie Cookson (Brigadier Clarke), Shirley Stelfox (Beth), Owen Teale (Dai), Tenniel Evans (Dafydd), David Lyon (Archbishop Armstrong), Robert Swann (Chaplain), Peter Childs (Tyrell), Paul Holmes (Assassin), Toby Ostrom (Assassin)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Their security compromised by the attack by Hugo’s men, the remaining priests of Canterbury smuggle Gervais and Julia out of the church and across the sea to an island monastery, where a blind monk who also knows the secret of the King’s identity is hiding. The Knights of God, turning to fight among themselves as the divide between Mordrin’s and Hugo’s forces escalates into civil war, leave their lines undefended, an advantage that Owen is only too happy to use. The resistance takes – and is able to hold – strategic positions that were considered impassible mere weeks before. Mordrin grows more delusional, refusing to heed warnings of the resistance advance. At the monastery, the monks reveal to Gervase the identity of the last surviving member of the royal family, hidden away from Mordrin and Hugo and raised in secrecy: it is Gervase himself, the sole survivor of the massacre of the royalty. Gervase can reunite England, which makes him the most potent threat to Mordrin’s reign of terror.

But Gervase has been mentally conditioned to kill whoever poses a threat to Mordrin’s rule.

written by Richard Cooper
directed by Andrew Morgan
music by Christopher Gunning

Cast: George Winter (Gervase), Claire Parker (Julia), John Woodvine (Mordrin), Nigel Stock (Simon), Julian Fellowes (Hugo), Patrick Troughton (Arthur), Gareth Thomas (Owen), Barrie Cookson (Brigadier Clarke), Frank Middlemass (Father Gregory), Robert Swann (Chaplain), Peter Childs (Tyrell), Tenniel Evans (Dafydd), Owen Teale (Dai), Dean Harris (Brother Dean)

LogBook entry by Earl Green