Tag: BBC1

On the run after Wormley’s men discovered their shelter, Abby, Greg and Jenny encounter another small group of survivors, decidedly more friendly than any of Wormley’s thugs. Their leader, Charles, is open and seems to share Abby’s desire to restart society in simpler, more peaceful terms. Not only does Charles seem to have the same goals as Abby, but joining up with his group would save her the responsibility of personally leading what remains of humanity. Charles’ group seems to have abundant resources, and they’ve already begun planting crops. But when Abby and her friends return to Charles’ commune with him, they find that many of his followers are deathly ill. Abby soon discovers that her definition of mercy, and her ideas for ensuring humanity’s survival, may not be the same things Charles has in mind after all.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Denis Lill (Charles), Yvonne Bonnamy (Isla), Annie Hayes (Loraine), Keith Jayne (Mick), June Bolton (Tessa), Maureen Nelson (Woman)

Notes: This episode is the source of much information about the state of post-plague England; the estimated population of the entire island is down to 10,000, and no more than one person from any given immediate family seems to have survived. The domestic cat has also mysteriously vanished in the wake of the disease. It is, however, possible that Charles invented these statistics to make the idea of joining his commune more appealing and urgent.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Greg finally breaks down and tries to convince Abby that not only is her search for her son unlikely to produce the result she wants, but it’s preventing her from moving on to her role as a natural leader to rebuild society. But she refuses to give up the search, which takes her back to Peter’s school – where there are both surprising signs of life and signs that things have gotten worse for anyone who stayed behind. Greg and Jenny meet a pair of children who are desperately trying to scrape by, but they’ve met another boy – possibly from Peter’s nearby school – and talk about other children who have “gone to the angels.” Reunited with Abby, they try to find where any survivors from the school could have gone, but instead they discover an unnerved man who’s seen evidence that Arthur Wormley’s movement is gaining momentum.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Peter Miles (Lincoln), Frederick Hall (Jack), Kenneth Caswell (Robert), Nickolas Grace (Matthew), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Abby and the others follow a lead about a boy spotted nearby, and when the man they speak to calls out to Peter, Abby dares to hope she’s found her son – until the boy turns out to be a different Peter. As Abby retreats to recover from this revelation, Greg and Jenny probe further, learning about a country estate called the Waterhouse where a group of people have banded together to pool their resources. When Abby goes to search for the place, she drives right into a manhunt – a large group of armed men pursuing a man named Garland. He seeks her help, and he has bad news: his pursuers have taken control of the Waterhouse. She’s disturbed when Garland confesses that he’s enjoying the post-plague lifestyle – his survivalist hobby has now turned into an excitingly risky way of life for him. Garland goes to secure new transport to replace Abby’s damaged vehicle, and in his absence, she’s captured by men from the Waterhouse. They paint an entirely different picture of Garland’s activities, and in any case, both Garland and the men occupying the Waterhouse seem more than happy to make it a fight to the death…and Abby is trapped in the middle.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Richard Heffer (Jimmy Garland), Peter Jeffrey (Knox), Dennis Chinnery (John Carroll), Robert Oates (Harris), David G. March (Bates), Michael Jamieson (Ken), Susanna East (Betty), Roger Elliott (Sentry), Steve Fletcher (Peter), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Two women have found each other in the aftermath of the plague, forming a close bond – and something of a dependency. The younger woman, Wendy, forages for food for both of them, but has no hunting skills, while the older woman’s home provides shelter for both. Wendy ventures out to search for food and has the misfortune to meet Tom Price. Still a vagrant after leaving Wormley’s movement, he’s become a self-proclaimed “procurement” expert – he gets what people need, and they give him something he needs in exchange. There’s something very specific he wants from Wendy in exchange for food, but he soon finds out that she’s not willing to negotiate for that. Abby leaves her traveling companions to defend the old woman from a pack of feral dogs, until Tom – still on Wendy’s trail – finds the house and holds them at gunpoint. In the meantime, Greg and Jenny may have discovered an abandoned country estate that could well serve as a permanent base of operations.

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), John Hallett (Barney), Julie Neubert (Wendy), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Settled into the easily defendable, castle-like estate, the survivors begin trying to grow their own food. A man named Paul approaches them outside, offering his expertise in working the land… and marveling at the fact that the city-dwellers are surviving at all with what little farming experience they have. Greg remembers his encounter with a couple in a rock quarry, and recalls that their caravan – almost certainly abandoned by now – was stocked with a number of things that could be planted and grown. He dispatches Tom Price to retrieve this stash, but Price fails to return at the appointed hour; instead of Price’s van, another vehicle approaches, containing businessman Arthur Russell and his overworked secretary, upon whom he seems to depend for everything even in the wake of the plague. The survivors do, in fact, need Paul’s help, and the supplies from the quarry… which aren’t as abandoned as Greg thinks.

written by M.K. Jeeves
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Julie Neubert (Wendy), John Hallett (Barney), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

Notes: The quarry was last seen in the second episode of the series, Genesis. Though the most common usage of the phrase is “spoils of war” – indeed, Tom Price even says that in the course of the story – the title of the episode is indeed Spoil Of War.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

With her community having suddenly accumulated so many people – Paul, Arthur Russell and Charmian, simple-minded Barney, Tom Price (again), the children, Wendy and Mrs. Cohen, and the crippled Vic Thatcher – Abby finds herself in charge of a disharmonious group. She attempts to set some ground rules for living in the burgeoning community but meets some resistance; to ease the tension a bit, Abby decides to throw a party, even going so far as to break out some of the wine that Vic had stashed in his caravan.

The next morning, Wendy is found dead, brutally murdered. Now Abby has to find a murderer in the midst of her community – suspects must be singled out and questioned, and a verdict much be reached, voted on by everyone else. And then the group must decide what action to take against the guilty party, up to and including a death penalty. But can a unanimous jury be found within the already-fractious group?

written by M.K. Jeeves
directed by Pennant Roberts
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), John Hallett (Barney), Julie Neubert (Wendy), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Stephen Dudley (John), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie)

Notes: This rather shocking episode is, perhaps, more startling for what it implies than for what it makes explicit. No one ever states it directly, but it is strongly implied that Wendy has been raped as well as murdered. There’s also a question left hanging over whether or not the guilty party is a serial rapist, an incredibly dark subject for prime time TV on either side of the Atlantic in 1975.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Abby’s commune isn’t the only organized pocket of civilization trying to rebuild. Greg and Paul discover a convoy of vehicles under the command of Bernard Huxley, who has hoarded various consumables into trailers with the hope that currency will make a comeback – and make him a rich man. As strange as Huxley’s ideas are, he and his men are determined to protect his property, and he counts among that his pregnant wife, who’s actually trying to escape from him. When she comes to Abby to seek a place to hide, it puts Abby’s group of survivors in Huxley’s line of fire, and he’ll stop at nothing to recover what he firmly believes is his.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Glyn Owen (Bernard Huxley), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Terry Scully (Vic Thatcher), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Caroline Burt (Laura Foster), James Hayes (Phil), Denis Lawson (Norman), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John)

Notes: This episode sees the demise of series regular Talfryn Thomas as Tom Price, tying off the loose ends from the previous episode, though it’s surprising that Price was allowed to remain with Abby’s group, and even more surprising that anyone was willing to allow him to be armed. Guest star Denis Lawson would later find cult fame as Wedge Antilles, the luckiest X-Wing pilot in the history of the Star Wars franchise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Having grown more isolated as the rest of the survivors work toward the harvest, Vic – confined by his crippled legs to a rolling office chair – attempts suicide. Greg and Paul continue searching through the rooms of the Grange, eventually finding a real wheelchair for Vic, as well as a wealth of books that could help to formalize Vic’s role as the settlement’s unofficial teacher. A tanker truck full of gasoline arrives, occupied by two more refugees from the more populated parts of England – one of whom is Anne, the woman who left Vic for dead at the first opportunity. She and Greg recognize each other on sight, and Greg informs her that Vic is still alive. When Vic learns of Anne’s return, he becomes obsessed with seeing her – but is he plotting revenge or rapproachment?

written by Jack Ronder
directed by Gerald Blake
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Hugh Walters (Vic Thatcher), Myra Frances (Anne Tranter), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Hana-Maria Pravda (Emma Cohen), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John), Robert Tayman (Donny)

Notes: Hugh Walters – known to Doctor Who fans as Time Lord roving reporter Runcible – takes over the part of Vic for the remainder of the character’s appearances.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A stranger shows up at the Grange, introduces himself, stays for dinner, and then sneaks out under cover of night during a downpouring rain. The rain floods the Grange’s basement and its garden, wiping out most of the survivors’ food stock. With Donny’s tanker of fuel still on hand, however, they have something that’s as good as currency for trading – perhaps the only thing that really matters aside from food. Little do they know that the mysterious visitor was an advance scout for a smaller group of survivors who will stop at nothing to get the fuel for themselves, whether it means taking hostages or committing murder.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony Isaac

Cast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Matthew Long (Robert Lawson), Murray Hayne (Jim Buckmaster), Paul Chapman (Thorpe), Hana-Maria Pravda (Mrs. Cohen), Chris Tranchell (Paul Pitman), Eileen Helsby (Charmian Wentworth), Michael Gover (Arthur Russell), Tanya Ronder (Lizzie), Stephen Dudley (John)

Notes: Donny is not seen in the episode, so it’s uncertain whether or not he remained at the Grange or left with Anne Tranter (who seemed to leave alone in the previous episode).

LogBook entry by Earl Green