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Doomwatch
1970 - 1999 6.0 (4 votes) 4 Seasons
Genres
Drama
Networks
BBC One
Created By
Gerry Davis
Kit Pedler

Doomwatch

Overview

Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC 1 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, 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 film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.

Top Cast

Seasons

Season 0 ()

No overview available.

1 episodes

Season 1 (1970)

No overview available.

13 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Plastic Eaters
1970-02-09

What if a man-made virus with the power to melt all plastic became as infectious as the common cold? When a plane crashes in South America, in quite extraordinary circumstances, it's up to Dr Quist's team to avert further disaster.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: Friday's Child
1970-02-16

Doctor Quist and Doomwatch become embroiled in an inquiry into the heart-transplanting practices of Doctor Patrick. Several uncomfortable questions are raised: what has he been doing to a newborn baby that has been placed in his care, and should genetic engineering be permitted in society?

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: Burial at Sea
1970-02-23

When a lifeboat crew discovers a luxury cruiser adrift in the English Channel, they find on board are a group of wealthy pop stars and their girlfriends, one of whom is dead. Doomwatch investigate, and discover that the death was not from drug abuse as was previously suspected; instead they begin to uncover the facts behind the dumping of a deadly chemical warfare compound in a deep sea trench, which seems to be far from dormant.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: Tomorrow, the Rat
1970-03-02

Genetic engineering? Tampering with nature in a quest to make Superman? The experimentation is still only being carried out on rats, but with dangerous, and deadly results...

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: Project Sahara
1970-03-09

Doomwatch are joined by Doctor Robson, sent to undertake tests on the new 'Sahara' spray which is apparently capable of destroying all plant-life on the planet. But when Quist receives a phone call from the ministry, he is given orders to immediately suspend both Robson and Toby without any explanation. Closer investigation leads Quist and his team to discover that a new computerised security system run by Commander Keeping and Barker has become far too powerful, and is making its own decisions about government personnel.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: Re-Entry Forbidden
1970-03-16

The first nuclear-powered rocket, Sunfire One, is sent into space with the first British astronaut, Dick Larch, on board. After the rocket enters Earth orbit, Larch enters an incorrect course alteration, and fails to see the error indicator, which results in Sunfire One splashing down in the sea. Quist is asked by Doctor Goldsworthy to determine whether Larch is suitable for any further missions, as another such mistake could result in the spacecraft becoming a nuclear bomb.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: The Devil's Sweets
1970-03-23

While on the way to work, secretary Pat Hunnisett takes a free promotional chocolate from a group of girls on the street. Meanwhile, at the Doomwatch office, Quist and his team are investigating the sudden increase in the country's smokers, and are surprised when Pat arrives and lights up a cigarette for the first time in five years. Quist suspects that there could be a link between the promotional chocolates and 'Checker Board' cigarettes, whose recent sales are doing unexpectedly well. Should subliminal advertising be allowed?

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: The Red Sky
1970-04-06

Dr Quist attempts to go on holiday, but gets involved instead in a series of jet engine experiments causing harm and the same mysterious hallucination.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 9: Spectre at the Feast
1970-04-13

In order to decide on new proposals for dealing with the dangers of pollution on the environment, Doctor Quist assembles a conference amongst the world's top scientists. But soon several of the delegates become ill, apparently from food-poisoning. However, Quist becomes suspicious, and suspects that the sickness may have been caused deliberately.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 10: Train and De-train
1970-04-20

Two thousand animals are found dead in the Somerset countryside. Doomwatch investigate whether or not a new pesticide is to blame.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 11: The Battery People
1970-04-27

The Doomwatch team look into serious health issues experienced by male workers at a Welsh battery farm.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 12: Hear No Evil
1970-05-04

In an effort to prevent unofficial strikes by its workforce, a company in the North of England decides to use the latest scientific discovery, and attempts to manipulate both the working and the private lives of its employees by bugging them with listening devices. However, when Quist hears of this underhanded practice he is furious and decides that the only way to stop the unethical management is to turn their own method against them.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 13: Survival Code
1970-05-11

A military plane ditches into the sea whilst carrying three nuclear weapons on board. While the RAF mounts a search mission, an unidentified object is washed up on the shore near Byfield pier on the south coast of England. It is found by two men, Geoff Harker and Sam Billings, who decide that it must be a weather detecting device, and so begin to strip it down for parts. Toby is sent to investigate the device, but he soon finds himself faced with the terrifying prospect of disarming a very live bomb.

Runtime: 50 min
Season 2 (1970)

No overview available.

13 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: You Killed Toby Wren
1970-12-14

Quist's authority is questioned from all directions, and Ridge does some quiet investigations into hybrid science in Norwich.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: Invasion
1970-12-21

Ridge and Hardcastle are sent on what seems a simple enough assignment, but stumble onto a major government cover up in an abandoned English manor.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: The Islanders
1971-01-04

Doomwatch become involved with the inhabitants of a small, secluded island who have been forced to leave for the English mainland and are struggling to survive.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: No Room for Error
1971-01-11

A deadly new strain of typhoid is sweeping through local schools. There is a treatment, though, and the team at Doomwatch endorse this in spite of its side effects.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: By the Pricking of My Thumbs...
1971-01-18

The Doomwatch team investigates the myth about the XYY chromosome after a schoolboy is expelled for possessing it.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: The Iron Doctor
1971-01-25

A computer oversees the wellbeing of patients at a local hospital. The Doomwatch team look into whether it is saving patients or if something more sinister is afoot.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: Flight into Yesterday
1971-02-01

After a long-haul flight Dr Quist's reputation is put seriously in doubt when he arrives drunk to a meeting with the Prime Minister. Is it a simple case of jet-lag, or sabotage?

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: The Web of Fear
1971-02-08

The Doomwatch team investigate the mysterious outbreak of a deadly subtropical disease which somehow has cropped up on an isolated island off the coast of the UK.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 9: In the Dark
1971-02-15

The death of a young man off the Scottish coast leads to the Doomwatch team investigating a cover up in the case of a sunken ship, and the discovery of a revolutionary life-changing science.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 10: The Human Time Bomb
1971-02-22

The government wants direction for the possible construction of more high-rise apartment buildings. Fay Chantry is asked to live in one and supply a report based on her experiences.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 11: The Inquest
1971-03-01

An inquest is held into the death of a local girl from rabies. How was she infected? A local woman thinks she knows, and she doesn't believe dogs are involved.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 12: The Logicians
1971-03-15

A powerful antidote formula has been stolen near a school full of gifted boys. Are they responsible, and is computer technology somehow to blame?

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 13: Public Enemy
1971-03-22

A young boy dies while attempting to retrieve a ball from a high roof, but the cause of his death is not from falling. Doomwatch investigate.

Runtime: 50 min
Season 3 (1972)

No overview available.

13 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Fire and Brimstone
1972-06-05

John Ridge apparently suffers a breakdown from the pressure, and decides that, due to the excessive threat of pollution on the environment, drastic steps should be taken. He steals some phials of the deadly virus anthrax and holds the government to ransom: unless his anti-pollution terms are met, he will destroy humanity by releasing the virus in a number of major cities. A race against time begins. Can Ridge be tracked down before it is too late?

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: High Mountain
1972-06-12

An inquiry into Doomwatch is begun following the events surrounding Ridge's breakdown. Meanwhile, Quist is summoned to a large country estate in Scotland, where he finds himself offered a new position with both power and wealth in the private sector, but only if he will curtail his investigations into a new drug called disocyanate. Back in London, the Minister decides that it is time to place his own man within Doomwatch, and so despatches Commander Neil Stafford to join the team.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: Say Knife Fat Man
1972-06-19

Many years ago, Quist worked on the infamous Manhattan Project, which was instrumental in the designing of the atomic bomb codenamed Fat Man, used to obliterate the seaside port of Nagasaki in World War II. This involvement has continued to weigh heavily on Quist's conscience ever since. Hearing the phrase "Say knife," he recognises a potential threat - one that is tied into a break in at a plutonium base. A group of young student activists has stolen several radioactive fuel rods, and are planning to construct their very own atomic device.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: Waiting for a Knighthood
1972-06-26

A vicar collapses during a sermon, and there are seemingly unrelated events, one involving John Ridge. The answers are out there, but are obscured by big business and profit margins.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: Without the Bomb
1972-07-03

A revolutionary new lipstick goes on sale, containing pheromones designed to act as an aphrodisiac in order to make the wearer more attractive and desirable to men. This prompts Quist and Bradley to begin an investigation into the effects that pheromones have on people, and how they can alter the illusion of free will.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: Hair Trigger
1972-07-10

A radical new procedure has been developed for treating violent criminals. The results are extremely positive, but Anne Tarrant is not convinced of its ethics.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow
1972-07-17

Ridge continues his ecological crusade by warning against the dangerous side effects of the chemical insecticide known as D.D.T. upon the world's developing countries. He stages a publicity stunt by flying in an Indian family and setting them up in a tent in the middle of London's St. James Park. But the prank backfires when it is discovered that one of them is suffering from malaria.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: Enquiry
1972-07-24

Doomwatch is alerted to a laboratory where a new toxic gas is being developed for military use, available in a 'handy' aerosol can for easy application during conflict. But Quist and Anne's enquiry soon leads them to doubt that the scientists' safety measures concerning the storage of the gas may not be as secure as they think.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 9: Flood
1972-07-31

Quist is concerned by the fact that, approximately every one hundred years, certain extreme weather conditions arise which lead to an increase in the water level of the Thames - and just one inch higher would result in the whole of London flooding. Even more disturbing is the fact that this increase is imminent.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 10: Cause of Death
1972-08-07

When John Ridge's father, Wilfred, becomes seriously ill, he decides to devote all his time to looking after him. Wilfred is then taken to hospital and put into the care of Doctor Cordell, but shortly afterwards he dies. Ridge is suspicious, and his investigations uncover a disturbing fact: Doctor Cordell is an advocate of euthanasia.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 11: The Killer Dolphins
1972-08-14

Dolphins have long been established as highly-intelligent creatures, and the United States Navy has now begun using them in their new program. They are training the dolphins to act as underwater saboteurs, able to attach magnetic explosive devices to the undersides of enemy ships. Quist investigates the matter, and discovers that these apparently docile creatures are capable of becoming deadly killers - something that he experiences firsthand.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 12: Sex and Violence

Doomwatch's Anne Tarrant and Spencer Quist are placed on a government committee investigating whether the UK's censorship laws should be revised. The committee's work brings them into contact with both anti-pornography pressure groups and a man who hopes to one day be a dictator.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 14: Winter Angel
1999-12-16

Astrophysics lecturer Neil Tannahill receives an enigmatic note from Dr. Spencer Quist, former head of Doomwatch, and finds himself drawn into a sinister conspiracy involving Soviet nuclear waste secretly stored at a British nuclear facility.

Runtime: 50 min

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