'' was a
British Science Fiction Television programme produced by the
BBC , which ran on the
BBC1 channel for thirty-seven fifty-minute episodes, plus one unshown, and one part made, in three seasons transmitted on Mondays from
9 February 1970 to
14 August 1972 . The programme was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a group of scientists led by Doctor Spencer Quist (played by
John Paul ), who work for the government in investigating and combating new ecological and technological dangers to mankind. There was also a feature film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions Ltd and released in
1972 , and a revival TV movie broadcast on
Channel 5 in
1999 .
The programme was created by
Gerry Davis 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.
Thus there were 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. However, after Davis and Pedler left the series at the conclusion of the second season in
1971 , it turned into a more conventional thriller drama, which the two creators openly criticised.
The first two seasons both consisted of thirteen episodes, and the third of twelve, of which only eleven were transmitted. The twelfth, ''Sex and Violence'', was not broadcast. It has been suggested that this was because BBC executives objected to either its use of stock film of a real execution or its presentation of characters designed to be satirical analogues of
Mary Whitehouse ,
Cliff Richard and Frank Packenham, the Seventh
Lord Longford . It should be noted that the stock footage has appeared on television many times since the episode's non-broadcast.
The programme was very popular and drew audiences of as high as 12 million at its peak. The start of every season 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
Telerecording s, several are still missing, and will likely remain so. Strangely, however, a copy of the unbroadcast episode survives in the archives, one of only three from the final season to do so. Thanks to the Canadian returns season two is complete, but season one is missing five of its installments. 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. 'Sex and Violence' was scheduled but ultimately not shown.
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 main character throughout the series was Dr Spencer Quist, who had set up The Department of Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work ('Doomwatch') group and led its activities. 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 , although 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''. 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 ''.
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 .
The ''Doomwatch'' feature film 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
December 7 that year screened a 100-minute TV movie produced by the independent production company
Working Title Television . Subtitled ''Winter Angel'', the television movie was unusual in that, unlike most television revivals of series from previous decades (one exception being the
1996 ''Doctor Who'' Television Movie ), it 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.
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.
#The Plastic Eaters
9 February 1970
#Friday's Child (Lost Episode)
16 February 1970
#Burial at Sea (Lost Episode)
23 February 1970
#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 (Lost Episode)
13 April 1970
#Train And De-Train
20 April 1970
#The Battery People
27 April 1970
#Hear No Evil (Lost Episode)
4 May 1970
#Survival Code (Lost Episode)
11 May 1970
#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
#Fire and Brimstone (Lost Episode)
5 June 1972
#High Mountain (Lost Episode)
12 June 1972
#Say Knife, Fat Man (Lost Episode)
19 June 1972
#Waiting for a Knighthood
26 June 1972
#Without the Bomb (Lost Episode)
3 July 1972
#Hair Trigger
10 July 1972
#Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow (Lost Episode)
17 July 1972
#Enquiry (Lost Episode)
24 July 1972
#Flood (Lost Episode)
31 July 1972
#Cause of Death (Lost Episode)
7 August 1972
#The Killer Dolphins (Lost Episode)
14 August 1972
#Sex and Violence (Not transmitted)
#The Devil's Demolition (Not completed - Lost Episode)
#Doomwatch (1972)
#Doomwatch, Winter Angel
7 December 1999
- Radio Times, 1970-1972.
- http://www.memorabletv.com/episodeguides/doomwatch.htm
