THE
GREEN DEATHBY
ROBERT SLOMANEPISODE ONE
1: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY
(The decommissioned mine of Llanfairfach sits in a pretty and green Welsh valley. The red-brick collection of buildings are collected round the tower of the lift crane with its large double wheels at the top of the winding gear. Around the site is collected the clinker filled slag heaps of decades of profitable mining, but no more. At the entrance to the site, the metal gate is firmly shut and a "CLOSED" sign has been pasted over the board underneath with the name of the colliery.)
2: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. GALLERY
(Deep below the ground, a maintenance man - HUGHES - runs along one of the worked-out galleries in something approaching a blind panic. A mist, glowing a florescent shade of green covers the ground. HUGHES looks round desperately and carries on.)
3: EXT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. MAIN GATE
(Some distance away, a white Range Rover drives up to the entrance to a modern factory complex. A sign of the side of the factory reads:
GLOBAL
CHEMICALSRESEARCH CENTRE
A group of discontented male villagers, including a MILKMAN with his float, hang around outside the factory gate. The Range Rover sweeps past them and underneath a barrier which the entrance guards then lower. The vehicle comes to a stop just beyond the barrier and the villagers walk up to the lowered barrier. A uniformed thuggish looking chauffeur - HINKS - gets out of the driver's door and allows his passenger to get out via the lowered front seat. He is STEVENS, the Director of the complex. He is a middle-aged man, with a moustache wearing a smart coat and homburg hat and carrying a briefcase. A younger coated man, also with a moustache and wearing spectacles comes out of the factory and up to his boss. He is ELGIN, the public relations officer.)
ELGIN: Welcome back, sir. What's the news?
STEVENS: All good.(He looks at the scowling crowd at the factory gate.)
STEVENS: How long has this been going on?
ELGIN: Oh, ever since early this morning. They want to know what is going to happen. Well, we all do.
STEVENS: In that case, I'll tell them.(He walks to the back of the Range Rover, hands his briefcase to ELGIN and steps up onto the tailgate. He takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and holds it up as he shouts to the crowd...)
STEVENS: I have in my hand a piece of paper which will mean a great deal to all of you! Wealth in our time!
(The crowd laugh derisively among themselves and start to mutter and call back.)
4: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT GALLERY
(HUGHES reaches the point in the gallery where the waiting cage lift stands. Gasping for breath, he hurries in, presses the call button and enters the cage, pulling the mesh half-door closed behind him.)
5: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT SHAFT
(The lift starts to rise. HUGHES lifts up his trembling right hand. The back of it is a glowing bright green, showing the pattern of the veins within. HUGHES looks at it in horror and tries uselessly to wipe the infection away.)
6: EXT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. MAIN GATE
(STEVENS is managing to bring the crowd round. They give him a cheer.)
STEVENS: When the National Coal Board were forced to close the pit last year...
(The crowd's mood turns ugly again. There are several shouts of shame and a loud mutter from the largest man in the crowd who stands at the front - a grizzled ex-miner called DAI EVANS.)
STEVENS: No, my friends, we must not be bitter. We must face the facts - coal is a dying industry.
MILKMAN: (Shouts.) Rubbish!
DAI EVANS: (Shouts.) No, never!
MILKMAN: (Shouts.) Rubbish!
STEVENS: Oil is our future now and the government agrees with me.
MILKMAN: (To DAI EVANS.) Eh?
STEVENS: They have not only given us the go-ahead for our plans, they have promised us money for future expansion!
MILKMAN: I don't believe you!
STEVENS: I have it here in black and white!(The now delighted crowd cheers.)
STEVENS: Money for all of us!
(A smile now on all their faces, they cheer again.)
STEVENS: More jobs, more housing, more cars!
(The crowd cheers again but there is a note of discontent. This comes from a small group of men and women stood to one side. They are younger than the male villagers and dressed in a far trendier style than the donkey-jacketed men. The two women wear hippy clothes and their leader is a young good-looking man with fashionable long hair. He yells out in a lilting Welsh accent at STEVENS.)
CLIFFORD JONES: (Shouts.) More muck! More devastation! More death!
(STEVENS bends down and enquires quietly of ELGIN...)
STEVENS: Who is that? What did he say?
ELGIN: It's that Professor Jones. He's a troublemaker.
STEVENS: The Nobel prize winner?
ELGIN: Yes, go easy, sir. He gets a lot of coverage in the press.(STEVENS stands back up.)
STEVENS: It seems there are some who do not agree with my vision.
VILLAGER: (Shouts.) Oh, get off home!
STEVENS: The future we hold in our hands...there are always those who resist progress.(The women in CLIFFORD JONES' group laugh. JONES himself yells at the villagers in an alternative speech as they turn to face him.)
CLIFFORD JONES: (Shouts.) Progress? Don't listen to him! He means fatter profits for Global Chemicals.
VILLAGER: (Shouts.) Ah, shut up!
CLIFFORD JONES: (Shouts.) At the expense of your land!
VILLAGER: (Shouts.) Shut your face!
CLIFFORD JONES: (Shouts.) The very air you breathe! Aye, and the health of you and your kids!
MILKMAN: (Shouts.) Ah, shut up!
DAI EVANS: (Angrily.) It's alright for you! You can afford to live the way you want to - we need the jobs.
MILKMAN: (Angrily.) Ah, we can't live on nuts, man!
DAI EVANS: (Angrily.) Can't live on nuts!
CLIFFORD JONES: (Shouts.) Can't you see you're being exploited?
MILKMAN: (Angrily.) Ah, shut up - go home, will you?!
DAI EVANS: (Angrily.) Shut up before I shut you up!(The villagers yell more abuse at JONES and his group until STEVENS, still on the other side of the barrier intervenes in a calming, yet somehow patronising, manner.)
STEVENS: No wait! Wait, my friends! Professor Jones is right. We must all share his concern. I assure you that I and my fellow directors...
(He is interrupted by an almost forgotten sound - that of the siren at the pit. It wails its noise of disaster across the valley.)
DAI EVANS: It's the pit!
MILKMAN: Oh no!
VILLAGER: It's the pit!(The villagers immediately run off towards the pit.)
DAI EVANS: Right, boys!
(STEVENS looks frustrated that his speech has been interrupted.)
7: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY
(Steam pours out of the whistle siren.)
8: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(Within the engine room, HUGHES' hand is gripped to the siren handle. He is quite still and dead. Now his arm and face are entirely green...)
9: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(Apple in one hand, cup of tea and newspaper in the other, JO dressed in a white trouser suit with cricketing-type jersey underneath, takes a bite out of the fruit and sits at the lab bench, reading the paper. The DOCTOR, singing gently, and dressed in a green velvet smoking jacket, comes out of the open door of the TARDIS with an electrical unit in his hand. He sits near JO and inserts a jewellers eyeglass into his eye. JO looks up and speaks with a mouthful of apple.)
JO: Is that the dematerialisation circuit?
(The garbled words, mixed with the apple, make little sense.)
DOCTOR: What?
(She swallows her apple.)
JO: Sorry - I said is that the dematerialisation circuit?
DOCTOR: No, no - no more trouble there, thank goodness. I can now take the TARDIS wherever and whenever I like. I've got absolute control over her.
JO: Now that the Time Lords have forgiven you.
DOCTOR: Yes, exactly.
JO: What is it, then?
DOCTOR: What - this?
JO: Mmm.
DOCTOR: Well, this is the space/time coordinate programmer. Wretched thing's nearly worn out. That's the trouble with the TARDIS - she's getting on a bit, you know, Jo.(JO speaks with even more apple in her mouth and making even less sense.)
JO: No wonder we never got to Metebelis Three?
(She almost spits part of the fruit out and bursts out laughing. The DOCTOR, wiping the spat fruit off his sleeve is less impressed.)
DOCTOR: Look, must you?
JO: I'm sorry! It's my breakfast. I said no wonder we never got to Metebelis Three.
DOCTOR: There's precious little protein in an apple, you know.
JO: Mmm?(He gets up and crosses to a toolbox as JO starts to glance over her paper again.)
DOCTOR: Protein's the thing for breakfast, Jo.
JO: Eggs and Bacon - yeurgh!
DOCTOR: Yeah, that's where we're going to next.
JO: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: Metebelis Three. The TARDIS can't miss this time. I've actually wired the coordinates into the programmer.(He returns to the bench and his eyeglass as something in the paper catches JO'S appalled attention...)
JO: Oh no! No, they can't!
DOCTOR: I can't wait to go there, you know, Jo.
JO: (Not listening.) It's criminal - absolutely criminal!
DOCTOR: It must be a fascinating place. Just imagine it - a blue sun...
JO: Listen... (Reads.) "And at last the Ministry have gi...given the green chemicals..."
DOCTOR: (Not listening.) No, not a green light, it's a blue light. Everything's blue there.
JO: (Reads.) "Common sense has triumphed at last." Well, don't they realise the pollution it will cause?
DOCTOR: (Not listening.) Mmm, absolutely, yes.
JO: (Reads.) "And the futile protests of Professor Jones..."
DOCTOR: (Not listening.) You know, I might even get a hold of one of those famous blue sapphires. Well, there you are. That should do it, I think.
JO: (To herself.) He won't give up, you know. A man like Professor Jones will never give up.(A determined look on her face, she puts down the paper and heads for the door.)
DOCTOR: Where are you off to?
JO: Pack a suitcase.
DOCTOR: Ah, good. Give me a couple of minutes and we'll be off.
JO: Off? Off where?
DOCTOR: Well, Metebelis Three, of course.
JO: I'm not going to Metebelis Three.(Puzzled and slightly hurt at this reaction, the DOCTOR downs tools and crosses to JO.)
DOCTOR: Why? Where are you thinking of going to?
JO: Well South Wales, of course - Llanfairfach!(She points at the paper.)
DOCTOR: Ah, Jo!
JO: You haven't been listening, have you? Honestly, Doctor, you...(He completes the sentence with her...)
DOCTOR AND JO:...never listen to a word I say!
(They both burst into laughter.)
10: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(The men from outside the factory, including CLIFF JONES' group have reached the pit and found HUGHES. The dead miner has been laid on the floor and DAI EVANS lowers a red tartan rug over his green glowing face. The shock of the find has evaporated the antagonism between JONES and DAI EVANS.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Well what was he doing down the pit in the first place?
DAI EVANS: Monthly inspection. Best prop forward we ever had. What killed him? You're a doctor, Dr. Jones?
CLIFFORD JONES: I'm not you know - I'm a biologist. Some sort of gas maybe?
DAI EVANS: But why's he turned green, man?
CLIFFORD JONES: I've no idea...except...
DAI EVANS: Expect what?
CLIFFORD JONES: Well that phosphorescent glow - it's almost like you get with putrefaction.
DAI EVANS: That's it then!
CLIFFORD JONES: Well no, after several weeks - he's been dead less than an hour.
11: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The DOCTOR walks back into his lab, followed by the BRIGADIER.)
DOCTOR: No, no, no!
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: But, Doctor, it's exactly your cup of tea. This fellah's bright green apparently - and dead.
DOCTOR: Lethbridge Stewart, I'm not a policeman. Neither are you, for that matter.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Ah, but there are international implications, you see - possibility of sabotage at Global Chemicals. It's UNIT's duty to protect them - my duty.
DOCTOR: (Smiles.) Then do your duty, Brigadier.(He heads into the TARDIS.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: But, Doctor, surely you must see the...
(JO enters the lab, wearing a white fur coat and carrying a large bag of her belongings. She starts to put more of her stuff from the lab into the bag.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Ah, Miss Grant, I've a little job for you. I want you to...
JO: (Interrupts.) I'm sorry, Brigadier, I can't.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Can't? Can I remind you, Miss Grant, that you are...
JO: (Interrupts.) That I am a member of UNIT - orders, court martials and all that. But unless you arrest me, I mean unless you actually seize me and fling me into a dungeon, I...!(The DOCTOR comes out of the TARDIS.)
DOCTOR: Oh, Jo, all ready?
JO: Oh dear... Doctor, I mean it - I'm going to go to South Wales because they have got to be stopped.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Who's got to be stopped?
JO: Well, Global Chemicals, of course. Can't you see the harm this go-ahead will do?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: No, Miss Grant, I can't. Cheap petrol and lots of it - exactly what the world needs.
JO: (Appalled.) No! No, look it's time to call a halt! It's time that the world awoke to the alarm bell of pollution instead of sliding down the slippery slopes of...of...of...(She shrugs.)
JO: ...whatever it is.
DOCTOR: (Smiles.) A very pretty mixed metaphor.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Yes, I seem to recognise the style. This fellow, Jones, isn't it? "The nutcake professor" - isn't that what the papers call him?
JO: That doesn't make him wrong, does it?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: And you want to go down there to help him in his noble fight against the windmills? Down to Llanfairfach?(JO stands almost to attention in front of her commanding officer.)
JO: I'm sorry, Brigadier. I'm going to go - even if it means resigning from UNIT.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Ah...well, we can discuss that on the way down, can't we?
JO: (Smiles.) You mean...?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: You will at least accept a lift, I trust? Yes, Miss Grant, I'm going there too.(He heads for the door.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Also the Doctor, I hope?
DOCTOR: I'm going to Metebelis Three.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Wouldn't like to have to order you, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I wouldn't advise you to try.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Yes... Ten minutes, Miss Grant.(He strides off. The DOCTOR looks expectantly at JO.)
DOCTOR: Metebelis Three, Jo?
(She doesn't reply.)
DOCTOR: (Quietly.) Well where else would you like to go? You choose for yourself.
JO: But I've only got ten minutes.
DOCTOR: Jo, you've got all the time in the world, and all the space - I'm offering them to you.
JO: But, Doctor, don't you understand? (Passionately.) I've got to go! This Professor Jones - he's fighting for everything that's important. Well, everything that you've fought for. In a funny way, he reminds me of a sort of...younger you.
DOCTOR: I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted.(He smiles.)
DOCTOR: It's alright, Jo, I understand.
(She hugs him.)
JO: Oh, Doctor! Thank you.
(She returns to her bag.)
DOCTOR: Jo?
JO: Mmm hmm?
DOCTOR: Tell the Brigadier that I'll follow him down.
JO: Right.
DOCTOR: Later.(She looks sad for a moment and pauses.)
JO: Right.
(She puts a brave smile on her face and almost runs out of the door.)
JO: Bye!
DOCTOR: Goodbye.(The DOCTOR watches her go, realising that his young assistant is growing apart from him.)
DOCTOR: So...the fledgling flies the coop...
(Sadly, he enters the TARDIS. It dematerialises from the laboratory.)
12: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH
(The BRIGADIER'S open white sports car crosses over a cattle grid near a row of cottages and pulls up next to the milkfloat. The BRIGADIER, in civvies of a sheepskin jacket and flat cap and with JO sat next to him calls over to the MILKMAN.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Excuse me? Can you tell me the way to Global Chemicals, please? The research place?
MILKMAN: Well, if you don't turn off the straight road ahead, you can't miss it, can you? It's just past the chapel on the hill, isn't it?
JO: And the Wholeweal community?
MILKMAN: I beg your pardon, Miss?
JO: The Wholeweal? Oh, you know - Professor Jones.
MILKMAN: Oh, the nuthatch! Well, you'll be passing the nuthatch on the mountain, won't you?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Right, thank you.
MILKMAN: You're welcome, boyo.(He walks back to his float. JO smiles at the BRIGADIER.)
JO: Boyo!
(They pull away and the milkman watches them go, muttering under his breath.)
13: EXT. WHOLEWHEAL COMMUNITY
(The BRIGADIER'S car drives along a farm track and past a brightly painted sign which proclaims "WHOLEWEAL". The community itself is a collection of farm buildings with a cow roaming loose in the yard. The car comes to a halt and JO gets out, picking up her bag and a suitcase from the back.)
JO: Thanks for the lift.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Not sure that I approve, Miss Grant. Duty is duty when all's said and done.
JO: Well a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do....sir.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Mmm.(She heads towards the main farm building, past another sign which reads "SPORE STORE & TOADSTOOLS".)
JO: Bye!
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: The Doctor's no better, gallivanting off on a pleasure jaunt at a time like this.
14: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(The blue police box materialises in a blue mountainous landscape against which runs a blue waterfall. The DOCTOR steps out. A air of calm hangs around the place. He looks round appreciatively at a colourful blue and red sunset. Suddenly the peace is shattered as a long-drawn out animal cry gets louder and louder and turns into a terrifying screech as a long hair-covered tentacle wraps itself round him...)
15: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. HALL PASSAGE
(A bell jangles on its bracket and the front door opens as JO walks into the cosy hallway. She looks round. The only sign of life is the music of a radio playing.)
JO: Hello?
(She shuts the front door.)
JO: Hello?
(There is no reply. Walking past a grandfather clock, she makes her way down the passage and up to a closed door on the left which has a sign painted in bright flowers on it with words which she reads...)
JO: "Room for living". Mmm, like it.
(She opens the door and calls out.)
JO: Anybody at home?
(Still receiving no reply, she closes the door and notices another on the opposite side of the passage with two similar signs hanging off it. They read "WATCH IT" and "TOADSTOOLS PROFESSORS". She knocks on the door.)
CLIFFORD JONES: (OOV: Inside laboratory.) Come in.
(She enters.)
16: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. LABORATORY
(The room, lined with shelves, is filled with laboratory equipment including a microscope, a few bubbling specimen jars and trays of toadstools. More toadstools are on the shelves together with many books. CLIFF JONES sits in a ceiling suspended wicker chair holding the radio in his hands and not facing the door or JO. A cloth strewn over the top of the chair hides CLIFF'S face.)
CLIFFORD JONES: No one in.
JO: You are.
CLIFFORD JONES: Did my stint in the fields before breakfast, didn't I?
JO: Oh, I see. They're all out in the fields.
CLIFFORD JONES: Aye, that's what I said. No work, no food - logically, esthetically and morally right. Right?
JO: (Puzzled.) Right...I suppose.(He gets out of the chair.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Well now, what... (Shouts.) Shut the blasted door!
(JO quickly steps into the room as shuts the door and CLIFF nervously checks a thermometer that was jammed into one of the trays of toadstools.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Of all the silly young goats!
JO: (Confused.) Oh, I'm sorry - what did I do?
CLIFFORD JONES: Well, you ruined a month's work - that's all. Can't you read? It said on the door to watch it, didn't it?
JO: Yes.(He puts the thermometer back and crosses to a lab bench.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Half a degree drop and ___.
JO: Well, I...!(She goes to follow him but bangs into the lab bench, almost upsetting the tray of toadstools. She cries out with a yelp but CLIFF doesn't notice.)
CLIFFORD JONES: No, no, no - not there, you'll have the lot over.
(She stands to one side of the room.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Not there either. You'll contaminate my spores.
(He sits at the bench as JO comes forward rubbing her knee.)
JO: Where can I go, for pete's sake?
CLIFFORD JONES: Well, just try standing still, my love, uh? Tell us the dreadful news. You've come to join us - right?
JO: Well, yes, in a way. You see I'm Jo Grant.(JO holds out her hand but CLIFF is too absorbed in the bench to notice it. She withdraws the hand as she speaks...)
JO: I...I rang from London. I spoke to somebody who said her name was...mum.
CLIFFORD JONES: (Puzzled.) Mum? Oh, our Nancy that is, yeah - Nancy with a laughing face. She didn't tell me.(JO is starting to get annoyed by the young man.)
JO: Well, why should she? You see, I've come to see Professor Jones - not you.
CLIFFORD JONES: Oh...(He looks back at his work.)
JO: So if you could tell me where I could wait?
(CLIFF taps figures into an electronic calculator and ignores her.)
JO: I said, if you could...
(She leans nearer to him and in doing so, sends another tray crashing to the floor. JO looks appalled and CLIFF looks incredulous. They both lean over the edge of the desk and at the spilled contents on the floor.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Look...
JO: Well, I...
CLIFFORD JONES: Why not just have a stool - over here...(He almost manhandles her towards a lab stool out of harm's way. On the way, JO almost hits something else.)
CLIFFORD JONES: And careful, now!
(They reach the safety of the stool.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Look, n...that's it. Just sit there - simmer down. Alright?
(He rubs her hair in a patronising manner.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Right.
(A sulking JO safely installed on the stool, he returns to his own bench.)
CLIFFORD JONES: There, we've got off on the wrong foot, haven't we? Still I suppose you can't help being a bit cloth-headed. You're only a kid, after all.
JO: Charming!
CLIFFORD JONES: (Smiles.) Hey, welcome to the nuthatch!(JO turns her back on him.)
JO: Huh!
17: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(His jacket torn, his face grubby, the DOCTOR runs across the misty surface of a Metebelis Three that is very different to how he envisaged it. The cries of various animals follow him. He sees a blue snake approaching and runs off again.)
18: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. LABORATORY
(CLIFF still works at his bench and JO remains on her stool. There is a frosty silence in the room. CLIFF, looking guilty, hazards a look at JO at the same moment that she does the same. They both quickly look away. CLIFF ponders a moment and then turns to JO.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Do you know anything about...Entomology?
JO: Insects?
CLIFFORD JONES: Mmm.
JO: (Smiles.) Yes, a little.
CLIFFORD JONES: Right - what's got twenty legs, a yellow body about two inches long and big red pincers on the front end?
JO: (Thinks.) Mmm, don't know - why?
CLIFFORD JONES: There's one crawling up your left leg.(JO screams and jumps off the bench. She looks down.)
JO: There's nothing there!
CLIFFORD JONES: No, I couldn't stand the silence any longer.(The ice broken, the two burst out laughing.)
19: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(The DOCTOR climbs up a cliff-face, his face and back covered by driven flakes of snow and a wind howling round him. He looks down and sees the snake again. He traverses along a ledge on the rockface.)
20: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. LABORATORY
(Their friendship established, JO is taking an interest in the trays of fungi on the lab bench which CLIFF is quite happy to explain to her.)
JO: But why toadstools?
CLIFFORD JONES: Oh, that's just our Nancy's little joke.(He holds up one the white and red toadstools.)
CLIFFORD JONES: This is really our new hybrid fungus - Saliota Orbis.
JO: Pardon?
CLIFFORD JONES: It's a sort of cousin of the mushroom you can buy in the shops.
JO: You mean you can eat it?(He takes the toadstool to a bench and cuts it in half.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Oh yes - that's the whole point. Well, the world's going to need something instead of meat. High protein fungus can be just the answer.
JO: Well, yes...yes, of course!
CLIFFORD JONES: You see, Jo, we haven't set up this community just to..."drop out". I mean, let's face it, who does like the petrol stinking, plastic rat-trap life we all live? No, no - if we're going to make a success here at Wholeweal, we've got to do something that's got to help the entire world. So, we're a bio-technic research unit, as well as a nuthatch!
JO: But that's marvellous! Did he think of that? The Professor, I mean?
CLIFFORD JONES: Well, I could never have got it off the ground without the Nobel prize money.
JO: (Puzzled.) But...(She smiles as she realisms...)
JO: Are you Professor Jones?
CLIFFORD JONES: Your obedient servant, ma'am!(He bows. JO tries to keep a stony look on her face but can't help smiling.)
21: INT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. STEVENS' OFFICE
(The office of the Director of Global Chemicals is a mixture of the opulent, the fashionable and the technologically advanced. The walls are papered with a black and white pattern, a modern wooden desk and leather chair dominate the room while behind it is a small control desk and a monitor screen on a wall-bracket. Louvered blinds cover the window. The BRIGADIER has come to visit STEVENS who angrily confronts him as ELGIN watches.)
STEVENS: We've sunk a great deal of time and money into this new project, and we're not going to stand by and see it wasted. Now your job, Brigadier, is...
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Interrupts.) Oh, forgive me, sir, but I know quite well what my job is. We'll look after you - never fear.
STEVENS: I beg your pardon. I had no intention of...
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Interrupts.) Equally, I'm quite certain also that it's my job to find out about this man's death. Events like that are the very reason UNIT was created.
STEVENS: I see. What...do you intend to do?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Get hold of the Doctor at once. Er, may I use your phone?
STEVENS: Yes, of course. Elgin, get an outside line, will you?
ELGIN: Sir.(STEVENS smiles at the BRIGADIER.)
22: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(Millions of light-years away, the DOCTOR struggles up the side of a mountain. On a ledge sit a sparkling collection of blue jewels like glittering sapphires.)
23: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The phone rings in the empty lab at UNIT HQ)
24: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(The DOCTOR is reaching out for one of the jewels. He hears a cry and looks up as a flapping noise gets nearer. The shadow of a huge set of wings crosses his face.)
25: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The phone continues to ring.)
26: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(A huge set of taloned feet swing down out of the sky towards the DOCTOR. He ducks down to avoid them.)
27: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The ringing phone is still unanswered. It cuts out.)
28: INT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. STEVENS' OFFICE
(The BRIGADIER speaks to the UNIT operator...)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Into phone.) I see. Alright, keep trying and ring me here as soon as you do get an answer - understood? (He listens.) That's right, goodbye.
(He puts the phone down and turns back to STEVENS and ELGIN.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Er, Mr. Stevens, I wonder if you'd explain to me exactly why...er, Professor Jones and his friends should object to your new process?
STEVENS: I wish I could tell you. After all, he and the rest of the doom merchants never stop telling us that we're using up the world's supply of oil. We can now produce twenty-five percent more petrol and diesel fuel from a given quantity of crude oil. If that isn't conservation, I don't know what is.
29: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. LABORATORY
(CLIFF is having a similar conversation with JO.)
CLIFFORD JONES: But it's still using up the oil and doubling the atmospheric pollution. No, the world has got to find ways of using the energy the sun is giving us now.
JO: Well, like what, for instance?
CLIFFORD JONES: (Enthusiastically.) Well, like...like using the movement of the wind and the tides and the rivers. Well, I mean, like here at the nuthatch. Well, you are quite warm?
JO: (Smiles.) The ambient temperature suits me fine, thank you!
CLIFFORD JONES: Heat from the river - and the heat pump works on electricity generated by a windmill. Alternative technology, see?
JO: And no waste - no pollution!
CLIFFORD JONES: Exactly!
30: INT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. STEVENS' OFFICE
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (To STEVENS.) No waste? No pollution from an oil refinery?
STEVENS: Minimal...negligible.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Well, I'm no scientist, Mr. Stevens, but I find that somewhat difficult to believe.
ELGIN: Oh, it's been one of our strongest selling points. It makes nonsense of the objections. We've been able, in all sincerity, to assure the government, the people, indeed the world, that the Stevens process is clean.
31: INT. WHOLEWEAL COMMUNITY. LABORATORY
CLIFFORD JONES: The Steven's process must be based on Bateson's polymerisation, and that means thousands of gallons of waste. Aye, a thick sludge you can't break down in any way like...like a liquid plastic. And what properties that would have, heaven alone knows.
JO: And you're wondering what they're going to do with it?
CLIFFORD JONES: I wondering what they're doing with it now. And I can't help thinking there must be some connection with Hughes' death.(He takes half a toadstool out of a jar of solution he has been holding and starts to examine it.)
JO: You mean they're pumping the waste down into the old mine workings?
CLIFFORD JONES: Aye, could be.
JO: Well then, let's go and have a look.
CLIFFORD JONES: (Sarcastically.) Oh, that's a good idea.
JO: I mean...I mean, like now!
CLIFFORD JONES: My dear good child, I've got work to do!
JO: (Annoyed.) You're being patronising.
CLIFFORD JONES: Aye, so I am. But I've still got work to do.
JO: Oh!(Determined to make an effort, she rushes for the door, again bumping into the lab bench. She reaches the door without further incident.)
CLIFFORD JONES: Shut the door!
(JO slams the door shut behind her with great force.)
32: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. PITHEAD OFFICE
(The ex-miners are still in the pithead office with two of the maintenance men - a middle-aged small wiry man called DAVE and a slightly younger softly-spoken man called BERT. They are all drinking tea but DAI EVANS is keen for action.)
DAI EVANS: It's plain stupid, man. Here we are, sitting about nattering like the women after chapel, and we still don't know what killed him.
BERT: Finding out won't do him any good now.
DAI EVANS: No, but it'll do me a lot of good, though - all this waiting
DAVE: Ah, well, it could be dangerous, man.
DAI EVANS: Dangerous? I've spent twenty years of my life down there. Think it scares me now?
BERT: Oh, why bother?
DAVE: Aye, don't panic, man.
DAI EVANS: I'm going down.(He heads towards the changing room.)
33: INT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. STEVENS' OFFICE
(The BRIGADIER is still with STEVENS and ELGIN as the Director paces his office.)
STEVENS: Therefore, I think it imperative that nobody should go down the mine. It must be sealed off completely.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: I'm afraid I must disagree, sir. Indeed, I intend to make the investigation of that mine my first priority...as soon as the Doctor arrives.
STEVENS: If he ever does arrive.
34: EXT. METEBELIS THREE (NIGHT)
(The DOCTOR is running for his life. An assortment of animal cries and screams follows him and boulders and spears are thrown at him as he reaches the safety of the TARDIS and slams the door. The tentacle lashes the door of the police box.)
35: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The phone is ringing again in the laboratory. The TARDIS materialises and the gasping, dishevelled DOCTOR steps out. He hears the phone and answers it as he tries to get his breath back.)
DOCTOR: (Into phone.) Hello? (He listens.) I'll speak to anyone!
36: EXT. ROAD
(Some time later, Bessie travels at an impossible speed using the Minimum Inertia Superdrive past another vehicle. The car tears past the road sign for Llanfairfach.)
37: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT AREA
(DAI EVANS, helmet on, walks into the lift area. He presses the communications button three times and steps into the cage.)
38: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(BERT signals to DAVE who sits at the gears of the lift equipment in the galleried engine room.)
DAVE: Okay.
(DAVE pulls the large gear handles back.)
39: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT AREA
(The cage, with DAI in it, starts to descend...)
40: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY
(...as the wheels at the top of the lift tower turn.)
41: EXT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS
(Bessie turns into the main gate of Global Chemicals. The Guard waves the DOCTOR, changed into a blue velvet jacket and checked cloak, through into the complex. A relieved BRIGADIER sees this from the window.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: At last. Now we can get on.
(He turns from the window and back to STEVENS who is sat at his desk.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Will you excuse me, sir?
42: INT. GLOBAL CHEMICALS. STEVENS' OFFICE
STEVENS: You still intend to go investigate the mine?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Indeed I do.(Without another word, he walks from the office. STEVENS waits a moment and then presses an intercom on his desk.)
STEVENS: Hinks - at once.
(STEVENS gets up and walks round his desk, a look of concentration on his face. HINKS walks into the office and waits for STEVENS to speak to him but the Director seems utterly absorbed in his thoughts - strangely so.)
HINKS: (Puzzled.) Sir?
(STEVENS looks at the chauffeur.)
STEVENS: Hinks, I want you to...
(He frowns again as if he has lost his thought.)
STEVENS: I want you to...
(He stops again.)
HINKS: You alright, sir?
STEVENS: Yes, yes.(He frowns again and speaks slowly as if each word is controlled from elsewhere.)
STEVENS: Nobody...must go down...the mine.
(He seems to come to.)
STEVENS: Hinks!
(He approaches HINKS and places a hand on his shoulder. He looks into the man's face and again speaks slowly...)
STEVENS: Nobody...must...go down the mine - nobody.
HINKS: Yes, sir. You're sure you're alright?(STEVENS becomes more himself.)
STEVENS: Yes, yes, of course. Go on - get on with it.
(With a rueful look, HINKS turns and walks from the office. STEVENS locks the door after him and crosses to the small console behind his desk. He lifts the cover off an elaborate set of headphones. He plugs the lead into the console and puts the headphones on. A green light illuminates on the side of each earpiece and STEVENS closes his eyes in concentration...)
43: EXT. HILLSIDE
(Still wrapped against the cold in her coat, JO crosses over the brow of a hill and sees the mine workings below her. She sets off for them.)
44: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
BERT: Here, maybe we shouldn't have let Dai go down there himself?
DAVE: Well, I tell you now, boy, I was tried to stop him having a drink too many at the club, and I can still feel the bruises - and that's a fact.
BERT: Aye.(JO walks into the engine room.)
DAVE: Oh, hello, who's this now then?
BERT: Here - private property this is.
JO: Oh...
DAVE: Aye.
JO: I'm sorry, but you see I'm with the UNIT people and I was wondering if I could take a look down the mine?
DAVE: Yeah, well, not without authority you can't.
JO: Oh, well, where do I get it?
BERT: NCB - Cardiff.(A wall phone linked to the galleries below buzzes.)
DAVE: Hang on here a minute.
(He crosses to the phone and answers it.)
DAVE: (Into phone.) Hello, who is it?
45: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT GALLERY
(Down below, DAI is on the other end of the phone. He blustering demeanour has gone and he is now in a blind panic. Like HUGHES, the back of his hand is glowing green.)
DAI EVANS: (Into phone.) Dave...help me, Dave! Help me!
DAVE: (OOV: Over phone.) Dai, well, what's happened? What's up?
DAI EVANS: (Into phone.) Help me quick! Help!(He collapses onto the floor.)
46: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(A puzzled DAVE hangs the phone back.)
DAVE: Dai - he's in trouble.
BERT: Then we've got to get him out! I'll go down. You work the cage, Dave.
JO: Well I'm coming too!
BERT: Oh, don't be daft!
JO: Well look, I'm trained in first aid - I might be able to help save your friend's life.
DAVE: You mean that?
JO: Yes.
DAVE: Yeah, well she's got something there, Bert. You take her down and look after her.
BERT: (To JO.) Right, come on with me now. We'll get you a helmet and lamp.
JO: Right.(They rush out to get changed.)
47: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY
(The BRIGADIER is now a passenger in Bessie as he and the DOCTOR approach the mine.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: So I thought I'd better get you here at once to have a look.
DOCTOR: Yes, you're quite right, Brigadier. Nobody must go down that mine until I've had a chance to do just that.(They drive into the courtyard of the mine. After they have gone, HINKS steps from one of the out-buildings and moves off.)
48: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT AREA
(JO and BERT have changed into a set of blue overalls and a helmet with lamp each. JO steps into the lift cage and BERT presses the communications button. He puts the cage door in place.)
49: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(DAVE pulls the gear handle...)
50: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. LIFT AREA
(...and the cage descends into the ground.)
51: EXT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY
(As it does so, the wheels of the lifting gear at the top of the shaft turn. The occupants of Bessie see this as they draw up.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Someone's going down!
(The DOCTOR brakes the car.)
DOCTOR: We must stop them!
(They run into the pit head.)
52: INT. LLANFAIRFACH COLLIERY. ENGINE ROOM
(They see DAVE at the gear levers in the engine room and run up to him.)
DOCTOR: (Urgently.) Who's in the cage?
DAVE: Oh...it...it's Bert Pritchard and the young lady from UNIT.
DOCTOR: Well, stop winding!
DAVE: No, I can't do that. They've gone down below to help Dai Evans.
DOCTOR: Stop winding, I said!(DAVE looks at the DOCTOR and pulls the brake lever. There is no response except a scraping noise from the machinery.)
DOCTOR: Quickly, man, quickly!
DAVE: (Horrified.) I can't! The brake won't work! It's out of control!
DOCTOR: What?!(The DOCTOR looks stunned...)
Dr. Who
JON PERTWEEJo Grant
KATY MANNINGBrigadier Lethbridge Stewart
NICHOLAS COURTNEYStevens
JEROME WILLISClifford Jones
STEWART BEVANElgin
TONY ADAMSHinks
BEN HOWARDDai Evans
MOSTYN EVANSDave
TALFRYN THOMASBert
ROY EVANSNancy
MITZI McKENZIEMilkman
RAY HANDYHughes
JOHN SCOTT MARTINWritten by
ROBERT SLOMANTitle Music by
RON GRAINER
and
BBC Radiophonic WorkshopIncidental Music by
DUDLEY SIMPSONSpecial Sound
DICK MILLSFilm Cameramen
BILL MATTHEWS
KEN LOWEFilm Sound
SIMON WILSONFilm Editor
ALASTAIR MACKAYVisual Effects Designer
RON OATESCostume Designer
BARBARA KIDDMake-Up
ANN RAYMENTStudio Lighting
MIKE JEFFRIESStudio Sound
RICHARD CHUBBScript Editor
TERRANCE DICKSDesigner
JOHN BURROWESProducer
BARRY LETTSDirected by
MICHAEL BRIANT
COLOUR
© BBC 1973