As noted in my previous reviews, one of the pleasures of watching archive shows is the occasional sighting of future stars. This 'Department S' episode, written by Harry W.Junkin and directed by Leslie Norman, provided an early showcase for the talented Anthony ( now Sir Anthony ) Hopkins. He plays 'Greg Halliday', who is behaving rather strangely on a train. He looks at a card and sees the writing reversed, as though he is holding it up to a mirror. Greg has to ask a fellow traveller to read it for him. Later, he arrives at a boarding house run by 'Mrs.Evans' ( Eleanor Summerfield ). He sees a street sign also with its lettering reversed. Alone in his room, or so he thinks, he finds a double of himself sitting on the bed, laughing.
The Department S team is visited by 'Dr.Stickney' ( Colin Gordon ). Greg is an employee of a Porton Down-type establishment, who tested a new kind of nerve gas on himself, before vanishing, taking a sample of it with him. The gas has the potential to wipe out everyone in London. Not only is Jason King and company looking for Halliday, so are a pair of villains - 'Ruckert' ( Brian Worth ) and 'Carl Young' ( Nosher Powell ). Grabbing Greg off the street, they take him to a Salisbury health hydro run by 'Arkwright' ( Frederick Jaeger ). Greg is tortured to reveal the whereabouts of the nerve gas canister...
You can clearly see was that Hopkins was a star waiting to happen. His tortured, confused state at the beginning and his misguided fanaticism later when he tries to destroy London so that the gas will be outlawed by world powers, are superbly conveyed. In many ways it is a more impressive performance than his later Oscar-winning turn as 'Hannibal Lecter' in 'The Silence Of The Lambs' ( 1992 ). This was one of Colin Gordon's last roles ( he died in 1972 ), and he is well cast as a scientist who clashes with King over the morality ( or lack of it ) of chemical warfare. We must have it because the other side has it, is his mantra.
One person who probably saw this at the time was Terence Dudley, as his 'Fire & Brimstone' script for the B.B.C.'s 'Doomwatch' also featured a conscience-stricken scientist - 'Dr.John Ridge' ( the late Simon Oates ) - trying to promote a cause by stealing something from a laboratory, in this case, anthrax.
The Department S team is visited by 'Dr.Stickney' ( Colin Gordon ). Greg is an employee of a Porton Down-type establishment, who tested a new kind of nerve gas on himself, before vanishing, taking a sample of it with him. The gas has the potential to wipe out everyone in London. Not only is Jason King and company looking for Halliday, so are a pair of villains - 'Ruckert' ( Brian Worth ) and 'Carl Young' ( Nosher Powell ). Grabbing Greg off the street, they take him to a Salisbury health hydro run by 'Arkwright' ( Frederick Jaeger ). Greg is tortured to reveal the whereabouts of the nerve gas canister...
You can clearly see was that Hopkins was a star waiting to happen. His tortured, confused state at the beginning and his misguided fanaticism later when he tries to destroy London so that the gas will be outlawed by world powers, are superbly conveyed. In many ways it is a more impressive performance than his later Oscar-winning turn as 'Hannibal Lecter' in 'The Silence Of The Lambs' ( 1992 ). This was one of Colin Gordon's last roles ( he died in 1972 ), and he is well cast as a scientist who clashes with King over the morality ( or lack of it ) of chemical warfare. We must have it because the other side has it, is his mantra.
One person who probably saw this at the time was Terence Dudley, as his 'Fire & Brimstone' script for the B.B.C.'s 'Doomwatch' also featured a conscience-stricken scientist - 'Dr.John Ridge' ( the late Simon Oates ) - trying to promote a cause by stealing something from a laboratory, in this case, anthrax.
