Channel Five - famed for its original and intelligent television programmes ( I'm being sarcastic, don't worry ) included a clip from 'Doomwatch' in its 'The Best Of Bad T.V. - The 70's' shown at the end of 2015. The station had completely forgotten that it briefly resurrected 'Doomwatch' in 1999, as 'Winter Angel' starring Trevor Eve. While it is understandable that the sight of Robert Powell fighting off patently artificial rats might strike some as comical, the branding of 'Doomwatch' as 'bad T.V.' makes no sense. But then the same Channel Five programme also dumped from a great height on 'Sapphire And Steel', 'Blake's Seven' and 'U.F.O.' so at least it was in good company.
The second 'Doomwatch' episode was wiped many years ago. Written by Harry Green ( also responsible for the same season's 'Hear No Evil' ), it begins when 'Mrs.Norman ( Delia Patron ) tries to kidnap a baby belonging to 'Mrs.Patrick' ( Mary Holland ). In court, Mrs.Norman claims that the baby has her dead child's heart, and that Mrs.Patrick's ex-husband ( Alex Scott ) performed an unauthorised operation. Dr.Patrick calls Mrs.Norman deranged, and refuses to identify the donor of the heart currently residing in Baby Patrick's body. Toby gives the surgeon the benefit of the doubt, but Quist suspects he is hiding something, and authorises Ridge to break into Dr.Patrick's lab. What Ridge finds there horrifies him...
Coming a few years after Dr.Christian Barnard pioneered the first heart transplant, this excellent story was topical indeed. An interesting division of opinion develops within Doomwatch itself, with Ridge objecting vehemently to Dr.Patrick's breeding of a foetus for heart transplant purposes, and Toby seeing the positive side of the doctor's experiments. i can well imagine that this must have upset a few people on its original broadcast. Delia Paton, who plays 'Mrs.Norman', was the eccentric 'Mina' in the second season of 'Survivors' in 1976.
The second 'Doomwatch' episode was wiped many years ago. Written by Harry Green ( also responsible for the same season's 'Hear No Evil' ), it begins when 'Mrs.Norman ( Delia Patron ) tries to kidnap a baby belonging to 'Mrs.Patrick' ( Mary Holland ). In court, Mrs.Norman claims that the baby has her dead child's heart, and that Mrs.Patrick's ex-husband ( Alex Scott ) performed an unauthorised operation. Dr.Patrick calls Mrs.Norman deranged, and refuses to identify the donor of the heart currently residing in Baby Patrick's body. Toby gives the surgeon the benefit of the doubt, but Quist suspects he is hiding something, and authorises Ridge to break into Dr.Patrick's lab. What Ridge finds there horrifies him...
Coming a few years after Dr.Christian Barnard pioneered the first heart transplant, this excellent story was topical indeed. An interesting division of opinion develops within Doomwatch itself, with Ridge objecting vehemently to Dr.Patrick's breeding of a foetus for heart transplant purposes, and Toby seeing the positive side of the doctor's experiments. i can well imagine that this must have upset a few people on its original broadcast. Delia Paton, who plays 'Mrs.Norman', was the eccentric 'Mina' in the second season of 'Survivors' in 1976.
