The Best Episodes of Doomwatch

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

Director: Terence Dudley

Writer: Terence Dudley, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Martin Worth

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

Director: David Sullivan Proudfoot

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Elwyn Jones

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

Director: Eric Hills

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Robin Chapman

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.

Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Paul Ciappessoni

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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...

Director: Terence Dudley

Writer: Terence Dudley

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

Director: David Sullivan Proudfoot

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Dennis Spooner

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.

Director: Quentin Lawrence

Writer: Brian Hayles, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Lennie Mayne

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Patrick Alexander

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?

Director: David Sullivan Proudfoot

Writer: Don Shaw

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.

Director: Lennie Mayne

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Robert Holmes

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.

Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Writer: Gerry Davis

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.

Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Writer: Louis Marks, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Eric Hills

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Joan Kemp-Welch

Writer: Louis Marks, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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

Director: Vere Lorrimer

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Don Shaw

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.

Director: Joan Kemp-Welch

Writer: Brian Hayles, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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?

Director: Darrol Blake

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Martin Worth

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.

Director: Lennie Mayne

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, John Gould

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.

Director: Darrol Blake

Writer: Roger Parkes, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Pennant Roberts

Writer: Terence Dudley, Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler

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.

Director: Paul Ciappessoni

Writer: Don Shaw

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?

Director: Paul Ciappessoni

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Harry Green

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.

Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Writer: Gerry Davis, Kit Pedler, Dennis Spooner