"Important? What can be more important than your own son's life?"  Straker faces the toughest decision of his career when his son is critically injured in an accident. The drug that can save his life can only be ferried from New York in time aboard a SHADO Transporter - the same Transporter that is in the prime position to track an Alien defector on the West Coast of Ireland.

A Question of Priorities

Ed Bishop

David Lane

Tony Barwick

Brendan J. Stafford

Harry MacDonald

E.S.P.

Conflict

SHADO engages in its first battle with the enemy. Sky One cripples an alien ship which crash-lands in a lake. Straker's team capture its pilot, a strange blue-skinned humanoid - and the grim secrets behind the alien motives are revealed.

Identified

An XV-104 test plane wanders into a UFO target area and the pilot, Paul Foster, makes sightings of both the UFO and Sky One. Angry and frustrated that no one believes his story, Foster suspects a cover-up and decides to conduct his own investigation into the activities of ex-USAF Colonel Ed Straker.

Exposed

The body of an Alien, recovered after a UFO attack on Moonbase, reveals some startling new evidence which overturns all SHADO's previous theories about the Aliens. For Interceptor pilot Jim Regan, the news has tragic consequences as he becomes possessed by the mind of an Alien held in the body of a Siamese cat!

The Cat With Ten Lives

When an Alien Limpet UFO causes the destruction of Lunar Module 32, Straker demands a clean-up programme by the International Astrophysical Commission to remove hazardous space debris from Earth orbit. But Straker finds himself butting heads with I.A.C. chairman James Henderson, who wants a complete shut-down of SHADO operations...

John Croxley's talent for extra sensory perception is heightened after his wife is killed when a UFO crashes into their house. With his mind under the influence of the Aliens, Croxley learns the secrets of SHADO and lures Straker and Freeman to the remains of his house - to kill them!

When a Lunar Module is attacked by a UFO, Straker makes a split-second decision that endangers the astronauts, but ultimately saves them. Later, he is surprised to find his authority being questioned by his most loyal officer, Colonel Paul Foster, who spearheads a campaign against him. Then an attempt is made on Straker's life...

Kill Straker!

Suspecting a UFO to be responsible for the sinking of a freighter, Straker, Foster and Nina Barry investigate in Skydiver. Attacked by an undersea UFO, the submarine is downed on a ledge on the sea bed and the crew are trapped. While Straker fights against his claustrophobia, Nina faces a living nightmare...

Sub-Smash

A Naval vessel shoots down a UFO in the Atlantic, but the Admiralty rejects further investigation into the incident. Straker suspects a cover up and wants to know why, so Foster courts Admiral Sheringham's secretary, Sarah Bosanquet. What they discover could mean the end of all life on Earth...

Destruction

"Unfortunately for them, an Alien came through that door instead of her husband."  In the woods between Clare Cross and Lingbury, an injured Alien stumbles into a lonely cottage and is shot down by Liz Newton and her lover Cass Fowler. Liz and Cass are taken to SHADO HQ for questioning, but when Liz's husband arrives at the cottage, Paul Foster realises that the Alien's death was no accident!

The Square Triangle

Straker gets approval from above to build a probe with a camera that will track a UFO back to its home planet.  Inexplicably, the Earth technology is capable of following a UFO travelling 8 or 9 times the speed of light and follows it home.  The episode ends with a SHADO guy trying to convince Straker that they were wasting their time, even though they picked up some great pictures of the planet.

Close Up

A UFO imbues three young people with incredible powers.  One blows up a radar station, a second steals fingerprints and tries to get aboard a Skydiver sub, blowing it up.  The third, a woman, tries to blow up SHADO HQ but the UFO that is feeding her power has now been destroyed.

The Psychobombs

Foster, whose radio is knocked out and his oxygen line cut, is presumed lost (but they did a crummy job, not even trying to find his body) during a confrontation with a UFO on the moon's surface.  Foster is found by an alien, and together, they cross the lunar landscape, developing a friendship when the alien must try to do make-shift repairs on Foster's suit to keep him  alive.  At the end, a Moonmobile crew finds Foster and  misunderstands his intent when he points them to the alien  nearby.

Survival

After a UFO inexplicably destroys itself less than two miles from Moonbase, a mysterious crystal rock is recovered, and it causes the person in its vicinity to hallucinate.  The man on Moonbase who found it thinks Mexican bandits have taken over Moonbase.  It gets transferred to Straker's office, and he hallucinates that SHADO is simply a set for a TV series, he is an actor named Mr. Burns, Moonbase can be reached by stepping through two doors from the main control room at SHADO HQ, and "Mr. Straker" is not available.  Straker breaks the  hallucination by jumping in on the scene while the "character" Gen. Henderson is doing a close-up of the line they were doing when the hallucination began.

Mindbender

A SHADO Technician, who is being blackmailed for information by an unknown party, is caught by Freeman, but not before the information is passed.  The Technician, Paul Roper, divulges what information he gave to the blackmailers, to SHADO.  After much work on the cryptic data, they discover it is part of a plan by the aliens to attack the Moonbase in a way that would be undetectable.  Now it's up to Roper to redeem himself, as he is sent on the suicide mission to stop the attack.  If he fails, the base will surely be destroyed.

Flight Path

Reported missing, presumed dead, after a UFO incident which has left SID disabled, astronaut Craig Collins turns up alive and well. But as an operation to complete repair work on SID is planned, Colonel Lake and Colonel Grey discover that Collins is not the man he used to be...

The Man Who Came Back

Two of the SHADO people, dining at a fancy restaurant, begin  to recall this event after one of them sees a diner who was part of Dalotek.  A private company installed a facility on the moon which discovered an alien device that disrupted Communications between Moonbase and SHADO on Earth.

The Dalotek Affair

While picking up Lt. Lake at the airport, Straker and Lake find that time has been frozen except for    them.  Sawdust hangs in mid-air, Lt. Ellis is frozen mid-word on a viewscreen, and one man is taunting them, apparently working for the aliens.

Timelash

Foster is abducted by aliens from a health spa and is being taken out into space, presumably back to the alien homeworld.  However, the UFO was damaged and returns to the moon, crashing there.  While the Moonbase personnel try to free Foster of the alien environmental suit, Foster wakes up in the steam room at the health spa.  The episode begs explanation for how Foster dreamed in such orderly detail, including Carlin missing a shot and Straker angry at the missed shot, and Dr. Jackson's off-line comments to Straker before they go onto a visual link to Moonbase to guide them through removal of Foster's alien helmet.

Ordeal

Foster is suspected of being a security leak, but during the trial, Straker and his colleagues discover that Foster's apartment was bugged and shut down the disreputable business that is selling the spy gear.

Court Martial

A SHADO investigation reveals that romance may be complicating Moonbase operations.

Computer Affair

A flashback episode in which Straker recalls his marriage, followed by stormy days as he must work covertly to get SHADO up and running and recruit personnel. All this leaves his wife angry at his absence, suspicious at the things he might be doing (her father photographs Straker meeting a woman in a parking garage, a woman who will be working at SHADO). In the end, she gives birth to their son.

Confetti Check A-O.K.

A UFO hides in a lake on a country estate of a well-known equestrian, and the equestrian himself vanishes. When SHADO tracks down the UFO and manages to destroy it in an exchange of pot-shots, the UFO breaks up and leaves a thing floating in the water. Treated as if it is a bomb, it is brought back to SHADO and examined, with unexpected results.

The Sound of Silence

A mysterious dome is found under the sea, that at first looks like the Moon crashed into the ocean.  Inside the dome, they find duplicates of SHADO HQ personnel, using non-alien technology - cassette tape recorders - to imitate SHADO    instructions to Moonbase and Skydiver.

Reflections in the Water

Freeman takes over temporarily while Straker deals with a woman apparently determined to investigate what SHADO is all about.

The Responsibility Seat

A woman awakens from a 10-year coma and begins telling the tale about her encounter with aliens, along with her boyfriend, while they were high on drugs. They toyed with the aliens, and the man apparently falls to his death from a bridge or building. The aliens drag him off. She has an accident and falls into the coma. She can't remember quite everything, but the old boyfriend is back, resuscitated by the aliens, and he drugs her so she tells him where the missing part of a device is. He activates what turns out to be a thermo-chemical bomb that will wipe England off the map when the four chemicals meet in a central chamber.

The Long Sleep

A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders.

A Question of Priorities

Seasons1

Season 1 Episodes26

Cast1

Crew4

Discussion

Episode Summary