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ACTION
TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Script : Derek Ingrey Director : Douglas Camfield Publicity : Wheels Of Fate - As you read this, there are vehicles in motion somewhere, vehicles destined to collide. Those at the wheel are unaware of impending disaster. Here Royston Hartz introduces Accident, a new eight-part drama series which chronicles the circumstances surrounding a multiple car smash and charts the paths of strangers who meet at speed: "It's about fate," says Joe Waters, the producer. It is fate which causes the little, long-legged French car, rump in the air, to run out of petrol when and where it does, on a quiet country road. One of the four students in it goes for a gallon. Fate brings a minibus along the same road, heading for the same airport as the students. The passengers are a married couple, reconciled after a rocky interlude, and a girl, solo again after the collapse of an affair. Close behind, much too close, fate has tucked a red Cortina driven by a prison officer who is impatient to pass. In the back seat is a brother officer and handcuffed to him is a long-term prisoner, a sex-offender in transit from one nick to another. Fate dictates that a stockbroker will choose to drive that way that day, with his chauffeur sitting in the back. The Rover takes off down the drive, throwing up a shower of gravel. A seat-belt might spoil the immaculate suit and, anyway, it makes him feel uncomfortable. Prison Officers Burton and Pritchard, played by Robert Blythe and Eric Mason, are unimpressed with their charge. In their custody is Cyril Edmunds, played by Geoffrey Hinsliff. Cyril, doing a long stretch for aggravated assault on a child, is under escort to a new jail when the four-car pile-up occurs. It happens in the Home Counties one wet March morning: The three moving vehicles meet at the same moment, where the French car sits at the verge. Bodies are flung together, cut, creased, bent, broken. Interrupted journeys add up to a Bank Holiday statistic. "It's a catalyst," says Joe Waters, "a dramatic way of triggering off the stories of the various people involved". Terri Lewis, played by Michelle Newell, is a traveller in the minibus. She's en route to the airport, Africa and a break with the past. Schoolteachers Frank and Dilys Martin (Peter Geddis and Patricia Garwood) are in the same vehicle. Jack Dutton (David Harries) is at the wheel, a man living a double life - to both of which he is destined to cling in the nearby Wotton Hospital: You might think that after such a crash the only stories left to tell would be of death and life in hospital, coping with being crippled. But no. Thanks to the liberal use of the flashback, not to mention the flashforward and the flashsideways, we become familiar with the events which preceded the violent juxtaposition of the victims. Indeed, in episode one the audience is flung about con brio, finishing up with a pretty good idea of what it must have been like inside any one of the vehicles in the pile-up. (I half expected to find a policeman at one elbow, a nurse at the other, asking for name, address and blood group). This vigorous technique was chosen deliberately. "What we wanted to do," says Joe Waters, "was to create our own television `novel'. We didn't want to have a straightforward naturalistic narrative. We've given the audience a situation whereby they know before the characters do what is going to happen to them". A kaleidoscope, a jigsaw. The audience accumulates the pieces and puts them together. The fragments come thick and fast; sharp-edged, too. Nothing is softened or dissolves. The total effect is like a slow-motion film of a window being broken, but run in reverse. Succeeding episodes give prominence to different characters, yet yeach of the other stories has to be kept afloat at the same time, so a character who is featured one week may have only one line the next. The original intention was to give the series a documentary emphasis; producer and writer talked to the police and the other experts. In the end, though, the drama / entertainment slant won the day, partly because they felt that this approach made the point more firmly. The rightness of the decision to concentrate on the characters is borne out by the observation of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA): that the major element to consider in the cause and consequence of road accidents is human nature. True, there are occasions when the cause is attributable directly to mechanical failure or Act of God, but there is a good deal of scepticism when blame is attached to a bad road. Every county has its "killer roads" and "black spots", inanimate stretches of tarmac or humble roundabouts labelled as if some malign spirit lurks in the asphalt or the kerbstones and needs to be appeased from time to time with sacrifices of blood and bones. When crassness and conceit take the wheel, any road can become a killer. Drinking, such a driver believes, doesn't impair driving; improves it actually. Speed limit is absurdly low. Drive up his exhaust pipe, he'll soon shift. In fog, always stick like a leech to the chap in front. Cruising at eighty in his Rover, stockbroker Andrew Bucan, played by Bernard Kay, is in a hurry. His chauffeur Megson (Patrick Jordan) is sitting in the back. Buchan, an ex-army officer, has done quite nicely in the City since the war. But today, an important deal is in jeopardy and any delay could be disastrous. He must get to the office to keep his appointment. But fate has yet to play her hand: Accidents happen to others, to people like those in the series, The documentary homework is clad in fiction, but if, during the making of an episode, a reference to fact was needed, Joe Waters might have been able to oblige. He drove out one lunchtime some years ago on a brief errand. Bang. The short-term effects included being unconscious for two days and being off work for nine months. The long-term effects he won't even discuss. There was no intention to make Accident a propaganda piece, yet there are vivid reminders of acts of stupidity which can be fatal: impatience, inattention, the silly economy of running a car so low on petrol as to run out in a hazardous place, the failure to use seat-belts (nobody involved in the incident was wearing one). ROSPA has campaigned steadily for the compulsory use of seat-belts in the face of opposition from the infringement-of-personal-liberty lobby. Whose liberty? The liberty of the driver's family to go on having a breadwinner? The liberty of hospital staff to care for those without self-inflicted wounds? The reckoning is that sealt-belts could save one-thousand lives and eleven-thousand serious injuries in a single year. "We've killed in 1977 only the same number of people as we killed in 1936," chirps the lady from ROSPA. So the situation is being contained? Well, yes and no. There were far more actual accidents in 1977, which is hardly surprising since there were eight times as many vehicles on the roads in Jubilee Year as there were at the time of the Abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936. Even so, the trend until recently has been for the frequency of road accidents to be on the decline. A lot may have changed in the past forty-odd years, with more reliable vehicles, better road engineering and more efficient policing - though there is still some puzzlement as to why, when the maximum permitted fine for some motoring offences is one-thousand-pounds, the courts seldom impose more than about ten per cent of that sum. All things considered, though, it's still wise to have clean underwear in good repair, just in case fate decides to stage-manage an accident. It's never certain which way she might turn for the cast. Tom Baxter and his girlfriend Joanna (Daniel Hill and Jane Collins) are journeying with Tom's sister Di (Caroline Holdaway) and Mitch (Martin Neil). Mitch is a radical English graduate and Di is expecting his child in six weeks. The 2CV taking them on a holiday to Yugoslavia runs out of petrol. They park at the roadside. They don't go on holiday. (Radio Times, October 28, 1978 - Article by Royston Hartz). Cast : With Patricia Garwood (Dilys Martn), Peter Geddis (Frank Martin), Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Edmunds), Caroline Holdaway (Diana Baxter), Martin Neil (Stephen Mitchell), Bernard Kay (Andrew Buchan), Patrick Jordan (Lionel Megson), Michelle Newell (Terri), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Jane Collins (Joanna), Michael Byrne (Ian Shaw), David Beames (Police Constable Banks), John Judd (Bert Stacey), Doremy Vernon (Receptionist), Sheila Dunn (The Ward Sister), Valerie Murray (Doctor Campbell), Michael Watkins (Doctor Mace), David Sadgrove (Police Constable Neil Galloway), Tom McCabe (Harry), Tommy Wright (The Foreman), Robert Blythe (Burton), Eric Mason (Pritchard) and Joe Dunlop (The Prison Officer). Notes : This episode was transmitted 10:05pm to 10:55pm on BBC 2.
Script : Derek Ingrey Director : Douglas Camfield Cast : Martin Neil (Stephen Mitchell), Caroline Holdaway (Diana Baxter), Jane Collins (Joanna), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Bernard Kay (Andrew Buchan), Patrick Jordan (Lionel Megson), Michelle Newell (Terri), Patricia Garwood (Dilys Martin), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Cyril Edmunds), John Judd (Bert Stacey), David Beames (Police Constable Trevor Banks), Michael O'Hagan (Police Sergeant Taylor), George Little (Albert Ramsay), Julia Chambers (Jean Vale), Robert Blythe (Burton), Eric Mason (Pritchard), Michael Watkins (Doctor Mace), Valerie Murray (Doctor Campbell), Sheila Dunn (The Ward Sister), Sheri Shepstone (The Reception Sister), Doremy Vernon (The Hospital Receptionist), Maggie McCarthy (The Midwide) and Willow Wipp (The Staff Nurse). Synopsis : The Students: Diana and Mitch were young, happy and in love, but it didn't start out that way.
Script : Ray Jenkins Director : Don Leaver Cast : Bernard Kay (Andrew Buchan), Patrick Jordan (Lionel Megson), Jane Collins (Joanna), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Michelle Newell (Terri), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Edmunds), Caroline Holdaway (Diana Baxter), Martin Neil (Stephen Mitchell), Patricia Garwood (Dilys Martin), John Judd (Bert Stacey), John Stone (David Walker), Anthony Head (Simon Lovell), David Beames (Police Constable Trevor Banks), David Sadgrove (Police Constable Neil Halloway), Michael O'Hagan (Sergeant Taylor), Robert Blythe (Burton), Eric Mason (Pritchard), Marc Zuber (Mr Asif), Leonard Woodrow (The Surgeon), Sheila Dunn (The Ward Sister), Doremy Vernon (The Receptionist), Iain Sinclair (The Anaesthetist), Lesley Clare O'Neill (The Ward Nurse), Bill Rourke (The First Ambulance Man) and Peter Quince (The Second Ambulance Man). Synopsis : The Business Man: Andrew Buchan's life was endangered by the crash but only his chauffeur knew that much more was at stake.
Script : Derek Ingrey Director : Don Leaver Cast : Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Gwyneth Powell (Betty Richards), John Judd (Bert Stacey), Hilary Crane (Ruth Dutton), David Beames (Police Constable Banks), William Wilde (Ted Pearce), Olivia Breeze (Dorrie Stacey), Jane Collins (Joanna), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Caroline Holdaway (Diana), Martin Hall (Mitch), David Sadgrove (Police Constable Neil Galloway), Michael O'Hagan (Sergeant Taylor), Michelle Newell (Terri), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Edmunds), Marc Zuber (Mr Asif), Sheila Dunn (The Sister), Doremy Vernon (The Receptionist), Kara Noble (The Nurse), Caroline Hunter (Naomi), Emma Louise Fox (Kate) and Novak Jovic (William).
Script : Ray Jenkins Director : Douglas Camfield Cast : Michelle Newell (Terri), Michael Byrne (Ian Shaw), Jane Collins (Joanna), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Patrick Jordan (Megson), Caroline Holdaway (Diana), Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Patricia Gardwood (Dilys Martin), Peter Geddis (Frank Martin), David Beames (Police Constable Trevor Banks), David Sadgrove (Police Constable Neil Galloway), Sharman MacDonald (Stephanie), Juliet Winsor (The Manageress), Geoffrey Beevers (Stephen Plummer), Nicholas McArdle (Malcolm Day), Stewart Bevan (The Interviewee), Shelagh McLeod (The Personal Assistant), Marc Zuber (Mr Asif), John Gleeson (The Anaesthetist), Doremy Vernon (The Receptionist), Lesley Clare O'Neill (The Ward Nurse), Bill Rourke (The First Ambulance Man), Peter Quince (The Second Ambulance Man) and Kara Noble (The Junior Nurse). Synopsis
: The Shop Assistant: For Terri it was meant to be more than a
holiday, it was to be a break with the past.
Script : Derek Ingrey Director : Don Giles Cast : Geoffrey Hinsliff (Cyril Edmunds), Mela White (Mrs Halliday), Derek Anders (Detective Inspector Rickman), Martin Neil (Stephen Mitchell), Michelle Newell (Terri), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Jane Collins (Joanna), Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Gwyneth Powell (Betty), John Judd (Bert Stacey), John Hartley (Detective Sergeant Taylor), Eric Mason (Pritchard), Robert Blythe (Burton), Catherine Clarke (Mona), Leo Dolan (Fred Halliday), Arnold Diamond (Mr Radlett), Donald Tandy (The Priest), Marc Zuber (Doctor Asif), Sheila Dunn (The Ward Sister) and Doremy Vernon (The Receptionist). Synopsis
: The Prisoner: Cyril Edmunds had been locked away for four years;
now he was on the loose and looking for revenge.
Script : Ray Jenkins Director : Joe Waters Cast : Patricia Greenwood (Dilys Martin), Peter Geddis (Frank Martin), Michelle Newell (Terri), Bernard Kay (Andrew Buchan), Patrick Jordan (Lionel Megson), Isabelle Lucas (Mrs Delane), Sylvester Williams (Frankie Delane), Paul Shelley (Eddie Knight), Chris Hallam (Robson), Nick Ellsworth (The Police Constable), Colm Daly (Elvis), Alrick Riley (Lolo), Noel Collins (Doctor Langley), Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Adam Kuriakin (The Ward Doctor), Alan Leith (The Doctor In Reception), Doremy Vernon (The Receptionist), David Millet (The Registrar), Jeanne Mockford (The Night Matron), Glynis Brooks (The Night Sister), Bill Rourke (The First Ambulance Man), Peter Quince (The Second Ambulance Man), Kara Noble (The Junior Nurse) and Lesley Claire O'Neill (The Ward Nurse). Synopsis
: The Schoolteachers: for Frank Martin the pupils took priority,
but Dilys should have known something serious was threatening.
Script : Derek Ingrey Director : Don Leaver Cast : Bernard Kay (Andrew Buchan), Patrick Jordan (Lionel Megson), Davyd Harries (Jack Dutton), Gwyneth Powell (Betty), Patricia Garwood (Dilys Martin), Peter Geddis (Frank Martin), Michelle Newell (Terri), Struan Rodger (Peter Morris), Caroline Holdaway (Diana), Martin Neil (Stephen Mitchell), Jane Collins (Joanna), Daniel Hill (Tom Baxter), Hilary Crane (Ruth Dutton), William Wilde (Ted Pearce), John Judd (Bert Stacey), Derek Smith (George Lewis), Valerie Murray (Doctor Campbell), Deborah Watling (Miriam Saxon) and John Stuart (The Dummy At The Bridge). Synopsis
: Aftermath: "In the old days it was only in wartime that
the innocent suffered. The motorcar's changed all that hasn't it?" |
The signature tune for the series was provided by Anthony Isaa. Producer on the series was Joe Waters. |
