The Doombolt Chase
| The Doombolt Chase | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Don Houghton |
| Directed by |
Robert Fuest Peter Graham Scott |
| Starring |
Peter Vaughan Frederick Jaeger Donald Burton Andrew Ashby Shelley Crowhurst Richard Willis Ewen Solon George Coulouris John Woodnutt Simon MacCorkindale |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes (per episode) |
| Release | |
| Original network | HTV |
| Original release | 12 March 1978 |
The Doombolt Chase is a naval-themed British science fiction/action television series aimed at a teenage audience. It was broadcast between 12 March and 16 April 1978, as a six-episode series. It was also broadcast in Canada on TVOntario in 1978 and in Germany in 1979 under the title Geheimprojekt Doombolt ("Secret Project Doombolt").
During a night-time patrol in the Bristol Channel, naval Commander David Wheeler (Donald Burton) receives a message encrypted in Spens Code, a code unknown to the Navy operators. Soon afterwards, Wheeler orders the ship to go about and deliberately rams a small fishing vessel, sinking it completely. He is immediately court-martialled, but he offers no explanations for his actions – neither to his defending counsel and friend, Commander Jeffrey Vallance (Frederick Jaeger), nor to his only son, Richard (Andrew Ashby).
Richard is of course troubled by the way things are going and decides to investigate the matter, together with his friends Lucy (Shelley Crowhurst) and Pete, the latter a junior seaman who had witnessed the incident first-hand (Richard Willis). Richard happens to know about the Spens Code and its creator: a former Naval Intelligence operative named Hugh Spencer (John Woodnutt), a friend of his father’s, who lives in Braxtet. The trio immediately set out in Wheeler’s sailing yacht, relentlessly dogged by the Navy watchdogs assigned to watch over Richard. In order to cut time, they sail through the Navy’s Forbidden Zone in the Channel, where they encounter a boat with radio-controlled operations and a strange set of aerials mounted on top – just like on the boat Wheeler had sunk.
Finally arriving at Spencer’s house, they find him missing and signs of a struggle. Piecing together the few clues left to them, they stumble upon the word “Doombolt” and a map overlay of the Bristol Channel area which has several points marked. One of these is a manor named Scudmore, where the youths suspect Spencer has been brought to. Arriving there, they find the place heavily guarded and its occupants marching around in strange silver suits and helmets, which turns out to be protective gear against ultrasonics. They also come to witness a demonstration of a new super weapon, directed by a man called Doctor Franz Bayard (George Coulouris).
The Doombolt system turns out to be a top secret advanced missile guidance system the Royal Navy has been working on. It consists of a concentrated radio beam which is meant to guide a missile unerringly to its target; by use of a special, inconspicuous sonar emission vessel, defence missiles buried in the sea bed around the British main isle are fired into the air, where the Doombolt beam takes over. However, the Navy’s design was faulty, resulting in the destruction of the transmission beacons and the subsequent self-destruction of the missiles. Bayard, a former Navy scientist, has perfected the system by basing it on a two-beam transmission, which are then collected and amplified at a central control station; but he intends to work for his own profit by selling it to a foreign power. For a demonstration, he intends to target the Fiddig Brey, a new nuclear-powered supertanker. Commander Wheeler’s actions were motivated by the need to prevent Bayard from taking over the Navy’s sonar trigger vessel (the vessel Wheeler sunk), which, however, has already been replaced by the mystery boat in the Forbidden Zone. Only a few naval officers, including Wheeler and his superior, Captain Hatfield (Peter Vaughan), were privy to the project; but there is suspicion of a mole inside the Navy’s Doombolt project. Hugh Spencer worked as an undercover spy against Bayard, but he was discovered and captured.
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