Doomwatch – 1972 | 92 mins | Sci-Fi/Horror | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Unsatisfying big screen spin off produced by horror connoisseurs Tigon based on the fondly remembered eponymous BBC eco-drama series of the early 1970s. Series regulars John Paul, Simon Oates, Jean Trend and Vivien Sherrard take a back seat while Ian Bannen convincingly leads the film as a conscientious but humdrum scientist. The film’s credible opening premise is discarded as the producers unsuccessfully attempt to bond worthy environmental drama with far-fetched horror. Fans of the original tv show were divided on the films merits at the time but despite its slow pacing Doomwatch is inimitably watchable.

Dr. Del Shaw (Ian Bannen), a leading scientist from the environmental government watchdog Doomwatch, is called in by the authorities for a routine investigation of the effects pollution from a sunken oil tanker has had on the inhabitants of Balfe, a small island off the Cornish coast. The islanders are frosty towards Shaw and even fellow outsider Victoria Brown (Judy Geeson), a local schoolteacher, is guarded towards the inquisitive stranger’s questions. Shaw stumbles across a top-secret offshore Naval dumping ground for radioactive waste, and also discovers a dishonest waste disposal company has been illegally discarding chemical drums in the same location. The combined effect is responsible for the release of a potentially lethal hormone into the local fish stocks and a disfiguring disease amongst the island’s populace consuming the fish.