Cobra (2020–2021): Season 1, Episode 1 - Episode #1.1 - full transcript

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. Alpha 075.

I'm declaring a fuel emergency.

Alpha 075, what's your current
fuel status?

- _
- 295 souls on board.

Current fuel status is half an hour.

We spent too long over France.
We won't make Newcastle.

They've had avionics issues
since the storm hit.

And then the situation
at Charles de Gaulle.

Where is he now?

Approaching Northumberland
but we keep losing him.

- Try Newcastle.
- He doesn't think he'll get there.



_

_

_

_

OK, Alpha 075, we're sending you
to RAF Coningsby.

We won't make that. We need to land.

_

_

_

That's exactly what I said to them.

We don't have the officers...

Jesus Christ!

A plane just went over really low
but I can't see any lights.

_



_

_

_

_

- You're smoking.
- No!

- Why can't you vape?
- Real men don't vape.

Where's your protection officer?

Risk is part of smoking.
Take that out, what have you got?

Lymph nodes! I called James.
He's just coming.

So can I go to the party?

As long as we can video
you millie-rocking.

- You think I don't know what that is.
- He doesn't.

We don't really do parties anyway.

- Really? What do you call them now?
- A few friends coming round...

Yeah. For tea and biscuits.

Well, enjoy yourselves. You deserve it.

I love you. Call me later. Bye, Georgia.

Fascist scum! Sutherland! Resign!

- Yes, make that move.
- Bye, Mrs Sutherland.

Are you sure?

It's been a long time coming.
What about the other issue?

Still waiting for an update from Fraser.

- OK. I'm on my way.
- OK.

I'll call you as soon
as I hear anything.

Dan?

I want an immediate update if
there's any sign of panic buying

at the petrol stations.

Anna.

You didn't answer my letters.

They didn't deserve an answer.

Mum?

Please go.

You don't even want to know
what happened.

No.

Mum, who's this guy? Is he hassling you?

He's just going.

Come on. Come inside. Come on.

_

X5.

And another one.

I'll let them know.

- Anna.
- Multiple X5s.

- Right. Do we know...?
- That's all we've got.

But we've gone from moderate
to significant threat

and we're informing all goal commanders.

I'll tell the Prime Minister.

- Anna.
- Multiple X5s.

We've gone to significant threat.

They could be heading our way.

Convene a full COBRA for the morning.

♪ Strange, but I don't need
space from you ♪

♪ And every single thing you do

♪ I like ♪

♪ And I've been chased ♪

♪ Maybe I'm too wide awake for you... ♪

So, shall I be Mum?

I've never done it like this before.

It's cool.

I might just drop a couple of downers.

Later. Babe, honestly.

Trust me.

It's like you're riding down a river
on a swan.

It just takes the edge off everything.

Here.

Cheers.

_

- Dominic Knight's on the way.
- Great. Thanks.

_

Hey, Anna. You wanted to see me.

- It wasn't me.
- It was you.

- I didn't.
- You did.

I did an interview a while back/

"What's the most important function
of being the PM's Chief of Staff?"

Do you know what I was tempted to say?

Knowing where the nearest toilet is
at all times.

There's the strategic input, diary
management, controlling access.

But really it comes down to making sure

he always has somewhere to take a piss.

You don't get to choose
your level of loyalty

when you work at this address.

We have a COBRA
on the solar threat at 11.

And you have until the end of the
day to draft your resignation letter.

Can I...? That is outrageous.

You're quite right. You don't need
all day for such a short letter.

Two hours should be plenty.
Have it done by lunch.

The civil servants are waiting.
We should go.

Oh, and Dominic.

You can leave by the public entrance.

Queen takes Knight.
We should expect a counter-attack.

Don't worry.
Got the next move all planned out.

Peter will brief the press

the threat level's been
raised to significant.

All the petrol stations
seem to be working.

There's no sign of panic yet.

Because people don't know
what to panic about.

- Morning, Archie.
- Fuck that!

Have you just sacked Dominic Knight?

Shouldn't it be,
"Fuck that, Prime Minister?"

You should have talked to me first.

I really don't think that's part of my
constitutional obligations actually.

You know how it looks.
Dom's closely identified with me.

Don't go there, Archie.

Or I'm gonna be forced to ask,

"Who gave him the nod to brief
against the policy he helped devise?"

They're ready for us now.

Oh, I'm sorry, Lady Macbeth.

I didn't spot you lurking there
for one delightful moment.

That might work if I was his wife.

Never too late.

So which virtue-signalling ponce
has been lined up to replace him?

I have a couple of ideas.

Francine Bridge was one
thought that occurred to me.

We'll have to have a chat
about that one.

Now, as you are already aware,

this morning,

the threat from Extreme Space Weather

was raised from moderate to significant.

There is some uncertainty
as to the impact zone

but the UK is certainly at risk.

I'll now hand over to
the Chief Scientific Officer.

Yes, as I briefed the Director

of the Civil Contingencies
Secretariat last night,

the Met Office has been
seeing fairly significant activity

on the eastern side of the sun.

But we planned for all this though.

There was the seminar you did
at the Home Office.

What was it called again? The last
bad one, a couple of centuries back.

The Carrington Event.

And a few telegraph operators
got singed eyebrows, right?

The point is though, Home Secretary,

as I'm sure you'll recall
from my presentation,

that our technologies are
much more sophisticated now.

The impact of a similar-sized storm
will be considerably worse.

OK, but it's not a great big meteorite
or the sun suddenly blowing up.

It's neither of those scenarios.

I shall make the Press
very aware of that later.

Be great if we could all
stay on message on this one.

Well, I have a bottle of Lagavulin
with the Foreign Secretary,

this will all go the way
it normally does.

I am sure we are all hugely
reassured by that, Archie.

Now perhaps you could
pick up the threats

in terms of practical implications

just in case the shark actually is
in the water like the last time.

Of course, Prime Minister.

Stage One of a bad solar storm
would knock out satellites,

potentially destabilising all
transport and navigational systems.

I understand that aviation
is the biggest concern.

Yes. There are real worries
over flight safety

after a serious particle blizzard.

But Stage Two is potentially
the most disruptive part.

The storm will almost certainly release

several blasts of plasma into space.

And if one of these reaches Earth

it could cause huge
damage to the power supply

through voltage instability and
transformer damage on the network.

Some areas could be without power
for months.

The National Grid begs to differ.

They think it could be restricted
to a couple of remote areas.

And it could. We just don't
really know and neither do they.

But even one day without power is
enough to drive most people insane

and do huge damage to the economy.

Think of the impact of
weeks or even months.

When are we gonna know whether all
or any of this is gonna happen?

We expect to see more large flares
on the visible face of the sun.

The Met Office are monitoring
for plasma launches.

But even then, it would
have to come our way

and even then there would still be
one critical variable left.

Does the incoming plasma field

have a north or south
magnetic orientation?

- Which is the one we don't want?
- Hot South bad.

Frozen North... harmless.

The probability is absolutely 50:50.

The plasma eruption could have
very little impact at all

or... it could be extremely serious.

When do we know? For certain.

So once released
it could take up to two days

to cover the 90 million miles
from sun to Earth.

But we'll only know if we're Hot South

when it passes our satellite
at the L1 point.

That's about one million miles
from Earth.

Do the math, Archie.

Last time I tried that in public,

Eddie Mair made a bit
of a twat out of me.

- Half an hour.
- Correct.

There will be just 30 minutes
before we know

if this storm will fuse a few kettles
or send us back to the Stone Age.

Archie's face was a picture
when you told that brilliant joke

about Francine Bridge as the
new head of the policy unit.

Great timing as well,

just before we go into
the briefing room,

leaving him no time to respond
to your hilarious quip.

I believe that expression is called,
"What the actual fuck?"

by the young people who've abandoned
our party in their droves.

- You weren't joking, were you?
- No.

- What the actual fuck?
- She's brilliant.

She's unemployed.
Did I mention young people?

- She was a Labour MP.
- Yes, but...

Why does everybody assume
all people under 20

are transgender vegans who
only care about tuition fees?

If you only ever take
one piece of advice from me,

it is never make jokes about gender.

People literally lose
their shit over it.

How about vegans?

Stick to what you know.

Can we not just start moving
replacement transformers in advance?

Have you ever seen a transformer?
They're not small, you know.

- OK. In awe at the size of...
- Absolute unit.

The sun is not going to explode.

There are no fireballs or meteorites.

It is an invisible geomagnetic storm
that could disrupt things.

We have measures in place. Please,
please, please, please, please...

Pretty fucking please,
report this responsibly.

So what time exactly
does the sun explode?

I will brief you again if the
threat level moves to serious.

Move the security meeting with
the Crab back to 11:30, please.

Well, they stockpiled CS gas and
baton rounds for the last false alarm.

Wait, Ed. Don't hang up.
I've got Dom Knight calling.

Dom? Oh, for God's sake.

Are you there, Dom? Good.

Never trust this "hold
and accept" malarkey.

Oh, you bet we'll meet later.

Don't worry.
I'm not taking this lying down.

My daughter spends most of her time
signing petitions on social media.

And my son sings that stupid
lefty chant in the bath.

To them we're still the nasty party.

We hate animals and refugees
whilst favouring tax dodgers.

Our party does contain people like that.
We can't just wish them away.

Or Archie would not be Home Secretary.

Which brings me to Francine Bridge.

She isn't a member of her party
any longer.

She even resigned her seat
in Parliament.

OK, but there's still a massive problem.

- I know what you're going to say.
- No, you don't.

You're going to say none of this matters
because she won't accept.

OK. That is what I was going to say.

It's a problem but not an
insurmountable one. Leave it with me.

I'm meeting her for a drink later.

Met Office has just seen a massive solar
flare with multiple plasma launches.

We need to raise the threat level to
serious and recall COBRA immediately.

So having analysed the data,
we can now confirm

that a high-speed plasma eruption
is heading straight for us.

When does it arrive?

It depends on whether
it maintains current speed

so we can't say for certain.

They're currently estimating
some time late tomorrow afternoon

with a margin for error
of about five hours.

In the meantime we do already have
an immediate impact on planes.

We're getting reports of avionics issues

like false warnings and autopilots
suddenly disconnecting.

Isn't that why we still
have real pilots on board?

It is, Home Secretary.

Although when an Air France crew faced
a similar scenario some years ago,

they hit the ocean 15 minutes later.

The glide paths at two French
airports have failed.

They need to divert traffic our way.

Can't they go to their pals in Germany?

You voted to leave the EU, Archie,
not the human race.

Well, it's fairly obvious
what the issue is here.

Do we ground all flights?

That would have a very high cost,
both human and financial.

Department of Biz is opposed.

I trust you all remember the ash cloud.

If the situation in the air is
manageable and it's Frozen North,

then this is as bad as it gets.

In which case,

we should just wait until morning.

Grounding all flights has real human
impact and indirect danger to life.

This is a hard decision
but we do have to decide

as there's no middle ground here.

Flights will remain operational
until we have more information.

It's the right decision.

_

- Keep me updated on the plasma eruption.
- Will do.

I'm gonna stay here until we
know if it's North or South.

You guys should probably just...

We'll stay too.
We'll take it in turns to sleep.

OK. We could be here for a while so...

I need to pop out for an hour.

Need to make sure Mabel's OK.

It's my dad's dog. Cockapoo.

Staying with me while
he's in the care home.

How is the old man?

Well, he thinks the Home Secretary
should leave the country

so possible early-stage dementia.

I need to speak to the hospital social
worker but I haven't had a second.

Do you need anything?

I'll get some food in a bit later.

- Pizza or curry?
- Pizza.

Something with loads of anchovies.

- I thought for a minute he was...
- Me too!

- Did you ever meet his ex wife?
- Uh-uh.

More Doberman than cockapoo.

He's better off with Mabel.

So will you do it?

Of course I won't.

Doesn't have to be Policy and Research.
You can have any job title you please.

Chief Advisor to the Duchy of Narnia.

What do we really disagree on?

Corporation tax, public services.

The unquestionable
superiority of Western values.

I've seen the alternative.

- Also, you're not your party.
- And you would answer only to me.

I can't.

I got badly burned in the split.
I just want...

...what all normal people want.
Respect. Trust. Decency.

And a bit of help with
the school fees, of course.

Universal credit doesn't
cover that, right?

You are such an operator.

Still getting flak for going private?

Yes. I didn't change
my principles, Anna.

He got threatened with bloody acid
by kids who weren't messing about.

You don't have to convince me.
I believe in choice, remember?

But I don't really. Plus, it's not
choice. It's purchasing power.

That's part of choice
once you've paid your tax.

See? I don't need us to
agree on everything.

I just want somebody who's not
an arsehole and that I can trust.

Ever think you might have
chosen the wrong career?

No.

Don't be fooled, Mabel.
I hate and despise you.

The sooner I'm on my own again,
the better.

Heather, it's me.

You'll have seen in the news about
the possible power complications.

Take them seriously.
Get yourself a wind-up radio...

Plenty of food and water.
Extra fuel for the car.

In spite of your successful attempts to
destroy my relationship with the kids,

I love them very much.

It may be difficult for the next
few weeks so prepare yourself.

The situation is Paris is causing chaos.

They're sending more and more our way.

We're running out of slots.

A couple of flights have
declared fuel emergencies.

...I don't know where I am.

They're still getting false alerts
and losing comms.

Some are getting so confused,
they don't know where they are anymore.

Try and prioritise. It's all we can do.

We are treating this as a
rising tide level of emergency

in so far as we have a level of
advance warning of the threat involved.

But at the same time,

I'm afraid we have very
little guidance from London

as to what, if anything, is actually
going to happen tomorrow.

If the worst does happen,

and we are without power for
a lengthy period of time,

I'll chair and host Gold Command

from the Royal Northumberland
Hospital near Hexham.

Our main priorities will be
maintaining healthcare,

ensuring protection for the vulnerable,

safeguarding key sites
and essential fuel supplies,

while maintaining law and order.

Perhaps our biggest challenge will be

getting vital staff to
their places of work.

Now, you all have a copy of
the civil emergencies guidelines

but I imagine you also
have some questions.

One at a time, please.

How real is the threat
from the solar storm?

Oh, it's real.

They've convened my local
Resilience Forum for the morning.

It might only cause minor disruption.

A good chance of nothing at all.

So a funny thing's happened.

Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?

When I was reporting in Bosnia,

there was a local translator working
for the UN forces around Tuzla.

His sister was in Visegrad and when
the local Serbs took that town...

..that was not a good place
to be a young woman.

- Nowhere is during war.
- Visegrad was hell.

Stuff went on there that...

It's why I can't tolerate people
who take what we have for granted.

So what happened?

He went to look for her
and he just vanished.

I never saw him again.

- Until now.
- He's turned up?

- Literally on my doorstep.
- Did he find his sister?

I don't know.

We haven't spoken properly.

But you're going to, right?

It was so long ago.

Oh, come and work with me.
What larks...!

Yeah.

That is not going to happen.

There will categorically be no larks.

Yes, there will!

I want a secure videolink to
all police Gold Commanders.

We also need to ensure

that all essential staff can
be brought to places of work...

I'll get back to you.

Air Traffic Control
are reporting a Mayday

from a diverted flight
from Malaga to Oslo.

Up until ten minutes ago it had contact
but now they've lost all comms.

OK. Well, where was
the plane re-routed to?

Newcastle.
They're assuming it's close to...

Well, let's not make assumptions

when it comes to large metal
objects full of jet fuel.

That's the problem though.
It's not full of jet fuel.

They think it's running on fumes.

Get me Bob Jones at NATS.
Patch him over to the briefing room.

OK. Alpha 075, do you want to divert?

Please respond, Alpha 075.

I am declaring a fuel emergency.
I repeat. A fuel emergency.

Alpha 075. How many souls do you have
on board and what is your fuel status?

295 souls on board.
Current fuel status is half an hour.

We spent too long over France.
We won't make Newcastle.

Believe me, Dominic.
I did everything in my power.

I begged him not to do it.

I told him it would
come back to haunt him.

It will.

Served deep frozen.

And that total bitch Anna Marshall.

Well, they were both in
the Tory Reform Group at Balliol.

You were at Christ Church, weren't you?

No, I was at Oriel.

Rumours they had a bit of a thing once.

I mean, let's be fair.
She's a handsome woman.

I mean, you definitely would.

So, who are they replacing me with?

She mentioned Francine Bridge.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

I'd be surprised if even Robert
lets her go ahead with that one.

When are you going to make
your move, Archie?

Well, you know what they say
about shooting the King.

We've picked him up again.
He's over Lincolnshire.

He won't make it to Newcastle now.

There must be some way, Command.
One of the RAF bases.

- Coningsby if necessary.
- How about Coningsby?

Alpha 075, I have new vectors for you.
Sending you to RAF Coningsby.

No. We won't make that. We need to land.

_

_

_

_

That's exactly what I said to them.
We don't have the officers...

Jesus Christ!

A plane went over really low.
I can't see any lights.

_

_

_

Oh, my God.

I think he's crashed into the motorway.

Fuck.

This is Chief Constable Collier.

We've got an emergency on the A1
just past Newton Aycliffe.

A plane has crashed on the road.

We need to declare a major incident.

Sir, help is on its way. OK?
Help's coming.

Ma'am, ma'am. Help is coming.

Help is on its way, OK?

- My baby! I can't move.
- Your baby?

Wait there. Don't worry.

Where is she?

Do you know? I'll find her. Don't worry.

Don't worry. I'm gonna find her. OK?

It's gonna be OK.

I can hear her. I can hear her. It's OK.

I can see her! It's OK. I've found her.

She's OK.

My baby, please!

She's here.

OK, thanks.

Where in Portugal?

That's good of you.
I really appreciate it.

Yeah. Bye.

_

What does Tuzla mean?

Tuzla. In Bosnia.

Yeah, just you go ahead.

- Not bad.
- This was my favourite thing.

That tastes of being young.

So is the sun going to blow up?

No! Dad's flight's been
diverted to Portugal.

Then what?

Then I don't know,

he'll have to wait until it's
safe to fly again, I suppose.

Funny how it all happens when you
lot fall behind in the polls again.

Hello to you too.

Actually, it's because we're
about to invade Venezuela.

You won't read about that
in the mainstream media.

- They've got oil.
- They're also eating dead cats.

Look, I might have to stay up
in town a few nights this week.

Just until this fake news blows over.

Spoon!

Yep.

Oh, God. Where.

- Are there any survivors?
- Dad?

It's fine. It's not his plane.

Yep. Go on.

So, they're bringing
the rest of the planes

into the nearest
available landing points.

So far no further incidents.

If only we'd grounded the planes.

It would have made no difference at all.

The plane was already in the air.

It crashed because the sun took
out the glide paths in France

or it would've landed safely.

You made the right decision.
For the right reasons.

Funny feeling that's not
how others will see it.

We're not others though, are we?

We're the ones that have
to make the decisions.

While others talk about them in pubs.

Keep me updated on casualties.

Hiya, darling.

Mum. Mum. It's Georgia.

I'm at the hospital.

They can't bring her round, Mum.
She's not breathing. It's a nightmare.

Ellie, just calm down. Calm down.

What happened?

We've been up all night, Mum.
We were taking stuff.

What are you on about?
What kind of stuff?

Oh, God! Mum, it's all my fault!

It's all my fault.

Robert! Ellie, listen to me.

You need to keep it together. And I
don't want you to speak to anyone.

- OK.
- Sweetheart, I love you.

I'll be there as soon as I can.

OK. I love you. Bye.

What's happened?

Ellie's friend Georgia is in a coma.

- What?
- Drugs.

They've been up all night
doing drugs after the graduation.

Christ.

- She's OK though? Ellie's not...
- She's in bits.

God, poor kid.

The Met Office say the CME's
trajectory is faster than anticipated.

I don't have a fucking clue
what that means.

It means I have to reconvene COBRA.

Our daughter is in trouble, Robert!

Look.

We've had a plane crashed on the A1.

We have a solar storm that could
wipe out our power supply.

I just don't have time for this!

OK, I'll go and get her.
Leave it with me. Go on.

I'll text you with any news.

I'll have Peter Mott come
first thing in the morning.

- He has to be across this.
- That would be a really good idea.

Leave it with us. It'll be OK.

It'll be OK.

Accident investigators are at the
site of yesterday's tragedy on the A1.

There has been speculation
that the crash was caused

by a particle blizzard,

associated with a solar storm
and fears are mounting

that it is just the start
of the full-blown chaos...

OK, so we're going to set up
the strategic command centre

at the hospital.

Lot of ghouls are trying to get to
the site and blocking B roads.

What's the status with the survivors?

The pilot did pretty well
and saved the majority.

Current fatality count is 25.

Expected to rise but not significantly.

We have 17 in intensive care,
six of them are touch and go.

The rest are mostly multiple fractures.

We have three burns victims
from cars the plane hit.

I er...

I picked a baby out of the wreckage.

The dad is in an induced coma.

The mum is about to have
an operation on her back

to see if they can stop her
from being paralysed.

It really wouldn't be a great time
to lose power right now.

OK, Stuart.

OK, first things first. Tell her not
to say a word until I've spoken to her.

- Going the wrong way, aren't you, Peter?
- Always, Archie.

I'm on my way.

Stuart Collier's the police gold
in Hexham?

He's good. Young but level-headed.

The main problem is
getting the medical staff

around the road blockage
caused by the plane.

OK.

Yep.

Where's the Prime Minister?

He's on his way over from No.10.

A word to the wise, Anna.

As you know,
I have the highest admiration for you.

Get on with it.

I don't care how far you two go back

or how much you feel the
party needs a makeover.

Put Francine Bridge in the policy
unit, even making the coffee,

and I will give you a lesson in
payback you will not forget in a hurry.

Thanks, Archie.

And in a similar spirit, get your hand
off my arm and back the fuck off.

I'm not some little volunteer you can
get handsy with on the battle bus.

You just crossed a line, Anna.

When he goes, which will be sooner
than you think,

he will at least be able to do some
lucrative after-dinner speaking.

You won't be able
to get yourself arrested.

I am feeling both positive
and patriotic this morning.

I've got a feeling I'm
going to be a bottle of Scotch

to the good by the end of this meeting.

Better find out, hadn't we?

There are two possible impacts
on the grid when the storm hits.

The first is voltage instability.

Now, we need that to
stay running at 50 Hertz.

If it goes a couple of points above
or below we'll start getting trips.

The other problem is burn-out damage
to transformers

if the power from the storm surges
into the network.

OK, Prime Minister. We're pretty
close to getting the orientation now.

We're getting the data from
the satellite position at L1.

I'm afraid the news is not what
we were hoping for, Prime Minister.

We can expect a massive geomagnetic
stormsurge in the coming hours.

It's Hot South.

There goes my Lagavulin.

- Upgrade threat level to critical.
- Here comes the sun.

A major incident has been
declared in this hospital.

We are receiving multiple casualties.

Non-urgent cases will not be seen.

Await instructions on transfers
to other sites.

Thank you for your patience.

Bollocks.

That's not good.

The emergency generators are
detecting the voltage instability.

Do we have a direct link to the
National Grid command centre?

I think they're a bit busy
down there right now.

OK, er, early evidence is that
coastal areas have taken a massive hit

and this is just the start.

The surges will just keep
coming like tsunamis.

- What about the rest of the world?
- No clear picture as yet.

Although early reports say

that France and Spain are
almost totally blacked out.

Three transformers are out already
and that is set to rise.

The entire system is on
the brink of collapse

and blackouts are now imminent
across all major cities.

I am sorry to say that
the power of this storm

is far worse than even
our most pessimistic forecast.

I will now speak to the Palace

so that Her Majesty can
authorise the necessary powers

under the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act.

This is now a national emergency

and COBRA will remain active
until its conclusion.

Anna, it's me.

I've been giving it some thought.
Call me back.