Edge of Darkness (1985): Season 1, Episode 5 - Northmoor - full transcript
What the hell's this?
It's an old map of the
mine painted on linen.
Nearly 100 years old,
but accurate to an inch.
- Where is it we're going?
- All the way from here...
to there.
Ten miles. I suppose
you would've preferred a computer printout.
No, sir.
This here's just fine.
Is this where she died?
He was over there.
We were standing here.
He stepped forward...
shouting my name.
Is this stream a permanent feature?
No.
It's new.
"0 Jeptha, Son of Israel,
what a treasure hadst thou!"
"What treasure had he, my lord?"
"Why, one fine daughter
and no more, which he loved passing well."
Come in.
- Morning, Bobby.
- Morning, Jerry.
- Have you had breakfast?
- Yes, thank you.
Well, there's some coffee
over there if you want some.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
I had a call from Washington just now.
Somebody's about to break
into your plant. Darius Jedburgh, no less.
On instructions from the CIA.
His guide is an employee of yours,
James Godbolt,
and they're accompanied
by Detective Inspector Ronald Craven.
What are their chances
of getting into the plant?
Well,
they may get in. They'll never get out.
OK. You know what you've gotta do.
- All we got is Bennett's phone call.
- How many?
Three of them.
Coming in the same way as last time.
That's not much use.
Gas gear, protective clothing, firearms.
Can we flood the lower levels?
Not without exposing the flasks.
There's been a drought, don't forget.
The reservoirs are drying up.
This is what we do. We lay gas at the
end of each level, then we flood them.
The pressure of the water will push
the gas through every tunnel in the plant.
If we expose the flasks, we're going to have
a bigger problem on our hands than last time.
Go and see for yourself.
You see. We just don't have it.
Give me what you've got.
I can give you 50,000, no more.
That's enough.
Down!
Whatever Bennett says, don't adjourn. I
want him on that stand as long as possible.
I'm the chairman of this committee, and we
have a great deal of business to get through.
- Do we have the pathologist's report?
- No, I haven't got that report.
There is one. It's on its way.
Guy?
- Morning, Guy.
- Hello, Bobby.
- Are you about to hit us for six?
- I think so.
- Do you know Jerry Grogan?
- No. How do you do?
- Guy's a friend of Jedburgh's.
- A great soldier in his day.
Sounds like an obituary.
Has Harcourt read my
statement? He looks sick.
- No, he always looks like that.
- Jedburgh isn't here today?
No, he rarely pokes his nose in here.
- What about Craven?
- He's, um... taking the day off.
- Well, they look very chipper.
- They know.
Someone's told them.
Right. This is where it begins.
A few days ago, Mr Bennett,
the body of a young woman
was discovered in the Corrie Reservoir.
The pathologist's report suggests that,
although she died from drowning,
she had suffered a radiation accident
only an hour before her death.
Now, since your Northmoor site is
the nearest nuclear site to the reservoir,
and since it shares
with the Corrie the local water table,
I wonder whether you have any evidence
which might throw light on this occurrence?
- How deep does this go?
- 800ft, then we hit water.
- This rope is not 800ft long, Godbolt.
- There is a gallery 6Oft down. That's our way in.
60ft. I'm counting.
In July this year, my plant
at Northmoor was broken into by terrorists,
who stole a quantity of
plutonium we had in store.
We had to take action
to stop them getting away.
- What action?
- I gave orders to flood the lower gallery.
As far as I can determine,
they were all drowned.
- Was there no alternative?
- None.
If we hadn't acted promptly,
they might have got away with it.
And the consequences...
I leave that for you to judge.
I'm afraid this raises
more questions than it answers.
Why was plutonium being stored
in Northmoor? Who were these terrorists?
And why... why were the AEA
not notified of this incident?
Look at this. When I were a kid, they
called it the Tonsils. Now it's Deep Throat.
- Did Emma come down here?
- They all did.
How did she get back... alone?
She made it.
Under the NAIR scheme, you should
have informed the police. Did you?
No. We did not inform the police.
Under the site licence issued
by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate,
you should have informed both the
AEA and the Health and Safety Executive.
- We did not inform either of those bodies.
- Whom did you inform?
We informed the Ministry of Defence.
The plutonium we were storing
was the property of the MoD.
We felt they were the only people
we were authorised to communicate with.
- It sounds like a train.
- They're dumping water.
- Is that normal?
- No. They're expecting us.
What you thinking, Craven?
Emma went through all this
and never said a word to me.
Odd, isn't it? How you can be close to someone
and not know what's going on in their heads?
Don't knock it, Godbolt.
It's our capacity for deception
that distinguishes us from the animals.
You should know, Mr Jedburgh.
You've made a profession out of it.
Yeah, that's right.
- That's K-2 flooded.
- Is it holding?
- Seems to be.
- What about G-2?
No. I need about ten
minutes to adjust the surge.
Hold it.
There's a 200ft drop.
What's this place called?
They call it the Cathedral. Hand-drilled
by miners who had to buy their own candles.
- You'd have been out of a job, then.
- Victorian values, Mr Craven.
I feel like Jonah in
the belly of the whale.
- We abseil down here?
- In the next cavern, that's where I leave you.
At the bottom is a ventilator shaft.
Beyond that, Northmoor.
Terry!
Gas mask.
Alpha One?
- Receiving.
- Get Connors.
So long, sunshine.
- Thanks.
- Good luck.
I hope you make it.
You, too.
Craven.
Watch that big lad.
- I think we're winning.
- Good.
At least he's admitted the plutonium was there
and that the Gaia team was drowned on his orders.
They'll probably give him a medal.
Here you go. Attaboy.
Come on!
Breathe!
Breathe! Breathe, damn it!
Come on, Craven. Breathe!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
- Connors.
- Reading.
- No more water.
- There are still two levels empty...
- I can't. We'll expose the rods!
- I need everything you've gotl
What the hell's this place?
Craven!
Craven.
A first-growth St Julien '63.
I think we got the whole vintage here.
This is the doomsday equivalent of Harrods.
What's for lunch?
For lunch, we've got a lobster omelette with
asparagus tips and French beans and wine,
and coffee,
cigars and dessert to be announced.
You know what's the most
interesting thing about this place?
- No locks.
- No clocks.
Time stands still.
Real freaky feeling, huh?
There's a plaque on the wall says
it was built by a condominium in 1962,
whoever they may be.
The year of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Lot of people got shit-scared that year.
Mr Harcourt.
Mr Harcourt, it says here
that you are on a secondment from Lloyd's
- and presently attached to the Cabinet Office.
- Yes.
Perhaps you could tell the committee
exactly what your present function is.
I'm what might be called a troubleshooter.
- Does that mean you're in intelligence?
- No, ma'am. I'm a lawyer.
Mr Harcourt, who or what first drew your
attention to the present situation at IIF?
The Treasury heard
that the company was being taken over
by a big American energy corporation
and wanted a fix on it.
- How long ago was that?
- A year.
- And what was your reaction?
- Surprise.
I wasn't able to understand
what an industrial giant like Fusion
would want with a low-grade
storage plant in Yorkshire.
They hold the Queen's Award for Industry.
So what made this company
so interesting to the Fusion Corporation?
Well, it had to be something quite unique,
and I narrowed it down to one possibility -
the ability to manufacture plutonium...
- illegally.
- So you and Gaia came to the same conclusion?
We both read the Marsh Report.
They know we're down here, don't they?
- Yes.
- Who told them?
It could've been anybody.
What exactly were your orders?
- To get into the ball park, steal the ball.
- The plutonium?
That's right.
You should have told me that up there.
Let's get going.
You're a driven man, aren't you?
Here we are in Plato's cave,
with food from Harrods, a hillside of wine,
all you think about is "Let's get going"?
That's right.
- What will you do with it?
- Hand it over to my superior.
- What will they do with it?
- Beats me,
but Grogan won't get it,
that's what counts.
- Why do you hate Grogan so much?
- Because of who he is.
- And who is he?
- Part of the dark forces who'd rule this planet.
- You believe all that stuff?
- Yeah, sure.
Why not? Look at yourself.
You think of yourself as a provincial detective
whose daughter died in tragic circumstances.
Yet where she fell,
a well sprang, flowers grew.
Now, what kind of power is that?
I don't know.
Mind you,
I do have a personal grudge against Grogan.
His great-great-great-grandfather killed
my great-great-great-great-grandfather.
We Jedburghs never forget.
My first suspicions were aroused
by the Marsh Report,
which suggested that certain radioactive
isotopes were found in the Corrie Reservoir.
Now, I feel that that report motivated the
Gaia organisation into planning their raid.
The Marsh Report, if I remember correctly,
discounted Northmoor.
It believed that Sellafield
was responsible for the emissions.
You'll find if you read between the lines
that that was not the case with Northmoor.
It was simply assumed that since
no plutonium was being reprocessed,
- it could not be held responsible...
- Mr Chairman, this is getting us nowhere.
The Marsh Report on the Corrie Reservoir
has been completely discredited,
not least by Friends of the Earth.
This witness's evidence doesn't stand up.
It's been introduced
simply to discredit Northmoor
and to scupper the takeover by Fusion,
Kansas,
which is in the interests of the whole country,
as well as the nuclear industry itself.
We are all looking forward to a great
deal more privatisation of this sector,
and it's a pity to see
so many obstacles being put in the way.
I must ask you, Mr Harcourt,
do you have any prima facie evidence,
apart from the body
in the Corrie Reservoir,
which suggests the existence of any
kind of illegal reprocessing at Northmoor?
Not at this precise moment, no.
I'm afraid, Mr Harcourt, we really
can't take all this on board without it.
You may be right, but as long
as the evidence remains circumstantial,
I regret we cannot act upon it.
However, your views will be noted.
- Jedburgh!
- Yo!
Craven, watch yourself.
It's pretty, isn't it?
Uh-oh, look at that.
There's been a hell of an accident here.
Gaia - they must have blown the whole cell.
I want to go on.
You're crazy, you know that?
Still running on Houston time?
Not quite. I just get the feeling
I'm in the wrong place.
Come on.
Jedburgh.
Camera.
Let's go.
I don't believe it.
They're through to the hot cell.
How long can they survive?
20 minutes at the outside.
Good.
- You going in here?
- Yeah.
That's where they keep the plutonium.
Look, go outside and hold them off.
They'll be here any minute.
- I'm staying here.
- What for?
Look, I don't need you in here.
I need you out there.
- How long do you need?
- For as long as it takes!
To know is to die!
Craven!
Stay where you are!
Craven,
the radiation in this cave is deadly.
Your chances of survival are slim.
Give up before it's too late.
Jedburgh!
- They're here!
- Get out of here! Now!
Clear the elevator! Go!
They're both inside. We've got them.
They've got the plutonium, for
Christ's sake. They're in the service lift.
- I thought it was jammed?
- They moved the body.
- You'll have to cut the power.
- I can't cut the power. There's a back-up system.
Leave it to me.
I'll let you out
at the next floor. Make a run for it.
- Where are you going?
- To the top.
- With the plutonium?
- I'll give you one bar for evidence.
What happens to the rest?
Why do you keep asking? I don't know!
We're both on the same side,
so what the hell does it matter?
It matters.
You'd do that, wouldn't you?
Run like hell, Craven. Keep 'em busy.
Craven, if we make it,
I'll see you in Scotland.
- Where?
- You're the detective, find me.
- Where are they now?
- Second level.
Craven's just got out.
No sign of Jedburgh.
- Which way is craven heading?
- G2. Loading Bays.
- Right.
Craven.
Drop the gun.
Plutonium.
Craven!
He's in MoD 109. Is there another exit?
Er... MoD 109... War Office Fire Control.
Northern Command Rocket Sites.
- Dismantled 1958.
- Exits?
- Just the one.
- Got him.
Come on!
Downing Street.
- Hello?
- Get me Pendleton!
It's an old map of the
mine painted on linen.
Nearly 100 years old,
but accurate to an inch.
- Where is it we're going?
- All the way from here...
to there.
Ten miles. I suppose
you would've preferred a computer printout.
No, sir.
This here's just fine.
Is this where she died?
He was over there.
We were standing here.
He stepped forward...
shouting my name.
Is this stream a permanent feature?
No.
It's new.
"0 Jeptha, Son of Israel,
what a treasure hadst thou!"
"What treasure had he, my lord?"
"Why, one fine daughter
and no more, which he loved passing well."
Come in.
- Morning, Bobby.
- Morning, Jerry.
- Have you had breakfast?
- Yes, thank you.
Well, there's some coffee
over there if you want some.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
I had a call from Washington just now.
Somebody's about to break
into your plant. Darius Jedburgh, no less.
On instructions from the CIA.
His guide is an employee of yours,
James Godbolt,
and they're accompanied
by Detective Inspector Ronald Craven.
What are their chances
of getting into the plant?
Well,
they may get in. They'll never get out.
OK. You know what you've gotta do.
- All we got is Bennett's phone call.
- How many?
Three of them.
Coming in the same way as last time.
That's not much use.
Gas gear, protective clothing, firearms.
Can we flood the lower levels?
Not without exposing the flasks.
There's been a drought, don't forget.
The reservoirs are drying up.
This is what we do. We lay gas at the
end of each level, then we flood them.
The pressure of the water will push
the gas through every tunnel in the plant.
If we expose the flasks, we're going to have
a bigger problem on our hands than last time.
Go and see for yourself.
You see. We just don't have it.
Give me what you've got.
I can give you 50,000, no more.
That's enough.
Down!
Whatever Bennett says, don't adjourn. I
want him on that stand as long as possible.
I'm the chairman of this committee, and we
have a great deal of business to get through.
- Do we have the pathologist's report?
- No, I haven't got that report.
There is one. It's on its way.
Guy?
- Morning, Guy.
- Hello, Bobby.
- Are you about to hit us for six?
- I think so.
- Do you know Jerry Grogan?
- No. How do you do?
- Guy's a friend of Jedburgh's.
- A great soldier in his day.
Sounds like an obituary.
Has Harcourt read my
statement? He looks sick.
- No, he always looks like that.
- Jedburgh isn't here today?
No, he rarely pokes his nose in here.
- What about Craven?
- He's, um... taking the day off.
- Well, they look very chipper.
- They know.
Someone's told them.
Right. This is where it begins.
A few days ago, Mr Bennett,
the body of a young woman
was discovered in the Corrie Reservoir.
The pathologist's report suggests that,
although she died from drowning,
she had suffered a radiation accident
only an hour before her death.
Now, since your Northmoor site is
the nearest nuclear site to the reservoir,
and since it shares
with the Corrie the local water table,
I wonder whether you have any evidence
which might throw light on this occurrence?
- How deep does this go?
- 800ft, then we hit water.
- This rope is not 800ft long, Godbolt.
- There is a gallery 6Oft down. That's our way in.
60ft. I'm counting.
In July this year, my plant
at Northmoor was broken into by terrorists,
who stole a quantity of
plutonium we had in store.
We had to take action
to stop them getting away.
- What action?
- I gave orders to flood the lower gallery.
As far as I can determine,
they were all drowned.
- Was there no alternative?
- None.
If we hadn't acted promptly,
they might have got away with it.
And the consequences...
I leave that for you to judge.
I'm afraid this raises
more questions than it answers.
Why was plutonium being stored
in Northmoor? Who were these terrorists?
And why... why were the AEA
not notified of this incident?
Look at this. When I were a kid, they
called it the Tonsils. Now it's Deep Throat.
- Did Emma come down here?
- They all did.
How did she get back... alone?
She made it.
Under the NAIR scheme, you should
have informed the police. Did you?
No. We did not inform the police.
Under the site licence issued
by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate,
you should have informed both the
AEA and the Health and Safety Executive.
- We did not inform either of those bodies.
- Whom did you inform?
We informed the Ministry of Defence.
The plutonium we were storing
was the property of the MoD.
We felt they were the only people
we were authorised to communicate with.
- It sounds like a train.
- They're dumping water.
- Is that normal?
- No. They're expecting us.
What you thinking, Craven?
Emma went through all this
and never said a word to me.
Odd, isn't it? How you can be close to someone
and not know what's going on in their heads?
Don't knock it, Godbolt.
It's our capacity for deception
that distinguishes us from the animals.
You should know, Mr Jedburgh.
You've made a profession out of it.
Yeah, that's right.
- That's K-2 flooded.
- Is it holding?
- Seems to be.
- What about G-2?
No. I need about ten
minutes to adjust the surge.
Hold it.
There's a 200ft drop.
What's this place called?
They call it the Cathedral. Hand-drilled
by miners who had to buy their own candles.
- You'd have been out of a job, then.
- Victorian values, Mr Craven.
I feel like Jonah in
the belly of the whale.
- We abseil down here?
- In the next cavern, that's where I leave you.
At the bottom is a ventilator shaft.
Beyond that, Northmoor.
Terry!
Gas mask.
Alpha One?
- Receiving.
- Get Connors.
So long, sunshine.
- Thanks.
- Good luck.
I hope you make it.
You, too.
Craven.
Watch that big lad.
- I think we're winning.
- Good.
At least he's admitted the plutonium was there
and that the Gaia team was drowned on his orders.
They'll probably give him a medal.
Here you go. Attaboy.
Come on!
Breathe!
Breathe! Breathe, damn it!
Come on, Craven. Breathe!
Come on!
Come on!
Come on!
- Connors.
- Reading.
- No more water.
- There are still two levels empty...
- I can't. We'll expose the rods!
- I need everything you've gotl
What the hell's this place?
Craven!
Craven.
A first-growth St Julien '63.
I think we got the whole vintage here.
This is the doomsday equivalent of Harrods.
What's for lunch?
For lunch, we've got a lobster omelette with
asparagus tips and French beans and wine,
and coffee,
cigars and dessert to be announced.
You know what's the most
interesting thing about this place?
- No locks.
- No clocks.
Time stands still.
Real freaky feeling, huh?
There's a plaque on the wall says
it was built by a condominium in 1962,
whoever they may be.
The year of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Lot of people got shit-scared that year.
Mr Harcourt.
Mr Harcourt, it says here
that you are on a secondment from Lloyd's
- and presently attached to the Cabinet Office.
- Yes.
Perhaps you could tell the committee
exactly what your present function is.
I'm what might be called a troubleshooter.
- Does that mean you're in intelligence?
- No, ma'am. I'm a lawyer.
Mr Harcourt, who or what first drew your
attention to the present situation at IIF?
The Treasury heard
that the company was being taken over
by a big American energy corporation
and wanted a fix on it.
- How long ago was that?
- A year.
- And what was your reaction?
- Surprise.
I wasn't able to understand
what an industrial giant like Fusion
would want with a low-grade
storage plant in Yorkshire.
They hold the Queen's Award for Industry.
So what made this company
so interesting to the Fusion Corporation?
Well, it had to be something quite unique,
and I narrowed it down to one possibility -
the ability to manufacture plutonium...
- illegally.
- So you and Gaia came to the same conclusion?
We both read the Marsh Report.
They know we're down here, don't they?
- Yes.
- Who told them?
It could've been anybody.
What exactly were your orders?
- To get into the ball park, steal the ball.
- The plutonium?
That's right.
You should have told me that up there.
Let's get going.
You're a driven man, aren't you?
Here we are in Plato's cave,
with food from Harrods, a hillside of wine,
all you think about is "Let's get going"?
That's right.
- What will you do with it?
- Hand it over to my superior.
- What will they do with it?
- Beats me,
but Grogan won't get it,
that's what counts.
- Why do you hate Grogan so much?
- Because of who he is.
- And who is he?
- Part of the dark forces who'd rule this planet.
- You believe all that stuff?
- Yeah, sure.
Why not? Look at yourself.
You think of yourself as a provincial detective
whose daughter died in tragic circumstances.
Yet where she fell,
a well sprang, flowers grew.
Now, what kind of power is that?
I don't know.
Mind you,
I do have a personal grudge against Grogan.
His great-great-great-grandfather killed
my great-great-great-great-grandfather.
We Jedburghs never forget.
My first suspicions were aroused
by the Marsh Report,
which suggested that certain radioactive
isotopes were found in the Corrie Reservoir.
Now, I feel that that report motivated the
Gaia organisation into planning their raid.
The Marsh Report, if I remember correctly,
discounted Northmoor.
It believed that Sellafield
was responsible for the emissions.
You'll find if you read between the lines
that that was not the case with Northmoor.
It was simply assumed that since
no plutonium was being reprocessed,
- it could not be held responsible...
- Mr Chairman, this is getting us nowhere.
The Marsh Report on the Corrie Reservoir
has been completely discredited,
not least by Friends of the Earth.
This witness's evidence doesn't stand up.
It's been introduced
simply to discredit Northmoor
and to scupper the takeover by Fusion,
Kansas,
which is in the interests of the whole country,
as well as the nuclear industry itself.
We are all looking forward to a great
deal more privatisation of this sector,
and it's a pity to see
so many obstacles being put in the way.
I must ask you, Mr Harcourt,
do you have any prima facie evidence,
apart from the body
in the Corrie Reservoir,
which suggests the existence of any
kind of illegal reprocessing at Northmoor?
Not at this precise moment, no.
I'm afraid, Mr Harcourt, we really
can't take all this on board without it.
You may be right, but as long
as the evidence remains circumstantial,
I regret we cannot act upon it.
However, your views will be noted.
- Jedburgh!
- Yo!
Craven, watch yourself.
It's pretty, isn't it?
Uh-oh, look at that.
There's been a hell of an accident here.
Gaia - they must have blown the whole cell.
I want to go on.
You're crazy, you know that?
Still running on Houston time?
Not quite. I just get the feeling
I'm in the wrong place.
Come on.
Jedburgh.
Camera.
Let's go.
I don't believe it.
They're through to the hot cell.
How long can they survive?
20 minutes at the outside.
Good.
- You going in here?
- Yeah.
That's where they keep the plutonium.
Look, go outside and hold them off.
They'll be here any minute.
- I'm staying here.
- What for?
Look, I don't need you in here.
I need you out there.
- How long do you need?
- For as long as it takes!
To know is to die!
Craven!
Stay where you are!
Craven,
the radiation in this cave is deadly.
Your chances of survival are slim.
Give up before it's too late.
Jedburgh!
- They're here!
- Get out of here! Now!
Clear the elevator! Go!
They're both inside. We've got them.
They've got the plutonium, for
Christ's sake. They're in the service lift.
- I thought it was jammed?
- They moved the body.
- You'll have to cut the power.
- I can't cut the power. There's a back-up system.
Leave it to me.
I'll let you out
at the next floor. Make a run for it.
- Where are you going?
- To the top.
- With the plutonium?
- I'll give you one bar for evidence.
What happens to the rest?
Why do you keep asking? I don't know!
We're both on the same side,
so what the hell does it matter?
It matters.
You'd do that, wouldn't you?
Run like hell, Craven. Keep 'em busy.
Craven, if we make it,
I'll see you in Scotland.
- Where?
- You're the detective, find me.
- Where are they now?
- Second level.
Craven's just got out.
No sign of Jedburgh.
- Which way is craven heading?
- G2. Loading Bays.
- Right.
Craven.
Drop the gun.
Plutonium.
Craven!
He's in MoD 109. Is there another exit?
Er... MoD 109... War Office Fire Control.
Northern Command Rocket Sites.
- Dismantled 1958.
- Exits?
- Just the one.
- Got him.
Come on!
Downing Street.
- Hello?
- Get me Pendleton!