Vagrant Tom Price thought that the plague might actually improve his lot in life – with fewer people alive, he might actually find work. But the plague has drastically recalibrated the scale of what is and isn’t valuable. In this new world, scavenging through a vacant house, Tom finds a huge wad of cash which now has no value whatsoever. The only thing of value that he does find is a shotgun – and live chickens. He shoots one of the chickens, only to see it stolen by another survivor. Tom continues wandering until he happens upon the abandoned property that Abby has decided to use as a base of operations in her search for her son. Abby, however, isn’t there; she’s enlisted the help of Jenny and Greg to go scavenging for more food and supplies at the first store they can find. But while the store has ample supplies, it also has a hanged man on display as a warning to looters. Greg is eager to leave at once, but Abby and Jenny continue “shopping” until a gang of armed thugs appear. Abby recognizes them – Arthur Wormley’s self-appointed mob passing themselves off as the “new government.” Even at gunpoint, Abby refuses to accept their authority as law, and whether she wants to choose sides or not, she has made a new enemy.
written by Terry Nation
directed by Terence Williams
music by Anthony IsaacCast: Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant), Ian McCulloch (Greg Preston), Lucy Fleming (Jenny Richards), Talfryn Thomas (Tom Price), Brian Peck (Dave Long), Barry Stanton (Reg Gunnel), Robert Gillespie (John Milner), Robert Fyfe (Phillipson), Graham Fletcher (Boy)
Notes: The dead farm animals seen by Tom may have starved to death, or it may be a subtle hint that the disease has jumped species. If anything is surprising about the survivors’ plight, it is the fact that, with limited space in their scavenging vehicles for food, they manage to keep acquiring an endless supply of cigarettes.
LogBook entry by Earl Green