Mad Death, The

1 9 8 3 (UK)
3 x 50 minute episodes

A rich French woman smuggles her cat into Scotland for an extended holiday – but the cat had previously tangled with a rabid fox in the French countryside.

The spread of the disease among the animal population goes undetected, but when a visiting American businessman dies of rabies, the British government launches a medical operation led by surly vet Dr Michael Hilliard (Richard Heffer) to bring the outbreak under control.

Hilliard moves quickly to contain the rabies outbreak inside the infected area. Pets are rounded up and compulsorily vaccinated while packs of wild dogs are hunted across the Scottish countryside from a helicopter.

Dr Anne Maitland (Barbara Kellerman) desperately attempts to trace the source of the virus in order to save others the agonising death she has seen one of the victims suffer.

Later, when an unhinged old woman (Brenda Bruce) deliberately releases sixty-two dogs from incarceration, Anne is trapped by the old woman in a basement full of potentially infected cats.

The army is called in to try to deal with the situation during the newly imposed state of emergency, while Hilliard issues the order that all animals are to be shot on sight, much to the displeasure of the British public.

Dr Michael Hilliard
Richard Heffer
Dr Anne Maitland
Barbara Kellerman
Johnny Dalry
Richard Morant
Miss Stonecroft
Brenda Bruce
Bill Stanton
Jimmy Logan
Bob Nicol
Paul Brooke
Jane Stoddard
Debbi Blythe
Gamekeeper
Bob Docherty
Fergus
Jack McKenzie
Bibi
Marianne Lawrence
Tom Siegler
Ed Bishop
Norma Siegler
Valerie Holliman