'The Doomsday Men' (4 Parts) by Roger Price

Stephen goes under-cover to investigate a military organisation called ‘The Doomsday Men’. The leader’s grandson attends Glen College, which Stephen discovers is a training ground for ‘Doomsday Men’, and that its head, General McLelland, is planning a suicide mission. After Stephen is asked to join the organisation by Douglas, he discovers that the mission, ‘Operation Silver Thread’, is to prevent the signing of a peace treaty. Stephen is summoned to the gym, where he has to fight several boys with a sabre; he disarms them, as he used to be a schoolboy fencing champion. Stephen is told that Operation Silver Thread is to happen the next day, and is to involve the Damocles space-station. One of the crew of the Damocles, Lee Wan, has an accident whilst working outside the space-station, and is blasted into space. John, Stephen and Elizabeth use a matter transporter to take Chris' transit van into space; they rescue Lee Wan, and take him back to the Lab. Stephen returns to the school, and that night is initiated into ‘The Doomsday Men’. ‘Operation Silver Thread’ begins: General McLelland and his troops arrive at the Damocles in a space-ship. Pretending to be the relief crew, they seize control of the station. John, Stephen and Elizabeth decide to try to re-capture the Damocles; Lee Wan tells them of a ‘Dead Man's Switch’ that can launch nuclear missiles held aboard the station. John takes Lee Wan's space suit, and floats past the Damoclese, pretending to be the dead astronaut. Looking through an observation port, he sees that the ‘Dead Man’s Switch’ is in use. ‘The Doomsday Men’ transmit their demands to the United Nations, who postpone the signing of the peace treaty. Meanwhile, Stephen and the boys at the school go on a cross-country run. While Tim matches the voice from the Damocles with that of General McLelland, Stephen sees Douglas being kidnapped, but he is knocked unconscious when he tries to help. He is found by his classmates, and taken back to the school. Douglas has willingly gone with the kidnappers to an old deserted windmill, and when one of the teachers, Doctor Laird takes some spare clothes to him, Stephen and Paul, one of the school boys, hide in the back of his car. But Doctor Laird captures them, and is about to shoot them when Stephen activates his jaunting belt, taking Paul and Douglas back to the Lab with him. Tim re-educates the two boys, showing them how terrible war actually is, and they decide to help. Dressed in Lee Wan's space suit, John drifts up to the space-station, and sees General McLelland at the ‘Dead Man's Handle’. Douglas, Stephen and Lee Wan jaunt into the space-station, but in the confrontation, the General lets go of the handle. The Tomorrow People are unable to stop the commencement of the launch countdown, but Douglas throws his bagpipes into the artificial gravity machinery that makes the living quarters rotate, causing the whole station to spin. The missiles fire harmlessly into the sun.



Nicholas Young (John), Elizabeth Adare (Liz), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Christopher Chittell (Chris Harding), William Relton (Douglas McLelland), Lindsay Campbell (Lt. General McLelland), Eric Young (Lee Wan), Simon Gipps-Kent (Paul), Derek Murkott (Major Longford), Arnold Peters (Dr. Laird), Nigel Pegram (Traffic Warden), Bill Treacher (Doomsday Man)

Directed by Roger Price

TX:
'Dressed To Kill' - 8th April 1974
'The Burning Sword - 15th April 1974
'Run Rabbit Run' - 22nd April 1974
'The Shuttlecock' - 6th March 1974

Notes:
*Featuring John, Elizabeth, Stephen, Tim and Chris