Ultraviolet (TV serial)

1998 United Kingdom television series

Ultraviolet (1998) was a British television serial produced by World Productions, written and directed by Joe Ahearne, and starring Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker, Idris Elba and Philip Quast. The show, which ran for six episodes, served as a modernized version of the vampire mythos and followed Detective Sergeant Mike Colefield (Davenport) as he joins a secret organization dedicated to hunting the undead. Among the show's critically-praised elements were its characters' scientific approach to their work and its realistic atmosphere, such that the word "vampire" was never actually spoken (vampires are referred to as "Code Fives" or "leeches").

Season 1 edit

Habeas Corpus [1.01] edit

Father Pearse: Do you know where Jack is?
Michael: Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you.
Father Pearse: You should. We're all on the same side. You must know by now what we're dealing with.
Michael: No, I know what you think you're dealing with. I can't help that.
Father Pearse: You believe Jack is still your friend.
Michael: Well, whatever he's done, he doesn't deserve a death sentence.
Father Pearse: I'm afraid that was carried out three nights ago. Before you last met.

Michael: Did you have a choice?
Jack: Absolutely. I could stick around, do ten to fifteen for corruption. I could go on the run. Or I could go all the way.
Michael: Did you know what they were into when you were taking their money?
Jack: Well, they don't exactly advertise it, and I can see why now. People go a bit funny. People you thought you knew.
Michael: Why do they need money? I thought you lot were only after one thing.
Jack: We are. And we don't have to kill to get it.
Michael: Then what's the money for?
Jack: They want to wipe us out. So we had to get organized. That takes money.

Jack: Did they tell you I was evil? It's what the church always says, Mike. Women. Black. Disabled. Gay. Now us. Do you like living in the Middle Ages? [sees that Mike is aiming the gun at his head] That won't do it. You want the heart. [Mike takes aim at his chest] We're part of nature.
Michael: So's smallpox.
Jack: Oh, charming. I'm a virus, am I? [advancing toward Mike]
Michael: Stop.
Jack: Is that what I am, vermin?

[Michael's bite is treated by Angie]
Michael: Where's all the crosses?
Angie: And holy water? Jury's out on that. It's a bit like homeopathy. It's a question of faith, on both sides. They can be superstitious, too. In my opinion, religion is a placebo, which isn't to say placebos can't work.
Michael: How is all this kept quiet? I mean, a body turns up drained-
Angie: Doesn't happen. Successful parasites don't kill their host. They don't drain their prey unless they want to recruit, and they're very careful about who they recruit. Like we are.

Father Pearse: It's called a vocation.
Michael: 'Vendetta', more like it.
Father Pearse: These aren't isolated cases. They're organizing. For a reason.
Michael: What for? They don't want to wipe us out. They need us.
Father Pearse: Exactly.
Michael: So what's changed?
Father Pearse: Our capacity for self-destruction. It grows at an exponential rate. You're right, of course; they don't mean us any harm. They want to save us.
Michael: Doesn't sound so bad.
Father Pearse: ...and the only way they can save us is by controlling us. If people like you don't take a stand now, do you know where your loved ones are going to be in fifty years' time? Battery farms. Believe me. Our free-range days are over.

In Nomine Patris [1.02] edit

[Michael and Vaughan practice at the shooting range]
Michael: So why hasn't anyone tried taking one of them alive? [Vaughan gives him a look] All right. Dead, then. Undead. Whatever you call it.
Vaughan: They don't take prisoners.
Michael: What, so we're no better?
Vaughan: No. They're better. Stronger. Faster. Surprise is about the only thing we've got going for us, so forget about fair warning.

[A cell phone is found in a Code Five's abandoned car]
Michael: So how do we know it's not Lester's?
Vaughan: Leeches don't use phones.
Michael: How come?
Vaughan: Look, the only machine that can see or hear a leech is us. You can only see them face to face. No mirrors, no photos, no videos. Audio's the same. He can make a call, but his voice won't go down the line. Surveillance is a bitch.

[Mike and Angie realize that Danni may have been ready to be transformed and wonder about why]
Michael: [looking at Danni's incoherent mother] Is Alzheimer's hereditary?
Angie: It depends. There are two genetic markers; the risk goes up thirtyfold if you have both.
Michael: Well, could Danni have got herself scanned?
Angie: Doesn't mean much. About one in twenty of us have both genes. You look far enough into the future, you're bound to see something you don't like. People forget: we're all programmed to die.

[Michael and Angie interrogate Danni]
Michael: Your mother had an affair with him. She took care of his investments and then he moved on to you. Have you got a thing about him as well? Can't see why you'd protect him otherwise. I mean, it's not like he's family or anything. Maybe he feels like family. He's been around so long. Is that what you want? Are you terrified you'd end up like your mother? Because it seems to me, she wasn't good enough for him.
Danni: They only take those who want to go.
Angie: That is a lie.
Danni: He begged my mother to go with him. She refused.
Mike: You think she made the wrong decision?
Danni: You'd have to ask her.
Angie: My five-year-old daughter didn't choose to go. They don't just recruit. They kill.
Danni: You're the ones running the extermination program. You're like Nazis! Just because they're different... They're entitled to fight back. It's war.

Father Pearse: I hope none of us thinks this interest in blood disorders is down to philanthropy. What they're researching is pollution. Contamination of their food supply.
Michael: Yeah, well, good. Maybe they'll find a cure. Looks like we've got some common interests.
Father Pearse: About as common as humans and cattle. What did we do when we discovered BSE was a threat? Did we go looking for a vaccine? No, we went for the most direct, short term solution.
Vaughan: A cull.
Father Pearse: They've done it before. The fire of London. Or did you really think that was a happy coincidence in the middle of a plague?

Sub Judice [1.03] edit

[After discovering that Marion Wainwright may have been impregnated by her Code Five husband, who may have also murdered an interested co-worker]
Michael: Poor old Dominic. I suppose it's not unreasonable to think he was in with a shout with Mr. Wainwright dead eighteen months. Gave it a decent wait before he moved in. He must've had his eye on her. She's pretty good-looking, same line of work, good at her job... [chuckles] Suppose that's a turn-on as well. And she's a widow, far as he knew. Suppose it wasn't his fault; he didn't know she was into necrophilia.
Vaughan: [referring to the possible pregnancy] Whether she is or not, it's not his.
Michael: Why?
Vaughan: Sex is something the leeches use to get what they want. It's not how they make other leeches, is it? The females don't menstruate. It's a waste of good blood. And as far as your male leech is concerned, he can get it up all right, but they're sterile.
Michael: Then how is she pregnant?

[Angie shares her findings on Marion's possibly half-Code Five fetus with Father Pearse]
Father Pearse: You're not, I hope, suggesting they have any desire or need for offspring, are you?
Angie: IVF doesn't let anyone off the hook, however old you are, however dead you are. Like us. They don't have to accept what nature gave them anymore.
[A pause]
Father Pearse: Have you ever performed a termination?
Angie: No. Have you ever sanctioned one?
Father Pearse: This isn't human.
Angie: It may be half-human.
Father Pearse: I believe that's what I said.

[Having been abducted from the ambulance taking her to the hospital after her miscarriage, Marion lies half-conscious in her husband's arms]
Anthony: [tenderly stroking his wife's face] Shhh. It's over. They can't hurt you anymore.
[A gun is cocked off-screen; Anthony looks up to see Angie aiming at him]
Angie: Step away. You're not taking her.
Anthony: Then she'll die.
Angie: She's going to live. Step away.
Anthony: [sadly] She doesn't want to live. Not like this. Empty.
Angie: You made sure of that. If there was any chance of happiness with another man, you killed it.
Anthony: I died to give her what she wants. She would've been so happy. You killed that, not me.
Marion: [delirious] Please... my husband...
[Though crying herself, Angie does not lower the gun. At the street, Vaughan and his team arrive in time to see Anthony exploding in the distance]

[Angie examines Marion Wainwright's blood]
Angie: There's embryonic tissue in this one. She miscarried in the pro-life office.
Father Pearse: Thank God. So why do you think they wanted her?
Angie: She'd still be carrying some remains, which I expect they wanted to look at post mortem.
Father Pearse: She couldn't have survived?
Angie: Not with that degree of hemorrhaging.
Michael: Maybe he wanted to cross her over.
Angie: She didn't have anything else they wanted. She's not a scientist.
Michael: So it couldn't be that her husband just wanted her back?
Vaughan: [sarcastically] Life after death. Just an old romantic, aren't you? [seriously] We'll fix that.

[Anthony Wainwright's suicide note to his wife Marion, found by Angie in Marion's purse]
Anthony: When you read this, Marion, I'll be gone. I'm sorry. I'm just not as strong as you. Life's got the better of me. This'll be hard for you to understand, I know. But where I'm going, I'll be able to help you more than I can now. And believe me, I'm never going to be far away. I'll always be watching over you. One day, you're going to get what you want, I promise. And one day, the three of us will be together. I know you'll forgive me. So be patient and keep strong. I'll be waiting. This isn't the end.

Mea Culpa [1.04] edit

Michael: [to Rice, after being cleared of the shooting] So what do I have to do to get fired around here?!

Michael: [after he accidentally shoots a pedophile] That's your inquiry?! 'Two Hail Mary's and don't shoot any more civilians'?
Father Pearse: You can wear a hair shirt if it makes you feel any better.

Colin: [to dog] You'd never take a piece out of anyone, would you Maxy? [to Mike] And he loves boys.
Michael: Yeah, that makes two of you.

Oliver: I had no choice.
Father Pearse: There's always a choice. They can't force you to do what you don't want.
Oliver: No, they force you to do what you do want. They're very big on free will.

Terra Incognita [1.05] edit

Maria: They want peace, he can bring peace!
Vaughan: A good way to start is to stop killing people.

Vampire: [to Angie about her husband] I'm sorry to say I never knew your husband while he was alive, but in the brief time that he was with us, he impressed us all with his intellect and his humor… and his stories about you. When he agreed to join us, it was solely on the basis that he could persuade you. He didn't want to be without you…or your children.

Father Pearse: They can't overturn the habit of centuries, it's against their nature – they're hunters.
Angie: Maybe they're evolving. Like us.

Michael: [about Angie] Are you going to tell her about your day?
Vaughan: No… and neither are you.

Persona Non Grata [1.06] edit

Father Pearse: [about the vampire] How's the patient?
Angie: Still dead.

Frances: What do you deal in, Mike? To really help you, I need to know now.
Michael: You'd have to see it for yourself… I hope you never do.

Father Pearse: [Angie brings him coffee] Is this a new way of getting me to take my medication?
Angie: And cheat you out of martyrdom? Heaven forbid.

Cast edit

External links edit

 
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about: