The Mad Death

The Mad Death tends to be remembered more as an event than a television series. People who were children or teenagers either when it was originally transmitted in 1983, or repeated in 1985, no doubt remember the buzz about it in the playground on Mondays, but the only details they now recall are the sinister credits – Scottish child creepily intones the words to All Things Bright and Beautiful – and Ed Bishop battling a rabid Basil Brash before expiring messily amid some feverishly saucy hallucinations. The series clearly had a cultural impact, but what has been lost is the context of its production, and particularly how it fitted in to the already established practices at BBC Scotland. 

Since 1979, BBC Scotland had found a niche producing thriller series on film. The first, Running Blind, was an adaptation of Desmond Bagley’s novel by Jack Gerson which was transmitted between 5^th – 19^th January 1979, and therefore preceded what is often referred to as the first BBC all-film drama series – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – by nine months. It was such a success that BBC Scotland wanted to adapt further Bagley novels but unfortunately there was a falling out and these plans fell through. However, despite this setback, Jack Gerson instead originated a new thriller called The Assassination Run which featured rugged hero Mark Fraser played by Malcolm Stoddard, alongside his wife Jill played by Mary Tamm. This in turn led to a sequel The Treachery Game, and all three of these series featuring glamourous foreign locations and action sequences established BBC Scotland with something of a reputation for glossy thrillers. It’s a period that is not much written about, and the series themselves are rather overlooked when it comes to histories of filmed drama. 

So, when The Mad Death was planned, it was always seen as being a filmed series, and fitted in nicely with BBC Scotland’s recent track record. In an article in The Stage, the Head of Drama Roderick Graham stated with slightly circular logic that “film was used for The Mad Death because a thriller needs to be on film.” The filming of the series itself has given rise to some inaccurate speculation over the years. The Wikipedia entry on The Mad Death is brief and states that the series was “filmed in 1981 and transmitted 2 years later in 1983.” It’s unclear where this misconception arose, but over the years it has fed into the mythology around the series, particularly an idea that the series was so controversial that the BBC sat on it for a couple of years before plucking up the courage to go ahead with transmission. However, there are multiple reliable sources that place filming in 1982. In the same November 1982 issue of The Stage mentioned earlier, it’s reported that shooting on the series “took place this summer, and transmission may be next May” which is pretty categoric from a trade paper. It’s also backed up by an article in the Daily Mail from July 1983 when Barbara Kellerman responds to a question about the series by saying “it’s been a year since we filmed it.” There was therefore no mysterious delay in the transmission of the series, and no great controversy in the buildup to transmission. 

There was, however, significant controversy when the British Veterinary Association (BVA) issued a statement just after the first episode had aired. In her Daily Mail review of the first episode, Mary Kenny quoted the BVA “drawing attention to the fact that only two people are known to have had [rabies] since 1980” and that the association is worried that “the drama might spread too much rabies alarm across the country.” This was further picked up by the media after the second episode was shown. Maureen Paton in the Daily Express reported that “the...serial has sparked off a furious controversy between the Government and the BVA” with the latter slamming “the programme for being alarmist.” The article goes on to state that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) said that “the programme, made with its help, is completely authentic and ‘gives our message a new edge.’’” This is an explicit acknowledgement not only that MAFF assisted BBC Scotland with the series but also saw The Mad Death as another way of boosting the public information campaign about rabies. 

Another slightly hazy aspect of The Mad Death was the status of the novel by Nigel Slater (not that one) on which the series was based. I’d never been able to find any reference to the novel being published before 1983, so was slightly baffled as to whether it had been published before under a different name. Fortunately, thanks to the excellent article Mad Dogs and Englishmen by James Downs, we now know the full story: “Publishers had shown little interest in Slater’s manuscript while the BBC office in London turned down the option for television rights, but a newly appointed executive at BBC Scotland saw potential in the story and secured the rights for a production north of the border.” Indeed, the only reason the novel was published was to accompany the transmission of the series. It’s eye-wateringly expensive now, so sadly I haven’t read it, but the main change is that the action moves from Basingstoke to several rather disconnected parts of Scotland. For those interested in the other differences between the novel and the series, you can read an informal synopsis of the novel in this thread by user franklinmarsh on the Vault of Evil forum.  

Finally, for now, if after listening to or watching our podcast on The Mad Death you want to know yet more about rabies then I strongly recommend Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Rabies in Britain, 1830-2000 by Pemberton and Worboys. As the title suggests, it covers everything that even the most rabid rabies fanatic could ever want to know about the disease and its history in the UK. Enjoy. 

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Sources in chronological order: 

Unknown, BBC Scotland looks to contemporary drama, The Stage, 11 November 1982, p24 

Peter Sheridan, Stars outshone by this four-footed frenzy, Daily Mail, 16 July 1983, p17 

Mary Kenny, Such sickening suspense..., Daily Mail, 18 July 1983, p19 

Maureen Paton, Storm over TV rabies serial, Daily Express, 25 July 1983, p8 

Neil Pemberton and Michael Worboys, Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Rabies in Britain, 1830-2000, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007 

James Downs, ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’: Hydrophobia, Europhobia and National Tensions in The Mad Death (BBC Scotland, 1983), The International Journal of Scottish Theatre and Screen, v.11, 2018  

Thanks to Michael Seely for reminding us about the Z-Cars episode (check out Michael’s blog), and to Only Really On Here When He Needs To Be on BlueSky for an illuminating chat about BBC Scotland’s filmed thrillers.