Dr.
John Brady is working at the Castle Hill government laboratory
investigating the nature of refraction - his experiments achieve
success when he is able to make a rat become invisible - but a leak in
the containment chamber releases the radation into the lab, and Brady
finds himself rendered completely invisible as well. At first put under
lock and key by the government, he escapes and runs to his former
colleague Dr. Crompton for help, but finds that the powers of
invisibility have the potential to corrupt...
The first
episode begins very quickly, with Brady becoming invisible in the first
moments. Fortunately they give time to introduce and develop Brady
and his family before the action starts - already however, the 25
minute runtimes of these episodes starts to show itself, and the pacing
does seem a little rushed.
When
a British agent is captured in a hostile Middle Eastern country, the
government fear that his knowledge of the resistance movement there
could place all its members in jeopardy. They call on Brady to rescue
the agent from a tightly guarded military hospital.
The
second episode of the series sets the tone for many of the following
entries, with Brady being called on to help someone in trouble. In this
case, unlike some of the later episodes, they give Brady a convincing
reason to get involved, and makes full use of his invisibility. One of
the best episodes.
Brady
is working hard to find a cure for his invisibility but needs a human
volunteer. He is tricked into travelling to the house of the exiled
South American industrialist Raphael Constantine. Hideously scarred by
a grenade the man appeals to Brady to use him in the experiments as he
yearns for invisibility. However, it soon becomes clear that
Constantine has a more sinister purpose in mind for his powers...
The
third episode fortunately goes for a different approach and is one of
the most inventive episodes in the season, although by the end of the
episode the government agents seem unconcerned to reveal Brady's
existance in public.
An outspoken Russian scientist speaking in London is kidnapped by secret agents and locked up in the embassy.
Brady follows her and breaks into the embassy before beginning a
diplomatic attempt to have her freed. When this fails he sneaks her out
of the building to his own house, but finds that the Russian ambassador
is not going to give up the chase easily...
Brady again
getting involved in other people's problems, although fortunately he
does have a good reason to get involved this time (the scientist has
been working on refraction and could be the key to getting Brady
visible again) and the episode makes full use of his invisibility. A
quite unpredictable episode and well written, it builds to a rather
exciting climax with some of the best effects work of the series.
After
a serious car accident witnessed by many people, the government reveal
Brady's invisibility to the press and he becomes a near-celebrity
figure hounded by the media. Meanwhile the friend of his young neice
begins to suspect that her stepfather is planning to murder her mother
for the inheritence and pleads with Brady to help...
After the interesting opening the episode falls into the trap of many of the Invisible Man
stories, a typical detective story with Brady rather awkardly inserted,
and getting to do very little that a completely visible person couldn't
have done. Fortunately it does boast a rather thrilling climax sequence.
Barbara
Crane, a respected theatre actress, finds herself the subject of
bribery after accidentally running down a man on a clifftop road.
Worried by the events she starts to perform badly, and a suspicious
Brady decides to investigate further, discovering that there is more
than simple blackmail going on...
This sixth episode is
another example of some of the problems that begin to emerge later
in the series. Although a cleverly written mystery story, the Invisible
Man himself is very crudely inserted and gets little to do.
Unfortunately the episode's short runtime prevents enough
characterisation being developed, for the story to actually be solvable
by the audience; the writers also seem to miss a key point - when
Brady's foolish actions lead to a man being killed, he barely bats an
eyelid.
A
Russian sailor makes a bid for freedom from a trawler at anchor in a
British harbour, but is soon captured and taken back to the ship. The
head of the refugee committee appeals to Brady to help them and
although reluctant to assist, he soon decides to sneak on board the
ship and find out what he can do to help - however, it soon turns out
that Brady has been set up, and he is ambushed by the sailors as the
ship heads back towards Russia.
Often during the series,
Brady seems to consider himself a sort of super-hero, and episodes like
this show that he is rather vunerable, in this case to a new Russian
technology based on radar, that lets them see
the Invisible Man - it is only a pity that the writers did not exploit
this particular theme more. A decent episode and the first for a while
that revolves around Brady himself.
A
group of criminals raid an important British atomic laboratory and
photograph some key documents onto microfilm. When the customs officers
quickly clamp down on passengers leaving the country, one of the men
hides the film in the mink coat of the ventriloquist performer Penny
Page who is flying to Paris. When Brady's sister Diane witnesses this,
the pair find themselves drawn into a deadly game as the criminals try
to get the invaluable film back from Mrs Page.
Another fine story, remniscent of a film noir, into which Brady and his sister are rather poorly written and get little to do.
When an airline pilot
is framed for importing drugs into the country, he phones his old
friend Peter Brady for help. Before Brady arrives however, the pilot is
shot and badly injured in front of his wife, who is blind. Brady helps
the police with their investigations and devises and elaborate plot to
find the killer...
Although seemingly just another detective story packaged as an Invisible Man epsiode, the story here takes full advantage of Brady's invisibility with a very inventive climax.
When
the reformed career criminal is framed for an armed robbery and sent to
prision again, he is determined to get free and prove his innocence and
escapes 5 times before being recaptured. Curious about the story, Brady
decides to investigate and helps the man to escape again to discover
the truth behind the conviction...
While Brady is often
rather crudely written into stories, this episode has to include the
most implausible reason to get the Invisible Man involved - reading of
his story in the newspaper, Brady is so convinced that any man who can
escape five times must be innocent, that he travels to the prision to
help out. The rest of the story is a typical Brady as private detective storyline with very little on display that a fully visible detective could not have done.
Brady's
fame leads to trouble when a group of criminals kidnap his young niece
and hold her hostage - forcing Brady to commit a bank robbery.
A rather inevitable episode, Bank Raid
is well plotted although it suffers from the rather short run-time (the
storyline had enough potential to be extended to a two part episode at
least) and does have a rather terribly written and overly predictable
ending.
When
one of Brady's colleagues announces that he will not be returning from
his holiday in Italy, and is seen using his mathmatical talents to win
at roulette, Brady decides to fly out and convince him to return - but
he soon discovers that Professor Owens is working to save his daughter
who is being held hostage by the mob...
Although another
detective story, this time it is obviously written specifically for The
Invisible Man and makes full use of his invisible talents for cheating
in casinos. There is an interesting point when Brady's meddling again
almost gets someone killed although as in Play for Death it is quickly brushed over.
After
his bag of documents was stolen, Brady is kidnapped by a mysterious man
who wants him to commit a murder - and to keep the unseen Brady in
check, he has a vicious guard dog who can sniff out and catch even an
invisible man.
The potential for invisible mischief again
crops up here, with the rather inventive concept of a dog being used to
keep the scientist in check, even when completely invisible. Well paced
and very dark it does leave the viewer wondering why there are not
easier ways to have a man killed than kidnapping the Invisible Man. It
makes for a decent conclusion to the first season.
