- When his friend Jack disappears the night before his wedding, Detective Michael Colefield looks into it. This draws him into a new world of secret dealings and covert operations. It just so happens there is a war going on between humans and vampires. And now Colefield must choose a side; help his friend who happens to be a vampire, or help the government hunt him down.—kamas716
- Michael Colefield [Jack Davenport] and Jack Beresford [Stephen Moyer] have been best friends for over 10 years. Tomorrow, Jack is marrying Kirsty Maine Colette Brown], but tonight Jack and Mike are out celebrating, although Mike is finding it hard to write the tribute to the groom because his thoughts are more about the bride. As the two friends are preparing to call it a night, Jack is paged for a phone call. Mike takes it for Jack. It is Pollard [Ronnie Letham], and he is scared. Someone is after him, and he needs to talk with Jack. Mike, a detective sergeant on the police force, agrees to meet Pollard in an arcade, but he arrives just moments after Pollard is shot. Mike runs after the killer who disappears into the tube, but neither mirrors nor surveillance cameras pick him up anywhere.
It is the morning of the wedding, and Jack hasn't shown. But Detective Sergeant Vaughn Rice [Idris Elba] (from the CIB) has, and he's looking for Jack. Later that day, Mike attends a briefing on the Pollard case and learns that Sergeant Rice and special investigator Dr Angela March [Susannah Harker] have been called in. Because of his contact with Pollard, Mike is questioned but he provides no additional information. When Mike returns to his apartment that evening, he notices that it's being watched. Inside, he finds Jack waiting for him. "It's me they're after," Jack says. Mike lures the watchdogs away and, after eluding them, meets Jack on a playground. Jack is terrified. He tells Mike that March and Rice have orders to shoot him on sight. Mike agrees to try and find out who is at the head of this "death squad" and to not say anything about it to Kirsty.
The next day, Rice calls Mike into his office, informs him that they have been tapping Pollard's phone for some time, and shows him a transcript of a phone conversation between Pollard and Jack made three nights before Pollard's death. The conversation has to do with a payment of £2,000, which Jack apparently used the next day to pay cash for his honeymoon. Rice also warns Mike that Jack is not his friend anymore and is, in fact, using him.
Mike asks his friend, Investigator Frances Pembroke [Fiona Dolman], to check on March and Rice. She learns that they are not with the CIB at all. Vaughn Rice is ex-army, discharged after the Gulf War. Dr Angela March was a hematologist, retired after her husband and daughter were drowned in a car accident. When March stops at Kirsty's house, he is surprised to see Angela just leaving. Kirsty is angry. Angela just told her that Mike knows where Jack is, but Mike explains that Jack doesn't want Kirsty to get involved. Kirsty maintains that she IS involved, and the two part stalemated.
Because several witnesses, including a portrait artist, saw Pollard's killer, Mike has been able to get a good composite of the killer's face. Using that composite, he searches the picture files until he finds a match. The killer now identified, Mike breaks into the killer's house and is surprised to find counterfeiting machines and piles of counterfeit money. Oddly, all the windows are light-protected, and there are blood stains on the pillowcases. Suddenly, the killer comes home, but right behind him are six police, including Detective Rice. They tear down the door, explode teargas bombs, and shoot the killer with some unusual guns (they have carbon-tipped bullets and an ultraviolet screen). Mike picks one up and jumps out a window, but not before he hears one of the agents say, 'Code 5 neutralized. Send in the cleaners.'
Mike is beginning to suspect what is happening and knows that he can't go back to his apartment, so he spends the night in Frances' car. The next morning, he notices Angela walking down the street and follows her into a church. It is a trap, and Mike soon finds himself handcuffed and seated before Angela, Rice, and Father Pearse J. Harman [Philip Quast] who asks if Mike knows where Jack is, but Mike refuses to tell. Again Mike is warned that Jack Beresford is no longer to be trusted. When Fr Harman promises that, if Mikes survives this experience, they'll talk again, Mike replies, "Who shall I ask for?" Fr Harman chuckles and comments that Jack and his friends are very interested in that information. Mike is then subjected to a neck scan with an ultraviolet light and set free.
That night, Mike is scheduled to meet Jack again. Scanning the playground with the ultraviolet screen, Mike notices that Jack doesn't show up on the screen as he is walking toward him. Mike now knows the truth about Jack, and it's time for some answers. Jack explains that "they" are funded by the Vatican and that "they" are trying to wipe "us" out. He compares it to the Inquisition, where the church labeled everyone they didn't like as "vermin" or, in Jack's case, a "virus." In order to protect themselves, the counterfeit money was necessary to get organized. Mike listens, while still aiming the gun at Jack's heart, until Jack brings up Kirsty's name, then Mike fires. Turns out that Jack is wearing a bulletproof vest, so Mike takes out a grenade. But Jack pushes Mike free of the explosion. Unfortunately, the explosion blows a stake into Jack's side. As Mike pushes the stake in further, Jack bites Mike's neck. Moments later, Jack is neutralized.
Now it's time for answers from Angela and Rice. Rice goes to pick up Jack's remains, while Angela treats Mike for his bite. She reveals that, like Mike, she (and Rice) were also bitten by Code 5s. Fr Harman invites Mike to join their team, explaining how Angela represents public health and Rice represents defense, but they need an investigator. Mike is not interested. He only wants to know what was done with Jack's body, so Angela shows him. When neutralized, the body is reduced to a red powder which is collected and placed in cold storage because it can regenerate, although they don't yet know how it is done. Mike is astounded to see how many of these cold coffins are already in storage. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Fr Harman says, and goes on to explain the menace posed by the Code 5s. They don't usually drain humans of their blood to the point of death, which turns them into more Code 5s, which doesn't sound so bad. No, their goal is to control humans, to make them docile so they can herd them like cows. If that is allowed to happen, fifty years in the future, it will be the end of mankind as we know it. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of Habeas Corpus (1998) in Australia?
Answer