[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Mad Death (1983)

My first and only viewing of this was when it initially aired on BBC1 back in 1983. Now thanks to Simply Media i am able to own and watch it on dvd.

I was eleven years old had two loving dogs and was just about to go abroad for the very first time on holiday. It scared me witless.

The Mad Death is a gritty and unsettling three part drama about a rabies outbreak in Britain. Seen today some 37 years on in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak it feels all too real once again. The first episode is particularly relevant as it shows the outbreak begin, the first victim, how the disease spreads animal to animal, person to person, contact tracing and the hallucinatory, surreal, grim as **** death in a hospital ICU.

The second and third episodes delve more into thriller territory as the lock down of animals begins and characters and grievances develop. Although not quite as ghoulish as the first episode we have many memorable scenes including hunting a rabid Alsatian in a shopping centre and the culling of escaped dogs by the army on the moors. The amount of dog shooting on screen was quite astonishing and it's unlikely we'd see the same level nowadays. As for the rabid dog attacks? Eat your heart out Cujo.

The acting is good, Richard Heffer as the vet in charge of limiting the outbreak and scientist Barbara Kellerman are both excellent and the production values especially on the moors where a whole army regiment seems to be on a dog killing spree.

In April 2020 The Mad Death remains terrifying, but for different reasons than it did back in the day.