Black Hunger ( TV story ) Black Hunger was the fifteenth episode of series 1 of " K9 " . Drake departed and was replaced by Thorne , who was introduced in " Liberation " . Synopsis . The Department is using an alien device which literally eats rubbish . Darius sees an opportunity to make some money and snatches the device . However the alien virus inside escapes and threatens to devour everything it touches . Plot . In the sewers , two men in hazmat suits are looking through rubbish . One of them uses a device which sprays microbes on the rubbish . Darius walks in and hides as he takes a look . The microbes consume all the rubbish , which interests Darius . He makes a noise which alerts the men to his presence , but runs away before they can catch him . As one of the men grabs an empty can of cola , the nanoforms eat at his hand while the other man sucks the nanoforms back into the device . At the mansion , Gryffen and Starkey fail an experiment due to a hygiene crisis . Gryffen tells Starkey he has traced the contamination in the chess room . The source is pepperoni pizza . Starkey and K9 look through the chess room as Darius wades through the sewer and snatches the device . At Department HQ , June asks the survivor about the accident . He says he suspects it ' s alien . A mishap like this hasn ' t occurred before . June suggests it could have been a malfunction but he says the microbes , as harmless as yeast , have turned into " bloodthirsty flesh - eaters " . Darius brings the device to the house and uses it on the rubbish , amazed at its efficiency . The worker shows June the scene of the accident . They find the device gone . She scans the empty hazmat suit and detects a possible alien trace . Drake arrives and asks what June is doing . She asks him the same question as this is only a city sanitation issue . He tells her disappearance of state property is a very serious problem . He is " eternally vigilant " . In the chess room , Darius wakes from his nap as the microbes clean his mess . He does not know he is being followed by microbes , but uses the device to recapture them . Jorjie arrives , angry she has been sent to help clean up . K9 and Starkey thank her for her assistance . When they arrive in the chess room , they find it spotless . Darius says he cleaned it and shows Starkey his cleaned clothes . Starkey and Jorjie ask what the thing under the red sheet is and Darius reveals the device . K9 detects an unstable cross species , ordinary yeast cells spliced with something " more sinister " . Darius compares it to a vacuum . K9 strongly advises he remove the object from the house , but Darius tells the others this could make him a fortune and dismisses K9 as a " panic artist " . K9 scans the room and discovers there is not one living thing left in it , not even an ant , a spider , or a moth . When Starkey asks him where he bought it , Darius smiles . At Department HQ , Drake tells the worker not to talk to anybody , especially June . Meanwhile , Jorjie demands Darius take the device back where he found it , but he says he has a window of opportunity . The device could become a household appliance and he would be rich . K9 complains he isn ' t listening and whatever is inside the device is an unstoppable life - form that could get out of control . Darius insists , " Finders keepers " , and says he is simply a " businessman trying to make some creds " . Darius tells K9 he found it in the tunnels of Sector NE12 . Gryffen walks in , shocked at the " miracle " of the chess room . K9 asks Gryffen to use his atomic spectrometer to analyse what ' s been at work here . Gryffen confirms that whatever it is , it ' s too good to be true . Gryffen has never seen anything like it . On Starkey ' s shirt , the smaller microbes have been consumed . When Darius thinks of the million creds he could earn , Gryffen warns him that in the wrong hands this could be lethal . Someone has been tampering with the microbe ' s gene coding . It has been crossed with microbes from another planet , possibly the vicious omnivores from Pluto , the most voracious bacteria in the known universe . These microbes ' dormancy gene has been turned off ; they are always hungry and could literally eat the world . At Department HQ , June tells Drake she has received an analysis of the microbes in the imploder . She knows his project with the microbes , Black Hunger , closed down because it was too unstable . Drake tells her he ' s solved it with the imploder , an electromagnetic containment device which stores and transports the Hunger . June ' s analysis tells her he removed its self - limiting and dormancy characteristics . Drake tells her it ' s to make it more efficient and he refuses to believe it could get out of control . As K9 , Jorjie and Starkey move the imploder through the tunnels , a CCPC spots them . K9 says he ' s taking them for a walk . When Starkey and Jorjie start barking and growling , the CCPC leaves . At Department HQ , Drake says the planet is constantly threatened from within by dissidents , anti - social undesirables and juveniles . June believes people aren ' t the problem . The planet is surrounded by alien menaces which need to be defeated . Drake believes they need to use alien technology to deal with the human problem first . He plans to use Black Hunger to take the hijacked fallen angel technology to control society ; future generations will thank him . June tells him the reason she has stayed in the Department is to make sure he doesn ' t succeed . She doesn ' t want her daughter growing up in his world . Drake is determined to see her leave before he does and she tells him to bring it on . As the team go through the tunnels they spot a CCPC . Jorjie suggests they just drop the imploder , but K9 says they should put it where Darius found it . K9 distracts one CCPC , who chases after him . As Starkey and Jorjie move on , another CCPC comes and chases them , but they hide behind some rubbish . As they continue on , their way is blocked by debris . Starkey decides to use the imploder to do some " spring - cleaning " and remove the debris . The CCPCs report to Drake at Department HQ that intruders have been sighted : two juveniles and a robotic dog in Sector NW12 . Drake orders a Department officer to set the imploder to self - destruct . When he asks about the CCPCs and the two juveniles , Drake angrily orders him to proceed . As the team move the imploder , K9 suggests containing the swarm but a CCPC arrives and they move on . With two minutes to go , June arrives . When she asks who gave the order to secure the tunnels , Drake tells her he has found the imploder and needs to make sure it is neutralised . The explosion will sterilise the area and take the people who stole the imploder with it . With one minute left , K9 detects the imploder will detonate . Jorjie and Starkey put it on the floor and run . K9 tells them they have to defuse it . With thirty seconds to go , Starkey presses the buttons hoping it will deactivate . With fifteen seconds left , Jorjie deactivates it by bashing it with a piece of rubbish . June asks the officer the status of the swarm . He tells her it ' s still at large . She asks where the tunnel leads , and he tells her it leads into the River Thames . At Gryffen ' s house , Gryffen tells Darius that after the swarm reaches the Thames , the Earth will be devoid of all life in a week . K9 , Starkey and Jorjie make their way out of the tunnels as the swarm spreads . They find an exit protected by bars with the Thames on the other side . Starkey tells K9 to blast through but he cannot let the swarm escape . K9 lets the swarm attack him , and then fires a beam , which swallows the swarm . The Department officer reports swarm activity has ceased and they have been completely neutralised . June tells Drake he almost killed everyone . He says calculated risks must be taken to protect society , but June tells that he almost destroyed society and will point this out in her report . Drake has gone too far this time , and June is going to take him down . Later , June reports to Lomax that Operation Black Hunger had been closed down because it was too dangerous , and Drake restarted it without clearance . June confirms the situation has been resolved and they must be thankful for K9 ' s help . Otherwise it would have ended disastrously . Although Drake has been with the Department for many years , this is not Drake ' s first breach of orders and is his most serious to date . Lomax decides Drake will be moved to other duties . June thanks him for hearing her out and asks if she is taking over from Drake . Lomax tells her Drake will be replaced by Inspector Thorne , who appears on the monitor and tells June he looks forward to working with her . Back at the house , Gryffen congratulates K9 on his " stroke of genius " in reversing his fuel cells to stop the swarm . He explains the imploder is basically an electromagnetic compressor . By overheating his fuel cells and reversing the polarity , he did the same . K9 has the entire swarm in his stomach , sucking them all up like " slurping a milkshake " , as Jorjie puts it . Gryffen expects Darius to apologise , but Darius thinks that he K9 can go into business together . K9 tells him not to push his luck . Gryffen asks K9 what he ' s going to do to the swarm . K9 will evacuate his fuel cells the next time he is on Atrios . Story notes . Ratings . " to be added " Myths . " to be added " Filming locations . " to be added " Production errors . " to be added " Home video releases . This episode is featured in the following DVD sets :