New World (TV story)

***New World*** was the thirteen and final episode of *Series 2*, and the twenty-sixth overall of *Survivors*.

## Synopsis

The community decides that efficient transport means their survival

## Plot

Jack is repairing a roof while Greg works below him. Jenny is tending a garden. Alan, Melanie, Sally, Pete, John and Lizzie are working in a field. Hubert is leading a cow across the yard. All of their attentions are drawn by a balloon in the sky. Jenny convinces Greg they should follow it by horse. The four youngsters try to run after it but a puffed out Sally gives up.

Charles, Ruth and Pet discuss the sighting. Greg and the others lose track of the balloon. Hubert, Jack and Dave are working in the hay loft. Jack wonders if they should keep a fire going to attract attention. Charles caustically asks if they think they need rescuing. Melanie realises something has scared the sheep: The balloon has come down in the trees. The five of them dash over and find the balloon's pilot hanging by the neck from the ropes. Greg lowers him down and Melanie makes a futile attempt to resuscitate him while Jenny gets Ruth.

Later, Pete sees Jack making a coffin. Greg, Jenny and Melanie discuss how the balloon crashed. Ruth says the pilot broke his neck. Jenny retrieves his bag which contains a camera and various food supplies including honey. They realise he must have been travelling for less than a day. Greg notes the wind was blowing north. Ruth has found a postcard of Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds on which he did a sketch of the area around Whitecross. Melanie deduces he was landing to see them but misjudged the landing. Greg thinks they should search the woods. Melanie suggests she and Alan go to Chipping Camden.

Charles, Jack and Pete see the pair off with Alan accepting Jack's offer of a gun. Melanie thinks this is evidence that they were wrong to give up on finding more advanced people and go back to the land. Charles concedes to Pet that she might have a point. Nearby, Greg, Hubert and Dave are salvaging the balloon. Greg doesn't think the balloon could have come from Gloucestershire in a day. Lizzie appears with binoculars that she and John found in the woods. John has also found a map of England.

Greg and Jenny look over the handwritten notes on the map which point to various areas. Dave, John and Lizzie appear with the balloonist's bag and a notebook written in Norwegian, completed with an English-Norwegian dictionary. Meanwhile, Melanie is telling Alan that she thinks the balloon is their best chance of getting away to somewhere. Charles and Ruth join Greg, Jenny and Dave in looking over the map and translating the notes, which refer to what is available in each area and to communication between the various groups. Greg guesses he came from Hereford.

Alan and Melanie see a fire burning on a hillside. Melanie guesses it's a beacon. They are held at gunpoint by a suspicious man, Seth. Meanwhile, Greg tells Jenny the notebook seems to have a reference to hydroelectric power in Burgen, Norway. Jenny realises he's excited by it and thinks they should focus on what they need themselves, like being short of needles. Greg admits he's not sure his methane engine will work. Jenny is afraid of him leaving them.

Seth gets Alan and Melanie to turn out their pockets and finds the postcard. He identifies the balloonist as Lars and learns he's dead. He offers them food. He also asks about a girl, Lars' daughter Agnes. At that moment, Agnes is trekking alone through the darkened woods. She drops a map. Seth tells Alan and Melanie about the balloon's arrival; Agnes was there to translate for Lars. He explains they came by boat from Norway, having found no-one alive in Denmark. There is no food there and less than 100 people left. The Carlssons retrieved the balloon from Peterborough and had a plan to link the communities together and offer their electric power in trade.

Agnes wakes up and realises the map has gone, breaking down in tears. Meanwhile, Greg and Charles discuss ways to help and link up the various communities. Pet is unimpressed as Greg talks about sending people to where their skills are most needed. Charles says this is what he always talked about, people gaining specialities and training. John and Lizzie interrupt to say Alan and Melanie are back. Greg and Charles go to see them but Pet remains behind. Alan and Melanie tell them about Agnes.

Jenny tells Pet she thinks Greg wants to go to Norway. Greg, Charles, Alan and Melanie join them and explain about Carlsson's plan. Alan explains the Norwegians don't just want food but skilled men who can get the industry working. Ruth joins them. Meanwhile, Agnes encounters Hubert and says she hasn't seen anyone in two days. Hubert tells her of her father's death. She collapses in his arms, exhausted. Back at the farmhouse, Greg is insisting they need to send word to Norway and take over linking things up. Pet and Jenny are incredulous. Greg and Melanie both argue the balloon could get them there. Melanie wants to go but Greg says she'd be better help weaving. Pet argues their own community works. Ruth tries to defend Charles' point of view. Pet worries about becoming dependent on other people. Hubert arrives to tell them about Agnes.

Sally and Pete are with Agnes as she looks at Carlsson's grave. Charles and Melanie arrive. Agnes explains about coming there to look for cows to breed with the cattle in Hereford. Her father left without her when the wind changed while she was away, so she tried to come after him. Charles offer her food and rest. Agnes removes the cross from the grave, saying he wasn't a religious man. Later, Greg encourages Jenny to come and see Agnes. Jenny tries to argue they're being heartless but Greg points out it was Agnes who wanted to talk. Jenny worries about what she and the children would do without him. She asks if he's going. Greg says husbands have travelled before. Jenny thinks everyone's ready to leave Whitecross if they need to.

Agnes tells Greg, Charles, Pet, Ruth and Melanie they should leave Whitecross, which is too remote and not fertile enough. She thinks they should send Hubert to Hereford, where no-one knows how to look after the cattle, and there is no need to keep sheep for wool which is plentiful elsewhere. They admit they can't make tools. Agnes says Seth knows how but is too busy keeping animals. She thinks both she and Jack should go to their factory in Burgen. They also need to mine the iron, since people are still starving in Norway.

Charles looks over Whitecross, suddenly disenchanted. He goes to see Jack and talks to him about getting the barges running again. He thinks they need to rejoin the rest of the world. He notes without roads it's easier to get between England and Norway than other places and dreams of becoming industrialised again. He thinks they need to trade while Norway still needs them. Jack works out the way you could go. Charles admits he wants Jack to go to Norway.

Greg tells Jenny that Jack and Agnes are going to leave in the balloon and will establish a network with other communities along the way, then cross the North Sea by boat. He also admits Whitecross doesn't have much to offer the other communities but promises he and Jenny will go wherever they need to together. Jenny isn't sure Jack can get the machines in Norway working, even with it being predicted he goes a year and sets up a communications network. Jenny tentatively admits Greg should go too.

Pet scornfully tells Ruth that there'll be a government next and either Greg or Charles would be prime minister. Meanwhile, Jenny and Sally discuss the winds and Jenny refuses to let John have a ride in the balloon. Sally offers to help with the baby. Hubert gives Greg and Agnes his opinion on the wind. Charles says a stilted farewell to Greg, reminding him to maintain communications. Alan helps Jack get the balloon ready.

Greg tells Jenny that the wind is right for the balloon to leave and they'll be in the Cotswold by the evening. They say a tearful farewell. Charles invites Pet to come and see the balloon off. He is considering moving closer to the Cotswolds and says Hubert won't be leaving. Pet wonders if Hubert is the only one that still considers Whitecross home, and consents to going to see the balloon. Greg says goodbye to John and Lizzie before joining Jack and Agnes. Charles and Pet join a crowd including Jenny, Ruth, Alan, Melanie, Pete and Hubert as they watch the balloon lift off and disappear into the distance.

## Cast

* Greg Preston - Ian McCulloch
* Charles Vaughan - Denis Lill
* Jenny Richards - Lucy Fleming
* Ruth Anderson - Celia Gregory
* Pet Simpson - Lorna Lewis
* Hubert Goss - John Abineri
* John Millon - Stephen Dudley
* Lizzie Willoughby - Tanya Ronder
* Jack Wood - Gordon Salkilld
* Agnes Carlsson - Sally Osborne
* Alan - Stephen Tate
* Melanie - Heather Wright
* Sally - June Page
* Dave - Peter Duncan
* Pete - Roger Monk
* Seth - Dan Meaden

## Crew

* Written by Martin Worth
* Produced by Terence Dudley
* Directed by Terence Williams