The Chosen (TV story)

***By Bread Alone*** was the ninth episode of *Series 2*, and the twenty-second overall of *Survivors*.

## Synopsis

Charles and Pet come meet another community with a harsh regime.

## Plot

Charles and Pet are travelling back from a salt-collecting mission, looking for somewhere to shelter for the night. They spot a barn and are soon set up there. Charles examines the machinery before Pet uses the stove to cook. Two young people, Kim and Nancy, turn up also seeking refuge. After checking they're well, Charles cautiously lets them in. Kim, who walks with a limp, does the talking since Nancy is dumb, asking to share their fire. Kim says he was in Birmingham at first but someone stole their supplies. They have no interest in joining a settlement. Kim notes there's one about five miles away who refused to let them join. Pet offers them some food. Charles explains they got the salt from a cave near Chester. Kim explains Nancy hasn't spoken since her baby was killed by a pack of rats.

During the night, Pet talks to Charles about the pair's chances of survival, although she isn't keen to take them back with them. The pair suddenly take ill, with Kim complaining his throat's burning. Charles decides to take them to the settlement they mentioned, loading them onto their horses. The gate guard, Lenny, initially tries to turn them away, calling the pair scavengers. Pet offers to go into quarantine and to trade salt for their help. Lenny agrees, sending them to the isolation hut. Charles and Pet settle the pair, with Lenny giving as little help as possible. They try giving the pair water while Pet checks a medicine cabinet.

In the main community, an older woman, Joy Dunn, is leading an exercise class. Lenny arrives to speak to the group's leader, Max Kershaw. He refers to Kim and Nancy as "termies". Max isn't happy about having them there but is interested in the mention of salt. Joy goes to talk to Charles and Pet outside the hut, asking about the salt and explaining Kim and Nancy are considered "terminals". Charles thinks they have food poisoning. Joy sends someone to get the cart the pair were using.

Pet wonders what to do, frustrated with the settlement's attitude. Charles thinks they'd do the same to protect their people's health. Meanwhile, another of the group, Sammy, checks the contents of the cart and tells Max, Joy and Lenny the pair took some of their seed wheat which he left in a shed. Sammy is horrified but Max is more amused. Joy and Lenny go back to the hut; Nancy is dead. Joy says the seed wheat was contaminated with mercury and there's no chance of Kim recovering. She offers Charles and Pet the use of the settlement's facilities, telling Lenny to stay and treat Kim with painkillers.

Joy settles Charles in a bunk room and tells him about Max and how they believe in total discipline. He briefly meets Sammy when he delivers some wine. Charles realises they're interested in the salt. Joy says Max may consider trading with them but they believe in total self-sufficiency. Charles tells her his philosophy of inter-settlement co-operation and everyone producing something others will want. He asks what their social organisation is. Joy says they believe in selective procreation with no individual marriages. Charles compares it to the kibbutz system and Joy says Max has improved on it.

Joy gives her opinion on Charles to Max and two younger people, Mike and Susan. All are scornful about Charles' values with Mike comparing it to those of the communists who unleashed the Death. Max says some people reject change. Joy thinks Charles and Pet will soon go, but they need to find out where to get the salt from first. She encourages Max to meet Charles. At the hut, Charles tries to talk up the settlement to Pet but she is uncomfortable there. Charles thinks it would be a good settlement to have links with. Pet says the field workers were marching back from their shift but Charles sees no harm in it. Charles ventures out to check on the horses and finds Lenny, who says the horses are being dealt with. He also reveals Kim is dead, claiming he tried to steal a horse and the dogs got him.

In the community, Susan prays thanks to the Lord for saving them from the Death and purging the world. Max says the committee will forgo their evening duties while the visitors are there. Meanwhile, Charles has reported back to Pet. He is still trying to think the best of Lenny but Pet dismisses him as a fascist. She is concerned her boots were taking for repair and not returned. Joy arrives and says they'll be returned in the morning before asking Charles to come and see Max and possibly address the whole community eventually.

Charles is brought through a room of people exercising to meet the committe. He agrees the world should be repopulated but isn't keen on Max and Susan's commitment to selective breeding, decided by the community by consensus. Max, Mike and Joy all say that the old system failed and led to the survival of the weakest. Charles is bewildered by their insistence that the Death is an act of God and they are "the chosen". Max denounces Charles' ideals as the old way. He, Mike and Susan denounce the idea of their community being polluted by others and call Kim and Nancy degenerates who had no place there. Charles realises the fascist nature of their "survival of the fittest" and eugenics policies and says the community has nothing that could benefit his own settlement, calling it a police state in embryo. Mike and Susan say anyone who has left has begged to come back. Charles thinks there must be room for joy and kindness. Max says those were why the old world failed. Joy asks about the salt but Charles has no interested in helping them. He asks for the opportunity to put his ideas to the whole community. Joy says it would have to be at the morning assembly. Charles and Max both agree.

Charles relates the conversation to Pet. He calls the pregnant Susan an evangelist and Max hates the old world but considers it a benevolent dictatorship. Meanwhile, Joy tells Max that they can't allow Charles to address the community. She says that now people have things easier they will reject discipline and turn towards Charles' ideas of unity.

During the night, Charles muses to Pet on how Kim was probably put out of misery and how they might all be chosen. Max turns up and returns Pet's boots, telling them to take their things and go rather than face the assembly. He suggests they might see Charles' ideas as heresy and want them killed. Charles thinks he's afraid the people might listen to him. Max says he was a schoolmaster before the Death and had strong feelings about discipline then but wasn't prepared for leadership until the community chose him. Max leaves and Pet wants to accept his offer but Charles isn't convinced the people would behave as Max says. Joy arrives and says they were fanatics to start with, desperate to believe in Max after the horrors of the initial Death. However, she believes people are changing. She says the people that ran away and come back were set up to do so by Max, and now he wants Charles and Pet killed, which is what will happen if they try to leave the community, because he is worried about them coming back with their federation. She tells them to keep the doors locked and to follow her lead at the assembly.

Next morning, Max introduces Charles to the community and calls on Joy, who he calls sub-leader, to question him. He quietly tells Charles he might regret staying. Joy asks Charles about his criticisms of the community. Charles calls them too extreme. Joy queries him about his belief they should have kindness and love and criticisms of selective breeding and euthanasia. Max accuses him of exposing the community to a contagious infection by bringing the "termies" there. Charles asks if he's on trial and Joy calls it an enquiry. She says Charles ran the risk of being dragged down to their level. Max announces it is now a trial and accuses Charles of coming there to subvert their community. Charles dismisses the accusation as fear for his position as leader. Joy says Max says they were chosen to survive and he was chosen to be their leader, giving him the right to reject compassion. She then says what Max says is a lie. Max is horrified. Joy accuses him of plotting to kill Charles and Pet, saying she was meant to kill them. Lenny admits he saw Max go to their hut. Max protests that Joy encouraged him to go. Joy says he is afraid of Charles and Pet bringing news of the outside. With the crowd now following her, she gets Lenny and the others to admit Max put them up to running away and coming back. Max protests Joy encouraged that as well and that she is after power. However, now no-one is responding to him.

Pet asks Joy if Max will be executed. Joy says the normal punishment is banishment but Max is more use there as a sign of how the new regime is more benevolent. Charles is bewildered when Pet leaves the salt behind, just wanting to go. As they leave the camp, Joy, now in charge, watches them go. Charles and Pet realise Joy set them up to get rid of Kershaw: He was becoming too extreme, and the fact she was the only woman not of child-bearing age was a disadvantage when faced with his values. They note she's a politician and thus one of the best survivors.

## Cast

* Charles Vaughan - Denis Lill
* Pet Simpson - Lorna Lewis
* Max Kershaw - Philip Madoc
* Joy Dunn - Clare Kelly
* Lenny Carter - James Cosmo
* Sammy Waters - David Goodland
* Kim - David Sibley
* Nancy - Vanessa Millard
* Mike - David Neilson
* Susan - Elizabeth Cassidy

## Crew

* Written by Roger Parkes
* Produced by Terence Dudley
* Directed by Eric Hills