New Arrivals (TV story)

***New Arrivals*** was the eleventh episode of *Series 2*, and the twenty-fourth overall of *Survivors*.

## Synopsis

Do new arrivals have the virus? Should they be quarantined?

## Plot

A young man, Mark Carter, discovers an injured cow in a field near Whitecross. With him are a group of other youngsters: Melanie, Sally, Pete and Dave. Jack tries to intervene but Carter ignores him and starts cutting the animal. John and Lizzie run back to the settlement. Greg, Charles and Alan are working in a loft at the mill. Arthur is with them but feels ill and is told to go and rest. Alan is worried that Arthur had contact with a man who came to the settlement looking for Ruth's help with an illness. John and Lizzie turn up and says someone's killing the cows.

Jenny and Pet discuss the fact bread hasn't been rising lately. Ruth comes up and says the settlement was infected with a nasty flu. The older members died and there were too few left to keep the settlement going, so she brought the younger ones back with her. Greg and Charles confront Carter who says the cows were suffering from clover bloat because of a mistake with grazing. He criticises Jack for his handling of it. Charles tells Carter that Jack doesn't look after the cattle regularly and concedes they have a lot to learn. Carter comes up with a solution to dry the hay.

Ruth insists to Pet and Jenny that there's no chance that the five she brought back with her having the virus but she's putting them in the mill as a precaution, which Charles has been using to dry out hay. Carter is the group's leader. John and Lizzie play football outside, as Ruth explains that there were seven or eight other survivors who went off to join Boult's group. Alan arrives looking for help with Arthur.

Charles and Carter lead the other youngsters to the mill. Melanie makes fun of Carter, who calls her the court jester. Carter finds Pet looking after the pigs. He diagnoses them as anaemic, and with an infection of e.coli that has already killed one. He explains farm animals used to get antibiotics and think they should be kept inside or sent out to good pasture. Meanwhile, Ruth tries to convince Arthur he's going to be all right, saying they need his help with the hay making and the management.

Carter finds Greg looking over a pile of manure. He thinks it should be spread on the farm and Greg explains his plan to use the methane to run an engine. He shows him his prototype refinery. Meanwhile, Pet brings Arthur some soup but he doesn't feel up to eating. She notes Mina is feeling ill as well. Arthur worries it's more than flu and maybe a mutation like the one that killed Paul. Pet blames Carter's lot for sending the man who was ill.

The youngsters are trying to make themselves at home at the mill. Sally says the settlement seem happy but Carter thinks Greg is the only one sensible. Melanie says there's fewer rules here and reminds Carter that this isn't his settlement. Meanwhile, Hubert and Jenny try to usher hens into a barn. Hubert says there's been orders to keep them inside from Carter. Jenny points out they've been losing hens to wild dogs and that Carter has a degree. Hubert says he criticised his sheep as well. A forlorn-looking Lizzie tries to put a sheep in the barn.

Charles shows Carter a crop they've planted from seeds they found. Carter is exasperated when he realises it's a winter wheat and they planted it too late. He says they'll have to eat grass because they won't have any bread. Charles asks Carter's advice and he offers to draw up a five year plan.

Greg and Jack discuss Arthur and Mina being ill. Melanie joins them and distracts Jack, causing him to spill over himself. He brushes off John's attempt to get football advice. Greg chats with Melanie about their settlements and she confirms a number of older residents left the settlement even before the recent split. She says that they had two suicides and they were all living on top of each other. Greg suggests the youngsters could stay up at the mill and just help out with the work. Alan arrives looking for Ruth and confirms it's Arthur. Meanwhile, Jenny tells Pet the diagnosis of the bread problem that Carter's given. Pet isn't happy with him interfering with everything. Greg and Ruth arrive and tell them Arthur's dead. Ruth notes people are panicking and suggests keeping it quiet until Mina and Peggy recover.

Melanie goes back to the mill and tells the others that Arthur's dead and people are blaming them. Carter thinks the Whitecross people are too docile to threaten them. Alan arrives and Melanie says she's recruited him, since Ruth says the quarantine's over. Charles fills in Greg and worries about the community being split. Greg dismisses it as the generation gap. Charles says that was the problem at the last settlement. He thinks Carter's clever and wants them integrated. Greg warns him about scaring the newcomers off.

Hubert laments to Pet and Jenny about Arthur's death but Jenny thinks Carter's helping them out. Hubert says Carter told Lizzie her sheep had to be castrated. Jenny continues to approve of him, while Pet notes Charles also listens to him. Meanwhile, Carter continues to work on his plan while the others have fun downstairs. Melanie joins him and comments that he isn't used to people not following him. Carter accuses her of fancying Alan. Melanie quips that she fancies Greg, and thinks he's doing the plan because Greg and Charles make him feel small. She mockingly says he shouldn't blame himself for what happened at the other settlement.

Ruth is telling Charles how the older people were affected at Carter's settlement. Carter interrupts them with his plan. Charles is confused by Carter's plan, which recommends keeping the livestock in the barns instead of grazing. Carter explains the plan is to gather up their dung for Greg's methane farm, so they can get a tractor for the harvest. Charles doesn't want to be dependent on something they can't replace. Carter has been told Greg and Charles are joint leaders and suggests they talk it over. Up at the house, Jenny tells Pet that Jack's ill as well. Ruth makes an attempt to gee up Jack, who is mumbling about football.

Charles and Carter argue about decision making while Greg stands silent. Carter says if they're a democracy they should call a meeting. He walks out. Greg tells Charles that Carter has a point about the meeting. Charles accepts it. Meanwhile, Carter is leading the youngsters in clearing a field. Dave comments to Alan about them carrying the community now. Melanie and Sally want to take time off. Carter thinks they have the power to run the community but Dave isn't keen on it being the same as the last place.

Jack staggers out into the open, then sits and hallucinates about watching football. John finds him. Pet chats to Charles, who is worried Carter is right. Pet points out Carter keeps changing his mind. Charles worries he'll be rejected if he challenges Carter and reminds her they've made mistakes. Pet thinks Charles does a better job of caring about them as people and giving them a sense of togetherness. Greg and Ruth arrive and tells them Jack's disappeared. Ruth says the fatal cases gave up through a lack of morale. Arthur and Peggy both showed signs of delayed shock to the Death, while Mina's been upset since John Millon's death. Pet isn't convinced about Jack.

John gets Jack to give him advice on kicking the ball. Lizzie appears and tells Jack that everyone's looking for him. John gets Jack to carry on showing him. Charles tells the others that he failed with Arthur. Pet says Carter will just disrupt them. Charles dismisses it as youth. Meanwhile, Carter tries to encourages the other youngsters to use the meeting to set up a management committee with him in charge of farming and Charles relegated to the social side.

Charles addresses the meeting, with a recovering Jack among those present. He expresses concern that the plan will mean extra hard work but some may thinks it's worth it. Greg declines to speak so Charles invites Carter to address them. Carter suggests some of them might not like hard work but they need to stop playing at farming. He also insists they need the power Greg can supply. Pet questions him about his change about the pigs and he says the sickness they caught comes from the soil. Greg asks Carter what he'll do if they reject his plan and Carter indicates that he'd leave and so will everyone else with sense. Greg asks if he'd accept Charles as leader. Carter points to Charles' mistakes. Greg asks if he considers farming efficiency more important than morale, then points out that the settlement he led before was run along his lines and failed through demoralisation: People deserted and there were suicides even before the flu. Carter snaps that they should vote for Charles if that's what they care about. He leaves, telling the youngsters to come too.

Greg and Pet comment to the meeting on Charles' value but Greg also thinks that Carter's plan is a good one. Charles accepts Greg's opinion and votes in favour, as do the others. Melanie and the others arrive back at the mill. Dave and Gary try to convince Carter to accept the others' leadership. They and Sally want to stay. Carter says leadership's not his thing and agrees the others should stay and help the settlement, but he intends to roam about giving advice to other settlements. He asks Melanie what she thinks. Melanie says it's a good idea...for him. She intends to stay without him.

Next morning, Greg and Charles wish Carter luck. He says he'll call in on them in the autumn but dismisses their chances of making his plan work, saying they'll be eating grass and playing bingo. After he's gone, Charles quips that bingo is a good idea.

## 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
* Arthur Russell - Michael Gover
* John Millon - Stephen Dudley
* Lizzie Willoughby - Tanya Ronder
* Jack Wood - Gordon Salkilld
* Alan - Stephen Tate
* Mark Carter - Ian Hastings
* Melanie - Heather Wright
* Sally - June Page
* Dave - Peter Duncan
* Pete - Roger Monk

## Crew

* Written by Roger Parkes
* Produced by Terence Dudley
* Directed by Pennant Roberts