Experimenting on making guinea pigs invisible by lowering their refractive index to that of air, Dr. Peter Brady becomes invisible himself after a radioactive leak. Brady becomes front page news and a target for a ruthless criminal gang who kidnap Sally, forcing Brady to use his invisibility to steal £50,000 from a bank in order to pay the ransom for her safe return.
Dr. John Brady is working at the Castle Hill government laboratory investigating the nature of refraction - his experiments achieve success when he is able to make a rat become invisible - but a leak in the containment chamber releases the radation into the lab, and Brady finds himself rendered completely invisible as well. At first put under lock and key by the government, he escapes and runs to his former colleague Dr. Crompton for help, but finds that the powers of invisibility have the potential to corrupt... The first episode begins very quickly, with Brady becoming invisible in the first moments. Fortunately they give time to introduce and develop Brady and his family before the action starts - already however, the 25 minute runtimes of these episodes starts to show itself, and the pacing does seem a little rushed.
When a British agent is captured in a hostile Middle Eastern country, the government fear that his knowledge of the resistance movement there could place all its members in jeopardy. They call on Brady to rescue the agent from a tightly guarded military hospital. The second episode of the series sets the tone for many of the following entries, with Brady being called on to help someone in trouble. In this case, unlike some of the later episodes, they give Brady a convincing reason to get involved, and makes full use of his invisibility. One of the best episodes.
Brady is working hard to find a cure for his invisibility but needs a human volunteer. He is tricked into travelling to the house of the exiled South American industrialist Raphael Constantine. Hideously scarred by a grenade the man appeals to Brady to use him in the experiments as he yearns for invisibility. However, it soon becomes clear that Constantine has a more sinister purpose in mind for his powers... The third episode fortunately goes for a different approach and is one of the most inventive episodes in the season, although by the end of the episode the government agents seem unconcerned to reveal Brady's existance in public.
An outspoken Russian scientist speaking in London is kidnapped by secret agents and locked up in the embassy. Brady follows her and breaks into the embassy before beginning a diplomatic attempt to have her freed. When this fails he sneaks her out of the building to his own house, but finds that the Russian ambassador is not going to give up the chase easily... Brady again getting involved in other people's problems, although fortunately he does have a good reason to get involved this time (the scientist has been working on refraction and could be the key to getting Brady visible again) and the episode makes full use of his invisibility. A quite unpredictable episode and well written, it builds to a rather exciting climax with some of the best effects work of the series.
After a serious car accident witnessed by many people, the government reveal Brady's invisibility to the press and he becomes a near-celebrity figure hounded by the media. Meanwhile the friend of his young neice begins to suspect that her stepfather is planning to murder her mother for the inheritence and pleads with Brady to help... After the interesting opening the episode falls into the trap of many of the Invisible Man stories, a typical detective story with Brady rather awkardly inserted, and getting to do very little that a completely visible person couldn't have done. Fortunately it does boast a rather thrilling climax sequence.
Barbara Crane, a respected theatre actress, finds herself the subject of bribery after accidentally running down a man on a clifftop road. Worried by the events she starts to perform badly, and a suspicious Brady decides to investigate further, discovering that there is more than simple blackmail going on... This sixth episode is another example of some of the problems that begin to emerge later in the series. Although a cleverly written mystery story, the Invisible Man himself is very crudely inserted and gets little to do. Unfortunately the episode's short runtime prevents enough characterisation being developed, for the story to actually be solvable by the audience; the writers also seem to miss a key point - when Brady's foolish actions lead to a man being killed, he barely bats an eyelid.
A Russian sailor makes a bid for freedom from a trawler at anchor in a British harbour, but is soon captured and taken back to the ship. The head of the refugee committee appeals to Brady to help them and although reluctant to assist, he soon decides to sneak on board the ship and find out what he can do to help - however, it soon turns out that Brady has been set up, and he is ambushed by the sailors as the ship heads back towards Russia. Often during the series, Brady seems to consider himself a sort of super-hero, and episodes like this show that he is rather vunerable, in this case to a new Russian technology based on radar, that lets them see the Invisible Man - it is only a pity that the writers did not exploit this particular theme more. A decent episode and the first for a while that revolves around Brady himself.
A group of criminals raid an important British atomic laboratory and photograph some key documents onto microfilm. When the customs officers quickly clamp down on passengers leaving the country, one of the men hides the film in the mink coat of the ventriloquist performer Penny Page who is flying to Paris. When Brady's sister Diane witnesses this, the pair find themselves drawn into a deadly game as the criminals try to get the invaluable film back from Mrs Page. Another fine story, remniscent of a film noir, into which Brady and his sister are rather poorly written and get little to do.
When an airline pilot is framed for importing drugs into the country, he phones his old friend Peter Brady for help. Before Brady arrives however, the pilot is shot and badly injured in front of his wife, who is blind. Brady helps the police with their investigations and devises and elaborate plot to find the killer... Although seemingly just another detective story packaged as an Invisible Man epsiode, the story here takes full advantage of Brady's invisibility with a very inventive climax.
When the reformed career criminal is framed for an armed robbery and sent to prision again, he is determined to get free and prove his innocence and escapes 5 times before being recaptured. Curious about the story, Brady decides to investigate and helps the man to escape again to discover the truth behind the conviction... While Brady is often rather crudely written into stories, this episode has to include the most implausible reason to get the Invisible Man involved - reading of his story in the newspaper, Brady is so convinced that any man who can escape five times must be innocent, that he travels to the prision to help out. The rest of the story is a typical Brady as private detective storyline with very little on display that a fully visible detective could not have done.
Brady's fame leads to trouble when a group of criminals kidnap his young niece and hold her hostage - forcing Brady to commit a bank robbery. A rather inevitable episode, Bank Raid is well plotted although it suffers from the rather short run-time (the storyline had enough potential to be extended to a two part episode at least) and does have a rather terribly written and overly predictable ending.
When one of Brady's colleagues announces that he will not be returning from his holiday in Italy, and is seen using his mathmatical talents to win at roulette, Brady decides to fly out and convince him to return - but he soon discovers that Professor Owens is working to save his daughter who is being held hostage by the mob... Although another detective story, this time it is obviously written specifically for The Invisible Man and makes full use of his invisible talents for cheating in casinos. There is an interesting point when Brady's meddling again almost gets someone killed although as in Play for Death it is quickly brushed over.
After his bag of documents was stolen, Brady is kidnapped by a mysterious man who wants him to commit a murder - and to keep the unseen Brady in check, he has a vicious guard dog who can sniff out and catch even an invisible man. The potential for invisible mischief again crops up here, with the rather inventive concept of a dog being used to keep the scientist in check, even when completely invisible. Well paced and very dark it does leave the viewer wondering why there are not easier ways to have a man killed than kidnapping the Invisible Man. It makes for a decent conclusion to the first season.
During an airborne test of an experimental airplaine fuel flow controller, something goes wrong and the plane crashes, killing the test pilot. The forth failure in a row leads to public hounding of the project's leader, Scott, and he plans to abandon it. However, his old friend Peter Brady suspects that there might be sabotage to blame... The second season begins with this rather generic episode - again Brady gets involved because he just happens to know about the project (although why he a light/radiation physicist has anything to do with aeroplane physics is never disclosed). No surprises here, and they don't even try and explain the motive behind the sabotage, although the climax is well written.
A young woman named Ellen Summer escapes from a private asylum and runs into Brady on a train, begging him to help her, she claims to have evidence that could save an innocent man who is sentenced to hang for a murder he did not commit. Skeptical at first, Brady decides to meet with the man himself, and when they both tell the same story, he decides to investigate further... Like many episodes from the first season, Death Cell is a well written story, but would be more suited to Sherlock Holmes or an Agatha Christie detective than the Invisible Man, and there is nothing he does that a visible man could not have done. Unintentionally humourous for the way that Brady pushes his weight around throughout the story, bursting into people's apartments and assaulting doctors.
After some important scientific research is stolen, Brady is sent to Amsterdam to identify it after its recovery, but when the British agent is captured by local police, Brady himself has to find the papers and save the agent from jail. Nothing too original here, with yet another young woman finding herself in trouble and needing to be rescued, although at least Brady is well written into the episode and there is some good humour.
When an outspoken Russian writer is detained at the country's frontier while on the way to a major awards ceremony, Brady decides to cross the border himself and let her out, but he quickly runs afoul of the local military commander.. This is the perfect example of the obvious flaws that started to develop in the show by the second series. A virtual remake of The Locked Room from the first season, it sees Brady risking his life, and international conflict just to rescue a writer - quite how he obtains official permission to do this seems completely baffling, or for that matter, where he learnt how to be an expert marksman. By the end you'll probably find yourself rooting for him to get his commupance.
When a scientist at Brady's lab suddenly burns all of his papers and runs away, Brady sets out to investigate and discovers that he wasn't entirely acting of his own accord. No real surprises, and yet more random people trying to steal secret research from Brady's friends. Nothing much here that a fully visible man couldn't have done, and the story flows much better when he isn't involved.
Toni Trent, one half of a pair of twins and a popular double-act, performing for the troops on a USO tour of Britain finds herself in trouble when she witnesses a killing, and is kidnapped. When her sister Terry arrives in the country and finds Toni gone, she looks to Peter Brady to help. Another rather typical crime movie plot with Brady himself poking his nose into the affair. Predictable and unsurprising.
A UN inspection fails to find the suppliers selling weapons to terroists operating in the Middle East, however the British representitive Zena Flemming suspects that she might be able to find more evidence if she heads back alone, but takes Peter Brady with her for protection, and as a second pair of eyes. Aside from a surprisingly grim opening, with a child watching as his parents are killed in front of him, this is yet another generic episode, as Brady has to save a woman from some soldiers, and sneak around in a foreign country. The issue is raised at one point, that even if they cut off this particular supplier, there will be others to take their place, but it is never discussed further. The ending is especially poor, resolving nothing.
A young woman walking through a park in France discovers a rabbit that materialises in front of her. Taking it to the government in Paris, they are concerned that it could represent unofficial scientific research and call in Peter Brady from London to take a look at the creature and discover if it could really have been invisible. Heading down to where the creature was found, he discovers a sinister project... Although starting off as a very promising idea, the story quickly descents into typical Invisible Man territory with Brady having to save a kidnapped girl and fight off some bad guys. Brady never seems to show an interest in the fact that there are people who have suceeded in studying invisibility (and thus might have a cure for him), and just why the government send people to arrest these scientists remains unclear, since they are simply performing private experiments.
Brady is tricked at a Paris airport, and has his bag and passport stolen - a criminal disguised as Brady uses his passport to travel across to England with a suitcase full of cocaine. Annoyed at this, Brady offers to help the police track down the dealers in London. A decent epsiode with Brady pulling some rather clever tricks to track down the dealers and plausibly getting involved in the story (wanting revenge for them impersonating him), although the ending is rather rushed and their plan to catch the villains relies on quite a big assumption.
In a small Middle Eastern country, the head of the army presents a plan to the King to exploit their position as friends of the major Eastern and Western powers to blackmail major governments. The King refuses to sign and is shot dead, his younger brother, Prince Jonetta is attending a science lecture at his University in Oxford when he learns the news. Brady was presenting the lecture, and decides to sneak aboard as Jonetta travels back home, suspecting there might be trouble... Again Brady pokes his nose into this situation without really thinking it through, but fortunately the story is generally good, one of the better episodes in the second season, with Brady's invisibility being very useful, and building to a good ending.
After loosing big at gambling, Smith, the transport officer at Castle Hill is offered a large amount of money to leak the departure time of a major new experimental rocket section that is being driven up to Scotland for testing. The shipment is hijacked, and Peter Brady who worked on it, sets out to track it down. Once again we find Brady working on a new project, and so when it goes missing he plausibly gets involved (although what isn't explained is why the shipment leaves 20 minutes early, arousing the suspicion of the scientists, when it could just as easily have been hijacked if it had left on time...). A well written episode but nothing too original.
Military scientists have been working on a new form of explosive mine containing a light sensitive cell (designed by Peter Brady), that will detonate when a shadow passes over it. During testing there is an accident and an officer is trapped in a pit next to the mine, unable to move. With only a few minutes before the edge of the pit casts a shadow over the sensor, they call the only man in the world who could get to the mine without casting a shadow... The first of the episodes written by Brian Clemens, Shadow Bomb is the most original episode in the entire series and makes full use of Peter's particular attributes. Playing out in almost real-time, the episode is tense and very well paced, with some good, unexpected twists. The script never does explain quite what the purpose of the light sensitive mine is (a mine that deactivated after a set amount of time would be equally effective), but otherwise it ranks as one of the best episodes in the entire two season run.
After a plane crashes on arrival at a British airport leaving no survivors, the investigators discover that a component for an atomic bomb had been hidden inside some of the baggage. They suspect that individuals might be planning to plant a bomb under London and begin the search for a replacement piece that would probably be on its way. The final episode in the series, and the second by writer Brian Clemens. Well written and tense throughout, this very dark story never really needs Brady (he is brought in because he is an expert on radiation) but is exciting enough that you never really notice. Deserving of a much longer run-time, the story builds to a good, if slightly rushed climax.
