Day of the Triffids: 1.6

"Shall we ever be able to come back? Oh yes, we shall. We'll work and we'll learn and then we, or our children, will come back and drive every Triffid from this land."

- Bill Masen

"Part Six" is the sixth and final episode of the 1981 mini-series The Day of the Triffids. It first aired simultaneously on BBC1 and ABC Television on September 15th, 1981. The series was re-aired beginning on March 7th, 1984. The episode has been made available on the The Day of Triffids DVD collection released in 2005 in the UK and in the US through BBC Home Video in 2007.

Synopsis
Spring, Six years later Bill Masen and Jo Payton are now married and have a young child named David. They are still living at the Mary and Dennis Brent, who have their own daughter, Alice. The farmhouse is barricaded with electrified fences to keep the Triffids at bay, but there are still dozens of them waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Bill returns to the house after gathering some materials and tucks David and Alice into bed. He then has a late dinner meeting with Jo and the others. He tells them that he is restricting his movements to smaller towns rather than major cities as the Triffid population appears to be growing in those areas.

The following morning, Jo goes into the kitchen and begins cleaning up the crockery. She hears a clacking sound coming from the window and draws the curtains only to find that some of the Triffids have managed to get past the fence and are now surrounding the house. Jo screams and Bill runs in. He pushes the Triffids back while Jo shields the children.

Afterward, Bill and Susan (the orphan girl he adopted in episode five) go outside in protective suits and destroy the Triffids with flame throwers.

Later that day, Bill and Jo go down to the beach. They fell relatively safe and Bill says that he doesn't think that the Triffids can ascend the plateau of shingles leading up to the beach. Jo is happy now that they have reinforced the fence, but Bill reminds her that the fence works off the generator, which always needs fuel; something that has become increasingly hard to come by.

Driving back, Bill ponders whether the comet that caused the global blindness could have been man-made. He theorizes that with all of the satellites and weapons up in space, the government could have designed a weapon to emit low-levels of radiation which could have caused everyone to go blind. Jo doesn't give much credence to Bill's wild speculation and cannot comprehend why the government would want to do such a thing.

As they get closer to the house, they see a cloud of black smoke. They rush over and find that Susan set a fire in order to send them a smoke signal. They see a helicopter resting in their front yard. When they go inside, they find that their visitor is none other than Jack Coker. They are elated to see him and Bill introduces him to Jo and the children. Jack tells them that after leaving Tynsham Manor following the plague, he set up a colony on the Isle of Wight. He goes on to explain how the island was infested with Triffids and his followers and he spent months clearing them out. He claims to have destroyed more than 50,000 Triffids. There are several hundred sighted people living at the Isle of Wight now and even more blind. He goes out every now and again in his helicopter (his third while attempting to learn how to fly) and finds pockets of people and invites them to the colony. He extends the offer to Bill and Jo. Although the Triffids are gone, he fears that their seeds may soon yield fresh, new Triffids and he could use someone with Bill's expertise on the subject to help them. Bill and Jo tell him that they will give his offer serious consideration. Jack says that he will contact them soon and leaves.

Later, Bill and Jo talk the matter over. Bill recognizes this as an important opportunity, but Jo wants to spend one more summer on the farm before riding off to join Jack's group. Bill agrees. A short while later, army vehicles begin pulling up to the farmhouse. A military squad, led by Commander Torrence, enters the house and Bill and the others begin to get scared. Torrence tells them that in his official capacity as commander of the Southeast Region, it is his job to allocate ownership of property and re-assignment of sighted civilians. He says that every sighted individual is to be put in charge of groups of at least ten blind people. As there are two sighted adults in this house, the farmhouse will now quarter more than twenty blind people (not counting those who already live there). Jo protests, citing that the farm could not possibly accommodate twenty more people. Torrence tells them that as the colony grows, they will be able to maintain authority over other clans. The military presence will serve to discourage aggressors from lawlessness. Torrence adds that Susan will be taken with him to find suitable work until she is old enough to take charge of a unit herself.

The families find this new greatly disturbing and they restrain from showing their true feelings on the matter. Bill invites Torrence's squad to spend the evening at the farmhouse as his guests, but this is just a stalling tactic. Torrence agrees and his men and he avail themselves of the Masens and Brents' hospitality. The drink copious amounts of alcohol and continue drinking late into the evening. After entertaining them for quite some time, Bill excuses himself, saying that he is going to go off to retrieve another bottle of wine. In truth, he sneaks outside and begins loading up the van with clothes and supplies.

Torrence's group eventually pass out from drink and Bill sneaks the others out of the house during the early morning hours. He turns off the electric fence and drives through the main gate (running over several Triffids in the process). Torrence and the others hear the noise and run outside. They fire their weapons at the fleeing vehicle, but miss. Bill, Jo, Susan, Mary, Dennis and the children decide to drive to the Isle of Wight to join Jack Coker's group.

Notes & Trivia

 * Based upon the 1951 novel by John Wyndham.


 * Last episode of the series.


 * Last television appearance for actress Lorna Charles.