Series 1 Episode 2

The second episode of the first series of the British thriller-drama action, Utopia, was first broadcast on 22 January 2013. The episode was produced by Kudos Film and Television for Channel 4.

Synopsis
Unable to ever return to their old lives, Ian and Becky are forced to face the terrifying reality of life on the run. Meanwhile, Dugdale is drawn deeper and deeper into a plot that threatens to have fatal consequences.

Plot
A dirty, disheveled man pushing a cart watches a man in a suit enter his house, and they lock eyes. The man retrieves the second issue of The Utopia Experiments and walks to a roadside, where he drops it in a post box before committing suicide by walking into the street and being hit by a truck.

Jessica Hyde tells Becky and Ian Johnson to come with her or they will all be killed. Ian keeps Lee's gun trained on her, becoming even more suspicious when she addresses them by name. Jessica calmly notes that he still has the safety of the gun on, and snatches it when he looks at it, explaining that she was lying and most guns do not have safeties, and hands it back to them. She convinces them to come with her when she warns that "every second we stay here is a second they are getting closer." She promises a worried Wilson Wilson that she has sent someone to pick up his father and steals a neighbor's car. As they drive away, Ian asks who is after them. She explains that in response to a 1970s Soviet biological warfare program that specialized in diseases, several Western countries combined forces to create "the Network", a secret organization that operates outside the law, and the Network are the people hunting them. Arby walks to the spot of the man's suicide, receiving a call in which he tells someone he will go to an undisclosed location. Grant Leetham wanders the streets, exhausted. He gazes longingly at a cafe and locks eyes with a woman before leaving.

Jessica prepares to rob a store to Ian and Becky's protests. Jessica warns them that their lives as they know them are over, and that they must "adapt or die." Ian reluctantly gives her the gun and she walks towards the shop. Later, Jessica purchases heroin for Wilson as a makeshift painkiller while Becky and Ian change into their new clothes. The group drive their car out to a remote area and Jessica blows it up. Driving in their new van, Jessica privately tells Ian that she had not picked up Wilson's father, justifying it as doing it to keep them moving and alive. Ian laments the absurdity of the situation. Michael Dugdale tries to get the Russian flu vaccine cancelled by finding a loophole in their contract, but Geoff Lawson dismisses him by snidely commenting on his affair with and impregnation of Anya, threatening to tell his wife if he does not cooperate. He orders Michael to send him the Corvadt contracts regarding the vaccine and leaves.

The group finds a house to stay in, Jessica explaining that she hacks airline companies to find out when people are away. She rigs a tripwire that will tell her when the residents are back, and warns the group to always be ready to leave in one minute. Becky remarks that she is going to take a bath, but Jessica orders her not to, knowing one will hinder their chances of a quick escape if caught at the wrong time. Becky and Ian argue about his apparent attraction to Jessica and who is responsible for their predicament, during which Ian reveals that Jessica does not have Wilson's father. Jessica explains to Ian and Becky the origin of the Network. It was created by geneticist Philip Carvel and a man codenamed Mr. Rabbit. When Carvel tried to leave, they tortured him and his daughter until he went insane and was smuggled out of where he was being held before he could be killed. His name was changed to "Mark Dane" and he wrote The Utopia Experiments while he was in an asylum, and the things that seemingly predict future events in the book are true because of the Network's knowledge of future events that they orchestrate. When Ian asks how she knows all this, she affirms that she is Carvel's daughter and has been on the run since she was smuggled out with him at the age of four.

As Grant sketches more of the manuscript, Jessica quietly wakes up Ian and tells him they need to find the manuscript by starting with its place of origin. Becky catches them as they leave, annoyed that Jessica is seemingly trying to divide them, but Jessica tells her Ian is ready for their mission and she is not. Jen and Dugdale are awoken by a text from his phone. Dugdale reads it and hurries to a payphone, where he calls Anya, who believes she is being watched and asks for help. As he walks back home, he is approached by journalist William Kaye, wanting to talk about the vaccine. When Dugdale declines, he stops him and warns him that this is not about a story and that his life is in danger, giving Dugdale his card.

Jessica and Ian walks to the house from the opening, and she explains that Bejan Chervo bought the manuscript from the comic book shop, who got it from a Scottish dealer, (shown being strangled by Lee) who got it from the book's publisher, Jack Tate, the man who committed suicide in the opening. She gives Ian a fake badge that identifies them as police and they meet Tate's wife at the door, who informs them of his death. As she leaves to go get the manuscript and comes back, Jessica beats her unconscious with a lamp, explaining to Ian that she must be Network because she did not ask why police came to see her dead husband. She finds a gun on her that identifies her as CIA and realizes she is just an unwitting Network drone, it being likely that she knows little of the situation. Jessica ties her to a chair and has Ian wake her up by pouring a bucket of water over her, warning her that she will electrocute her to death with a plug and the water pooled at her feet if she does not cooperate. The agent explains that Tate was wanted on terrorism charges but was dead when they got there, so they took his wife in. His wife explained that Tate was deranged on the day of his death and that he had been visited by "the tramp," which Jessica takes note of. Jessica internally debates over whether or not to leave her alive.

Dugdale tries to get Lawson to meet with a committee in another attempt to stop the vaccine, but is again shut down. Lawson reassures Dugdale that he will be seen as a hero if he lets the vaccine go through. Arby arrives at Tate's house after Jessica and Ian leave to find the CIA agent alive, still tied up. He claims to be a specialist that was sent by her superiors to find her after she did not report in, and after confirming Jessica was there and having her describe Ian, Arby shoots her in the head. Becky helps Wilson make a customized eyepatch, his sight slowly healing. Wilson again asks after his father and Becky reveals that Jessica lied about getting him. Wilson has Becky encrypt their Google search and look up his father, and she finds that he has been killed in an apparent burglary. Becky lies to Wilson and says he is fine, and a relieved Wilson informs her that he heard Arby and Lee say Grant had the manuscript while he was being tortured.

Grant meets Alice Ward at her school, a girl his age who has a similar temperament and passion for profanity. He takes a liking to her and lets her read the manuscript with him, and they exchange names when she agrees to meet him tomorrow to read more. Wilson has Becky make a post on a comic forum Grant frequents, having her use code related to The Utopia Experiments to mark a meeting location. Grant follows Alice home and watches as she eats dinner with her mother, before sneaking in while she does homework to steal food. He approaches her in her bedroom and she lets him sleep on her floor in exchange for reading more of the manuscript. He uses her computer and sees Becky's message. The next morning, Grant considers kissing Alice while she sleeps, but she wakes before he can decide and teases him. He has her hold on to the manuscript and tells her he will come back before leaving. Becky and Wilson find Jessica and Ian still gone, and Becky decides to take a bath.

Dugdale watches a news report while making breakfast about recent deaths from Russian flu on a small Scottish island called Fetlar. At work, he is praised for his foresight in ordering the vaccine, being called a "hero" just as Lawson predicted. He goes to visit Kaye, who is frantically packing up, worried that he is being followed. He tells Dugdale to get a sample of the vaccine from Corvadt and directs him to bring it to a scientist named "Donaldson" before leaving, despite Dugdale's worries over Kaye's safety. The tripwire alerting the group of the family's return is set off while Becky is in the bath, and she hurriedly wraps a towel around herself and holds the family of four at gunpoint.

Jessica explains the Tramp's origin as a Network scientist who left and now monitors their activities, and they watch him walk by, revealed to be the man pushing a cart from the opening. Jessica approaches from the front (addressing him as "Danny") while Ian tries to subdue him from the back, and the Tramp punches Ian and flees. They chase him to a public toilet and Ian asks her if he is on their side, which she responds with "there are no sides. Just people who help you and people who don't." The Tramp explains he heard about the manuscript and wanted to get it from Tate, but he does not know what was in it, only aware that Philip Carvel had completed a project referred to as "Janus" which has since been replicated. Jessica threatens him into explaining he wanted it to give to a woman in MI5 named "Milner". She sends Ian away to go find them a vehicle and asks the Tramp why Tate didn't give him the manuscript. He insists he is on her side, causing her to garrote him with a piece of cord. When she returns to Ian, he notices the burn mark from the cord on her hand and she explains that the Tramp giving up information so easily made him a risk, dismissing Ian's clear confusion over her casual murder.

They return to find Becky and Wilson staging a robbery and finding the family tied up and blindfolded in the garage. Jessica assures Becky that she did the right thing and gives the group an address to meet at the next night before leaving. Dugdale appeals to Conran Letts and his assistant for a sample of the vaccine and avoids explaining why. Letts turns on the television in his office and shows Dugdale that Kaye has been shot dead and Anya is the prime suspect of the murder. He taunts Dugdale about his and Jen's inability to conceive and the assistant refuses his request for a sample. Becky meets Grant and is shocked to discover he is only a child. He hugs her tightly and she brings him back to the van to meet Wilson and Ian before going to get supplies. She calls someone at a payphone and tells them the manuscript exists and Grant has it.

Arby finds the family tied up in the garage. He removes the blindfold from the father and asks for Jessica's location, then removes a canister of deadly gas from his bag, closes the garage, and opens the canister.

Cast

 * Wilson Wilson - Adeel Akhtar
 * The Assistant - James Fox
 * Michael Dugdale - Paul Higgins
 * Alice Ward - Emilia Jones
 * Arby - Neil Maskell
 * Jessica Hyde - Fiona O'Shaughnessy
 * Geoff Lawson - Alistair Petrie
 * Conran Letts - Stephen Rea
 * Becky - Alexandra Roach
 * Ian Johnson - Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
 * Grant Leetham - Oliver Woollford
 * William Kaye - Lloyd Hutchinson
 * Jen Dugdale - Ruth Gemmell
 * Anya - Anna Madeley
 * Lee - Paul Ready
 * Jack Tate - David Sibley
 * Bejan Chervo - Mark Stobbart
 * The Tramp - Alan Williams

Deaths

 * Jack Tate
 * Scottish dealer
 * CIA agent
 * Milton Wilson
 * The Tramp
 * William Kaye
 * Family of four

Music

 * "Where is Jessica Hyde? Part 1" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Tate's suicide)
 * "Utopia Finale" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Recap/Credits)
 * "Mr Rabbit's Game" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (The group leaves Becky's house)
 * "A New Brand of Drug" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica explains the Network's origin/Arby visits Tate's suicide spot/Grant wanders the streets)
 * "Fertility Control" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica gets Ian to give her the gun)
 * "Bekki On Pills Part 2" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica and Ian find a new house, Grant steals food from Alice/Grant considers kissing her, Dugdale asks for a vaccine sample/Becky meets Grant)
 * "Jessica Gets Off" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica explains Philip Carvel's origin/Grant sketches the manuscript, Jessica interrogates the Tramp)
 * "Utopia Descent" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Anya calls Dugdale, Jessica and Ian find the family tied up)
 * "Evil Prevails" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (Jessica explains how the manuscript traded hands)
 * "Samba De Wilson" - Cristobal Tapia De Veer (The family returns home)