Original subtitles

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.

Alpha-075, I'm declaring a fuel emergency.

Alpha-075, how many souls do you have on board

and what's your current fuel status?

295 souls on board.

Current fuel status is half an hour.

We spent too long over France. We won't make Newcastle.

They've had avionics issues since the storm hit.

And then with the situation at Charles de Gaulle...

- Where is he now? - Approaching Northumberland

- but we keep losing him. - Try Newcastle.

He doesn't think he'll get there.

OK, Alpha-075, I have new vectors for you.

We're sending you to RAF Coningsby.

No, we won't make that. ...need to land.

Yeah, look, that's exactly what I said to them.

We don't have the officers or...

Jesus Christ!

A plane just flew over really low but I can't see any lights.

- You're smoking. - No.

- Why can't you vape? - Oh, real men don't vape.

Mm. Where's your Protection Officer?

Oh, risk is part of smoking.

Take that out, what have you got?

Lymph nodes?

I called James. He's just coming.

So, er, can I go to the party?

As long as we can video you milly-rocking.

You think I don't know what that is, right?

He doesn't, really.

We don't really do parties, anyway.

Oh, really? What do you call them now then?

- Just a few friends coming round. - Yeah.

For tea and biscuits.

Yeah, well, enjoy yourselves, you deserve it.

I love you. Call me later. Bye, Georgia.

Fascist scum! Hey, Sutherland, resign!

Yes. Make that move.

Bye, Mrs Sutherland!

You sure?

Been a long time coming. What about the other issue?

Still waiting for an update from Fraser.

OK, I'm on my way.

OK. I'll call you as soon as I hear anything.

Dan? I want an immediate update if there's any evidence

of panic-buying at the petrol stations.

Anna.

You didn't answer my letters.

They didn't deserve an answer.

Mum?

Please go.

You don't even want to know what happened?

No.

Mum, who's this guy? Is he hassling you?

It's fine. He's just going.

Come on, come inside. Come on!

X5.

And another one.

I'll let them know.

- Anna. - Multiple X5s.

- Right. Do we know... - And that's all we've got.

But we've gone from moderate to significant threat

and we're informing all Gold Commanders.

I'll tell the Prime Minister.

Anna.

Multiple X5s. We've gone to significant threat.

They could be heading our way.

Convene a full COBRA for the morning.

♪ It's strange but I don't need space from you ♪

♪ And every single thing you do, I like ♪

♪ And I've been chaste ♪

♪ Maybe I just knew I had to wait for you ♪

So, shall I be Mum?

I've never done it like this before.

Oh, it's cool.

You know, I might just drop a couple of downers.

No, no, later, babe, honestly.

Trust me, it's like you're riding down a river on a swan.

It just takes the edge off everything.

Here.

Cheers.

Oh...

- Dominic Knight's on the way. - Great, thanks.

Hey, Anna, you wanted to see me?

- It wasn't me. - It was you.

- I didn't... - You did.

I did an interview a while back.

"What's the most important function

of being the PM's Chief of Staff?"

Do you know what I was tempted to say?

Knowing where the nearest toilet is at all times.

Sure, there's the strategic input

the diary management, controlling access

but really it comes down to making sure he always

has somewhere to take a piss.

You don't get to choose your level of loyalty

when you work at this address.

We have a COBRA on the solar threat at 11.

And you have until the end of the day

to draft your resignation letter.

You cannot... That is outrageous.

You're quite right.

You don't need all day for such a short letter.

Two hours should be plenty. Er, have it done by lunch.

The civil servants are waiting, we should be going.

Oh, and Dominic...

You can leave by the public entrance.

Queen takes Knight.

We should expect a counter-attack.

Don't worry, got the next move all planned out.

Peter will brief the press

that the threat level's been raised to significant.

All the petrol stations seem to be working.

There's no sign of panic yet.

That's cos people don't know what to panic about.

Morning, Archie.

Fuck that!

Have you just sacked Dominic Knight?

Shouldn't it be, "Fuck that, Prime Minister"?

You should have talked to me first.

I really don't think that's part of

my constitutional obligations, actually.

You know how it looks. Dom's closely identified with me.

Don't go there, Archie

or I'm gonna be forced to ask who gave him the nod

to brief against a policy he helped devise.

They're ready for us now.

Oh, I'm sorry, Lady Macbeth

I didn't spot you lurking there for one delightful moment.

That might work, if I was his wife.

Never too late.

So which virtue-signalling ponce

has been lined up to replace him?

I have a couple of ideas.

Francine Bridge was one thought that occurred to me.

We'll have to chat about that one.

Now... As you are already aware

this morning, the threat from extreme space weather

was raised from moderate to significant.

There is some uncertainty as to the impact zone

but the UK is certainly at risk.

I'll now hand over to the Chief Scientific Officer.

Er, yes, as I briefed the Director

of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat last night

the Met Office has been seeing fairly significant activity

on the eastern side of the sun.

But we've planned for all this though.

There was the seminar you did at the Home Office.

What was it called again, the last bad one

- a couple of centuries back? - The Carrington Event.

And a few telegraph operators got singed eyebrows, right?

The point is though, Home Secretary

as I am sure you'll recall from my presentation

that our technologies are much more sophisticated now.

The impact of a similar-sized storm

will be considerably worse.

OK, but it's not a great big meteorite

or the sun suddenly blowing up.

It's neither of those scenarios

and I shall be making the press very aware of that later.

Be great if we could all stay on message on this one.

Well, I have a bottle of Lagavulin

with the Foreign Secretary

this will all go the way it normally does.

I am sure we are all hugely reassured by that, Archie.

Now, perhaps we could pick up the thread in terms of

practical implications

just in case the shark actually is in the water.

Like the last time.

Of course, Prime Minister.

Stage One of a bad solar storm would knock out satellites

potentially destabilising all transport

and navigational systems.

I understand that aviation is the biggest concern?

Yes. There are real worries over flight safety

after a serious particle blizzard.

But Stage Two is potentially

the most disruptive part.

The storm will almost certainly

release several blasts of plasma into space.

And if one of these reaches Earth

it could cause huge damage to the power supply

through voltage instability

and transformer damage on the network.

Some areas could be without power for months.

The National Grid begs to differ.

They think it could be restricted to a couple of

remote areas.

And it could. We just don't really know

and neither do they.

But even one day without power

is enough to drive most people insane

and do huge damage to the economy.

Think of the impact of weeks or even months.

When are we gonna know whether all or any of this

is gonna happen?

We expect to see more large flares

on the visible face of the sun.

The Met Office are monitoring for plasma launches.

But even then, it would have to come our way

and even then there would still be one critical variable left.

Does the incoming plasma field

have a north or south magnetic orientation?

Which is the one we don't want?

Hot South, bad. Frozen North, harmless.

The probability is absolutely 50/50.

The plasma eruption could have very little impact at all

or it could be extremely serious.

When do we know? For certain?

So once released, it could take up to two days

to cover the 90 million miles from sun to Earth.

But we'll only know if we're Hot South

when it passes our satellite at the L1 point.

That's about one million miles from Earth.

Do the math, Archie.

Last time I tried that in public

Eddie Mair made a bit of a twat out of me.

Half an hour.

Correct.

There will be just 30 minutes before we know

if this storm will fuse a few kettles

or send us back to the Stone Age.

Archie's face was a picture

when you told that brilliant joke

about Francine Bridge as the new head of the policy unit.

Great timing as well

just before we go into the briefing room

leaving him no time to respond to your hilarious quip.

I believe that expression is called "what the actual fuck"

by the young people who have abandoned our party

in their droves.

- You weren't joking, were you? - No.

What the actual fuck, Anna?

She's brilliant. She's unemployed.

- Did I mention young people? - She was a Labour MP.

Yes, but...

Why does everybody assume all people under 20

are transgender vegans who only care about tuition fees?

If you only ever take one piece of advice from me

it is never make jokes about gender.

People literally lose their shit over it.

- How about vegans? - Stick to what you know.

Can we not just start moving

replacement transformers in advance?

Have you ever seen a transformer?

They're not small, you know.

- OK. In awe at the size of... - Absolute unit.

The sun is not going to explode.

There are no fireballs or meteorites.

It is an invisible geomagnetic storm that could disrupt things.

We have measures in place.

Please, please, please, please, please...

Pretty fucking please...

Report this responsibly.

So what time exactly does the sun explode?

I will brief you again if the threat level moves to serious.

Move the security meeting with The Crab

back to 11:30, please.

Well, they stockpiled CS gas and baton rounds

for the last false alarm.

Wait, Ed, don't hang up, I've got Dom Knight calling.

Dom? Oh, for God's sake.

Are you there, Dom?

Ah, good, never trust this hold and accept malarkey.

Oh, you bet we'll meet later.

Don't worry, I'm not taking this lying down.

Look, my daughter spends most of her time

signing petitions on social media

and my son sings that stupid lefty chant in the bath.

To them, we're still the nasty party.

We hate animals and refugees whilst favouring tax dodgers.

Our party does contain people like that

we can't just wish them away

or Archie would not be Home Secretary

Which brings me to Francine Bridge.

She isn't a member of her party any longer.

She even resigned her seat in parliament.

OK, but there's still one massive problem.

- I know what you're gonna say. - No, you don't.

You're going to say, none of this matters

because she won't accept.

OK, that is what I was gonna say.

It's a problem, it's not an insurmountable one.

Leave it with me. I'm meeting her for a drink later.

Met Office has just seen

a massive solar flare with multiple plasma launches.

We need to raise the threat level to serious

and recall COBRA immediately.

So, having analysed the data, we can now confirm

that a high-speed plasma eruption

is heading straight for us.

When does it arrive?

It depends on whether it maintains current speed

so we can't say for certain.

They're currently estimating sometime late tomorrow afternoon

with a margin for error of about five hours.

Meantime, we do already have an immediate impact on planes.

We're getting reports of avionics issues

like false warnings

and autopilots suddenly disconnecting.

Isn't that why we still have real pilots on board?

It is, Home Secretary, although

when an Air France crew faced a similar scenario some years ago

they hit the ocean 15 minutes later.

"The glide paths at two French airports have failed.

They need to divert traffic our way."

Can't they go to their pals in Germany?

You voted to leave the EU, Archie, not the human race.

Well, it's fairly obvious what the issue is here.

Do we ground all flights?

That would have a very high cost, both human and financial.

Department of Biz is opposed.

I trust you all remember the ash cloud.

If the situation in the air is manageable

and its Frozen North, then this is as bad as it gets.

In which case, we should just wait until morning.

Grounding all flights has real human impacts

and indirect danger to life.

This is a hard decision, but we do have to decide

as there's no middle ground here.

Flights will remain operational until we have more information.

It's the right decision.

Keep me updated on the plasma eruption.

I'm gonna stay here until we know if it's North or South

so you guys should probably just...

We'll stay, too.

We'll take it in turns to sleep.

OK, well, we could be here for a while, so...

I need to pop out for an hour.

Need to make sure Mabel's OK.

It's my dad's dog. Cockapoo.

Staying with me while he's in the care home.

How is the old man?

Well, he thinks the Home Secretary

should lead the country so possible early stage dementia.

I need to speak to the hospital social worker

but I haven't had a second.

Do you need anything?

- Get some food in a bit later? - Pizza or curry?

Pizza. Something with loads of anchovies.

- I thought for a minute... - Me too.

- Did you ever meet his ex-wife? - Uh-uh.

More Dobermann than Cockapoo. He's better off with Mabel.

- So, will you do it? - Of course I won't.

Doesn't have to be Policy and Research.

You can have any job title you please.

Er, Chief Adviser to the Duchy of Narnia.

What do we really disagree on?

Corporation tax. Public services.

The unquestionable superiority of Western values.

- I've seen the alternatives. - Also, you're not your party.

And you would answer only to me.

I can't.

I got badly burned in the split. I just want...

What all normal people want. Respect. Trust. Decency.

And a bit of help with the school fees, of course.

Just... Universal Credit doesn't cover that, right?

You are such an operator.

You still getting flak for going private?

Yes.

I didn't change my principles, Anna.

He got threatened with bloody acid

by kids who weren't messing about.

You don't have to convince me. I believe in choice, remember?

Yeah, but I don't really.

Plus it's not choice, it's purchasing power.

That's part of choice once you've paid your tax.

See, I don't need us to agree on everything.

I just want somebody who's not an arsehole

and that I can trust.

Ever think you might have chosen the wrong career?

No.

Don't be fooled, Mabel. I hate and despise you.

The sooner I'm on my own again the better.

Heather, it's me.

You've probably seen on the news about the possible

power complications.

Take them seriously.

Get yourself a wind-up radio...

plenty of food and water, extra fuel for the car.

In spite of your successful attempts

to destroy my relationship with the kids

I love them very much.

Might be difficult over the next few weeks

so prepare yourselves.

The situation in Paris is causing chaos.

They're sending more and more our way.

We're running out of slots.

A couple of flights have declared fuel emergencies.

...five... I don't know where I am...

They're still getting false alerts and losing comms.

Some of them are getting so confused, they don't even know

- where they are anymore. - Try and prioritise.

It's all we can do.

We're treating this as a rising tide level

of emergency, insofar as we have a level of advance warning

of the threat involved.

But at the same time

I'm afraid we also have very little guidance from London

as to what, if anything

is actually going to happen tomorrow.

If the worst does happen, and we are without power

for a lengthy period of time

I'll chair and host Gold Command

from the Royal Northumberland Hospital near Hexham.

Our main priorities will be maintaining healthcare

ensuring protection for the vulnerable

safeguarding key sites and essential fuel supplies

while maintaining law and order.

Perhaps our biggest challenge

will be getting vital staff to their places of work.

Now, you all have a copy of the civil emergencies guidelines

but I imagine you will also have some questions?

One at a time, please.

How real is the threat from the solar storm?

Oh, it's real.

They've convened my Local Resilience Forum

for the morning.

Might only cause minor disruption.

Good chance of nothing at all.

So, funny thing has happened.

Funny ha-ha or funny peculiar?

When I was reporting in Bosnia, there was a local translator

working for the UN forces around Tuzla.

His sister was in Visegrad

and when the local Serbs took that town

that was not a good place to be a young woman.

Nowhere is during war.

Visegrad was hell.

Stuff went on there that...

It's why I can't tolerate people who take what we have

for granted.

So, what happened?

He went to look for her and he just vanished.

I never saw him again.

Until now.

- He's turned up? - Literally on my doorstep.

Did he find his sister?

I don't know.

We haven't spoken properly.

But you're going to, right?

It was so long ago.

Oh, come and work with me. What larks!

Yeah, that is not going to happen.

There will categorically be no larks.

Yes, there will!

I want a secure video link to all police

Gold Commanders.

We also need to ensure that all essential staff

can be brought to places of work.

I'll get back to you.

Uh, Air Traffic Control are reporting a mayday

from a diverted flight from Malaga to Oslo.

Up until ten minutes ago, it had contact

but now they've lost all comms.

OK, well, where was this plane re-routed to?

Newcastle. They're assuming it's close to...

Let's not make assumptions when it comes to large

metal objects full of jet fuel.

That's the problem though. It's not full of jet fuel.

They think he's running on fumes.

Get me Bob Jones at NATS.

Patch him over to the briefing room.

OK, Alpha-075, do you want to divert?

Please respond, Alpha-075.

I'm declaring a fuel emergency.

I repeat. A fuel emergency.

Alpha-075, how many souls do you have on board

and what's your current fuel status?

295 souls on board.

Current fuel status is half an hour.

We spent too long over France. We won't make Newcastle.

Believe me, Dominic, I did everything in my power.

I begged him not to do it.

I told him it would come back to haunt him.

Oh, it will.

Served deep-frozen.

And that total bitch, Anna Marshall.

Well, they were both in the Tory Reform Group at Balliol.

You were at Christ Church, weren't you?

No, I was at Oriel.

Rumours they had a bit of a thing once.

I mean, let's be fair, she's a handsome woman.

- I mean, you definitely would. - LAUGHS Well...

So, who are they replacing me with?

She mentioned Francine Bridge.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

I'd be surprised if even Robert lets her go ahead with that one.

When are you gonna make your move, Archie?

Well, you know what they say about shooting the king...

We've picked him up again. He's over Lincolnshire.

He won't make it to Newcastle now.

There must be somewhere he can land?

One of the RAF bases. Coningsby if necessary.

How about Coningsby?

OK, Alpha-075, I have new vectors for you.

We're sending you to RAF Coningsby.

No, we won't make that... need to land...

Yeah, look, that's exactly what I said to them.

We don't have the officers...

Jesus Christ!

A plane just went over really low but I can't see any lights.

Oh, my God.

I think he crashed into the motorway.

Fuck.

This is Chief Constable Collier.

We've got an emergency on the A1 just past Newton Aycliffe.

A plane has crashed on the road.

OK, we need to declare a major incident.

- Help, please! - Sir...

Sir, help's on its way, OK? Help's coming.

Ma'am, help is coming.

- Help is on its way, OK? - My baby!

Your baby? I'll find her, don't worry.

Por favor!

Where is she? Where is she? Do you know?

I'll find her, don't worry.

Don't worry, I'm gonna find her, OK?

It's gonna be OK.

I can hear her, I can hear her, it's OK.

Right, I can see her!

It's OK. I've got her down! She's OK!

Please... please...

My baby, please!

She's here.

OK, thanks. Where in Portugal?

That's good of you. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, bye.

What does "Tuzla" mean?

Tuzla. It's in Bosnia.

Yeah, just you... Go ahead.

Mm, not bad.

This was my favourite thing.

Oh, that tastes of being young.

So, is the sun gonna blow up?

No. Dad's flight's been diverted to Portugal.

- Then what? - Then... I don't know.

He'll have to wait until it's safe to fly again, I suppose.

Funny how it all happens when you lot

- fall behind in the polls again. - Hello to you, too.

Actually, it's because we're about to invade Venezuela.

You won't read about that in the mainstream media.

They've got oil.

Yeah, they're also eating dead cats.

Look, I might have to stay up in town a few nights this week

just until this fake news blows over.

Spoon!

Yep.

Oh, God. Where?

- Are there any survivors? - Dad?

No, it's fine, it's not his plane.

Yep, go on.

So they're bringing the rest of the planes

to the nearest available landing points.

So far, no further incidents.

If only we'd grounded the planes...

It would have made no difference at all.

The plane was already in the air.

It crashed because the sun took out the glide paths in France

or it would've landed safely.

You made the right decision for the right reasons.

Funny feeling that's not how others will see it.

Well, we're not others though, are we?

We're the ones who have to make the decisions

while others talk about them in pubs.

Keep me updated on casualties.

- Hi, darling. - Mum!

Mum, it's Georgia, I'm at the hospital

and they can't bring her round, Mum.

She's not breathing, it's a nightmare!

Ellie, Ellie, just calm down, calm down.

What happened?

We've been up all night, Mum, we were taking stuff...

What are you talking about? What kind of stuff?

Oh, God, Mum, it's all my fault!

Mum, it's all my fault.

Robert! Ellie, listen to me.

You need to keep it together

and I don't want you to speak to anyone.

- OK. - Alright, sweetheart?

I love you and I'll be there as soon as I can.

OK. I love you, bye.

God...

What's happened?

Ellie's friend Georgia is in a coma.

- What? - Drugs.

They've been up all night doing drugs after graduation.

Christ. She's OK though? Ellie's not...?

- She's in bits. - Oh, God, poor kid.

The Met Office say the CME's trajectory

is faster than anticipated.

I don't have a fucking clue what that means.

It means I have to reconvene COBRA.

Our daughter is in trouble, Robert! We...

Look.

We've got a plane crashed on the A1...

we have a solar storm that could wipe out our power supply.

I just don't have time for this.

OK, I'll go and get her. Leave it with me, go on.

I'll text you with any news.

I'll have Peter Mott come first thing in the morning.

He has to be across this.

Yeah, that would be a really good idea.

Leave it with us. It'll be OK.

It'll be OK.

Accident investigators are a t the site

of yesterday's tragedy on the A1.

There has been speculation that the crash was caused

by a particle blizzard, associated with the solar storm

and fears are mounting that it is just the start

of the full blown chaos...

OK, so we're going to set up the strategic

command centre at the hospital.

A lot of ghouls are trying to get to the site

and blocking B roads.

What's the status with the survivors?

The pilot did pretty well and saved the majority.

Er, current fatality count is 25.

That's expected to rise but not significantly.

We have 17 in intensive care, six of them are touch and go.

The rest are mostly multiple fractures.

We have three burns victims from cars the plane hit.

I, er...

I picked a baby out of the wreckage.

The dad is in an induced coma

and his mum's about to have an operation on her back

to see if they can stop her from being paralysed.

It really wouldn't be a great time to lose power right now.

OK, Stuart.

OK, first things first

tell her not to say a word to anybody

until I've spoken to her. Right?

Going the wrong way, aren't you, Peter?

Always, Archie.

I'm on my way.

Stuart Collier's the Police Gold in Hexham.

Mm, he's good. Young, but level-headed.

The main problem is getting the medical staff

around the road blockage caused by the plane.

OK.

I'm not spying

I just don't want him signing petitions online.

Yep.

Where's the Prime Minister?

He's on his way over from No 10.

A word to the wise, Anna.

As you know, I have the highest admiration for you.

Get on with it.

I don't care how far you two go back

or how much you feel the party needs a makeover.

Put Francine Bridge in the Policy Unit

even making the coffee

and I will give you a lesson in payback

you will not forget in a hurry.

Thanks, Archie, and in similar spirit

get your hand off my arm and back the fuck off.

I'm not some little volunteer you can get handsy with

on the battle bus.

You just crossed a line, Anna.

When he goes

which will be sooner than you think

he will at least be able to do some lucrative

after-dinner speaking. You, on the other hand

won't be able to get yourself arrested.

I am feeling both positive and patriotic this morning.

I've got a feeling I'm gonna be a bottle of Scotch to the good

by the end of this meeting.

Better find out, hadn't we?

There are two possible impacts on the grid when the storm hits.

The first is voltage instability.

Now, we need that to stay running at 50 hertz.

If it goes a couple of points above or below

we'll start getting trips.

The other problem is burn-out damage to transformers

if the power from the storm surges into the network.

OK, Prime Minister, we're pretty close to getting

the orientation now.

We're getting the data from the satellite position at L1.

I'm afraid the news is not

what we were hoping for, Prime Minister.

We can expect a massive geomagnetic storm surge

in the coming hours.

It's Hot South.

There goes my Lagavulin.

Upgrade threat level to Critical...

- Here comes the sun. - ...and get me Evan Milligan

from the Grid.

A major incident has been declared

at this hospital.

We are receiving multiple casualties.

Non-urgent cases will not be seen

and you should await instructions

on transfers to other sites.

Thank you for your patience.

Bollocks.

That's not good.

The emergency generators are detecting

the voltage instability.

Do we have a direct link to the National Grid command centre?

I think they're just a little bit busy

down there right now.

OK, uh, early evidence is that coastal areas

have taken a massive hit and this is just the start.

The surges will just keep coming like tsunamis.

What about the rest of the world?

No clear picture as yet

although early reports say that

France and Spain are almost totally blacked out.

Three transformers are out already and that's set to rise.

The entire system is on the brink of collapse

and blackouts are now imminent across all major cities.

I'm sorry to say that the power of this storm

is far worse than even our most pessimistic forecast.

I will now speak to the Palace

so that Her Majesty can authorise the necessary powers

under the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act.

This is now a national emergency

and COBRA will remain active till its conclusion.

Anna, it's me.

I've been giving it some thought. Call me back.

♪ If you want my love, oh ♪

♪ You better come see me ♪

♪ You better come see me... ♪

♪ You better come see me... ♪