EPISODE FOUR: The Two Becketts

Written by FRANK DE PALMA and TERRY BORST

Directed by BRIAN GRANT

 

First Transmission Date July 25th, 1998, repeated March 2nd 1999 (UK GOLD)

 

CAST LIST

Ros Henderson:Jaye Griffiths
Nick Beckett: Jesse Birdsall
Ed: Steven Houghton

Jan: Jan Harvey
Alex: Paula Hunt
Matt: Stephen Yardley
Rokov: Nick Brimble

Khalif: Justine Glenton

Zealander: Paul Brightwell

Taska: William Hoyland

SYNOPSIS

A dangerous criminal, Rokov, is awaiting trial. The key witnesses, Khalif and Zealander are in separate safe houses, constantly monitored in sound and vision by CenSec, a security firm. A mysterious intruder breaks into CenSec, and is captured. He demands to speak to Beckett.

Beckett meets the man, and is amazed to find it is his own father, Matt. Beckett has not seen his father for many years. Matt worked for an unofficial UN intelligence agency, and many people, including Beckett, believe that he has defected.

Ros and Alex are called to satellite communications firm Taska-Tech where a sonic weapon has been used to blow a hole in the outer wall. The prototype of C3I, a satellite uplink module, has been stolen.

Matt visits Beckett at his flat - which he has now started to decorate. Matt vehemently denies he's a traitor, and persuades Beckett that he has been investigating Rokov for years. His colleagues, Khalif and Zealander had masqueraded as Rokov's employees in order to get close to him. They are now vital witnesses against him, and their lives are in danger. Matt is forced to admit he has been taken off the case because his boss considers him obsessed. He had broken into Censec to try to find the locations of his colleagues Khalif and Zealander to warn them: he has new information that Rokov and his associates are planning action against them. He wants Beckett's help.

Ed goes to the prison where Rokov is held. Minutes after he arrives, Rokov is sprung from jail by henchmen who use the same sonic weapon used at Taska-tech.

Rokov and his henchmen go to Censec, and again use the sonic weapon to gain admittance, to discover the locations of Khalif and Zealander's safe houses.

Matt reveals why Khalif and Zealander are the key to Rokov being able to steal large sums of money. During the sting operation to entrap Rokov, Khalif and Zealander set up a procedure whereby their voices, speaking certain codes, and transmitted to a central computer, could open access to various large bank accounts. With the aid of the stolen C3I uplink, Rokov now has the means to access the bank accounts. All he needs are Khalif and Zealander themselves.

Ed and Ros race to protect Khalif and Zealander. Ros arrives just too late to stop Rokov gassing Khalif unconscious and smuggling her away in his van. Ed gets to Zealander's safe house, but finds he has already flown.

Matt tracks down Zealander in a bar, persuades him to take part in one final scheme to trap Rokov once and for all, and sets up a meeting with Rokov. But Beckett has bugged Matt and arrives at this father's meeting with Rokov just in time to overhear his father apparently offering to do a deal. Beckett takes his father at face value, and assumes that the stories were all correct: his father is a traitor. At that point, Beckett is discovered by one of Rokov’s men, and Matt's plan is ruined.

Matt is forced to hand Zealander over to save Beckett's life. As Rokov escapes, Beckett realises that his father had been attempting to lure Rokov into a position where he could simply kill him - and he, Beckett, is now in danger of being blown up by the bomb intended for Rokov. Beckett runs - and just escapes in time.

Beckett is furious with his father's impetuous behaviour and so is Jan. She bans Matt from assisting in the Bureau operation.

Beckett has taken his father to his mother's grave. Matt's disappearance dates from a time just after his mother was killed in a car accident. Matt now tells his son what he has never told him before. It was Rokov who caused Beckett's mother's death - she was killed while Rokov was attempting to kill Matt. The reason that Matt took off so soon after her funeral was that he went underground in an attempt to track Rokov down and get revenge. The desire for revenge has obsessed him for many years. Beckett now understands his father properly for the first time in many years. He and Matt leave the Bureau together to stop Rokov finally.

Alex locates Rokov's base, where the C3I uplink module is, but is captured and held prisoner with Khalif and Zealander. Rokov sets up a telephone-computer link using the C3I and prepares to access the funds of a children's charity, using Khalif and Zealander to speak the vital code words.

Ed - closely followed by Beckett and Matt - arrive just as Rokov begins transmitting the codes. But Ros has gone to Taska-Tech and she uses the systems there to overload the data lines, thus slowing down Rokov's transmission of Khalif and Zealander's code words.

Ed, Matt, and Beckett attack Rokov, and a fight ensues. Ros is successful in stopping the transmission of the codes, and the charity's bank account remains untouched. Rokov is finally defeated and Alex, Zealander, and Khalif are released.

Beckett says goodbye to his father at his mother's grave. He makes Matt promise not to leave it ten years before they see each other again.


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