Knights of God

Set in the year 2020, Great Britain has been devastated by civil war after years of political unrest, the government has been overthrown and the Royal Family executed. Now the country has been split between north and south, London has been destroyed and replaced by Winchester as the capital. A Military governing elite, called the Knights of God, is led by Prior Mordrin (John Woodvine), a ruthless dictator, who is out to destroy anyone who gets in his way. The Knights are still struggling for complete control and fighting a war of attrition against a group of Welsh freedom fighters that Mordrin is obsessed with destroying. 

Owen Edwards (Gareth Thomas) is the leader of the resistance but it his son, Gervase Owen Edwards (George Winter), who is key to the plot. When he is captured by Mordrin he is given mind-altering drugs which are used to implant orders into his head that he should seek out and destroy the Prior's "greatest enemy," the surviving King of Britain. On the way Gervase meets and falls in love with Julia (Claire Parker). When it is revealed that Gervase himself is the King, only his love for Julia prevents him from obeying Mordrin's command by killing himself. 

The series was first mentioned in a 'TV Times' issue dated September 1985 in which it showed a photograph of Don Henderson in character but it wasn't screened for another two years, by which time both Patrick Troughton and Nigel Stock, who appear in major roles, had both died. This made it Troughton's last transmitted (although not last recorded) role. 

Andrew Morgan and Michael Kerrigan shared the directors chair for different episodes and the executive producer was Anna Home. The series was written by Richard Cooper, a writer who had previously worked in both children's and adult telelvision drama and who published a tie-in novelisation in 1987 which included a lot of material not used in the televised version. The series was shown on Sunday afternoons in the traditional family viewing slot that had previously seen the likes of Catweazle and Worzel Gummidge, but Knights of God was decidedly more adult in its content, right from the opening credits which showed a burning Union Jack, helicopters flying through flames and armies of black-clad soldiers carrying machine guns.

Published on December 28th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.