Original title
Rockface
Released
3/13/2002
Origin country
GB
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
2
Number of episodes
14
Rockface is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One from 2002 to 2003. It ran for two series: the first six episodes were broadcast from 13 March to 17 April 2002 on Wednesday nights; the second series of eight episodes ran from 25 May to 27 July 2003 on Sunday nights. The series is set in Glenntannoch, a fictitious town in the Scottish Highlands, and centres around a mountain rescue team led by Dr Gordon Urquhart. The major rescues and incidents in the series were based on real life rescues conducted by the Lochaber Mountain Rescue service.
In this first episode we are introduced to some of the major characters. The first rescue involves Jamie ending up balanced on the edge of one of the rocks whilst attempting to rescue a photographer who has fallen. Two brothers are out walking when one trips and hurts himself. He ruptures his spleen , but the team have a long time to wait for a helicopter to arrive. Douglas has to rescue a diabetic who is in danger of going into a coma. Caroline wants to join the rescue team, but the others are wary of her because her father has donated money to the mountain rescue service.
In the opening sequence Douglas who is riding his bike collides into the car of nurse Helen, an argument follows and Douglas rides off and leaves her. Mike helps to rescue a girl trapped in a cave and the only way out is to crawl under tunnels. Jamie, Douglas and Annie have to rescue rope climbers who have fallen. Jamie is not very happy when he discovers his mother is now a consultant at the hospital. Despite their differences Douglas and Helen decide to go out for a meal together.
Douglas and Helen have begun a relationship. The team rescue two boys who have become stranded above a waterfall. Caroline and Jamie get to talk at her fathers rather grand party. Gordon's daughter Kirsty returns from university . We discover that Douglas is her godfather, she borrows money from him and borrows Gordon's car without asking leaving him unable to get home. Ben still finds it difficult to accept Caroline onto the team and we think that he may have secret that he is keeping from his brother.
In this episode some of the rescuers dress up as they would have done 100 years ago to raise funds for the rescue service. On their treck across the mountains they get involved in a real rescue, eventually helping a woman with MS to stand to see the views around her. Doug resigns as deputy as his boss has told him that he will have to take his rescue days of out of his annual leave. Caroline rescues a man who has fallen and whose wound is covered in flies and maggots. We find out that he is the son of Doug's boss Dennis and therefore Doug no longer has to resign. We discover that Jamie has a brother who has been missing for several years and is now believed to be dead. After her dramatic rescue of Dennis' son Caroline is voted onto the team, with a special recommendation from Ben.
Episode 5 is part 1 of the final story in the series. Annie and Ben get into an interesting conversation about dreams whilst on the hills serching for a chopper which has crashed. When they find it they are taken hostage by the survivors, the leader is an escaped prisoner and he forces Annie and Ben to take them to his pick up point. The other rescue involves a man who is successfully rescued after falling from Dragon's Tooth Sea Stack. Mike gives the man chocolate with nuts in unaware that the man has a nut allergy.
The story continues from episode 5. Gordon's wife is planning a surprise party for his birthday. Peter begins to worry about Annie and Ben and sets off to look for them. Gordon and Doug go to rescue some monks trapped on a hill. First of all it seems to be a quite a humorous situation, but there is a rock-fall, both Doug and Gordon have fallen, only one can go up again.
This episode opens with Douglas doing exercises, he is obviously thinking about going back on rescues, though Helen is not so keen. The first rescue involves a hand gliding accident. The hand glider is caught on cables. The second rescue involves a couple who have been rambling, the man has fallen into the waterfall.
Mike goes to the rescue of a construction team whose Land Rover has left the road and plummeted down a cliff. Douglas receives the all clear to return to work. Ben and Annie attempt to rescue a climber who has fallen down a mountain whilst stealing falcon eggs. Annie goes to see Ben to see why he is avoiding her.
Douglas continues to have nightmares. Whilst out on a run, Peter and Ben find a man walking in a daze with cuts to his face. Caroline is upset to witness Adam's fiance rejecting him.
The team come to the rescue of two climbers who have fallen from a rockface. Mike decides to make a video for a dating agency and Caroline films him. Caroline is called for her annual assessment by Peter, but Jamie informs her that he has been asked to do it instead. Helen wonders why Douglas is so moody and cold towards her, and Jane suggests that he is still affected by his fall.
Jamie takes part in a cross country cycle race with his friend Ian, but when they get into an argument, Ian falls down the rocks into the river below. When Jamie climbs down to help him, he ends up falling himself.
Four teenagers wander into a drain that belongs to an old dam to have a party, but during a thunderstorm, water seeps into the drain, trapping the four boys inside. One of them manages to swim out and alerts the rescue team. One of the boys is identified as Betty's son Jason, and Annie discovers that the others are in the sixth form at the school where she teaches.
Danny helps a tour guide who is trying to organize a ramble with two patrons with impaired vision, but whilst en route, the tour guide has a heart attack and the two patrons are left alone. Foolishly, one of the partially sighted women wanders off, believing that they have more chance of being rescued that way.
Douglas and Gordon are involved in a serious accident together. Meanwhile, the team receive news that following heavy snowfall, an avalanche has occurred up on the hills, and two young people who have been skiing have been reported missing.
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