Episode 1: In the British series, Five strangers from an online comic book forum agree to meet after one of them gains possession of the original manuscript for the unpublished second volume of the cult graphic novel ‘The Utopia Experiments.’ A shadowy organisation known as The Network is in pursuit of the manuscript and a person named Jessica Hyde, and is willing to kill to track both down. While three of the forum members – Ian, Becky, and Wilson – meet in a pub, Bejan, who acquired the manuscript, is confronted and killed by two Network henchmen, Arby and Lee. The only witness to the murder is 11-year-old Grant, the fifth member, and when he flees with the manuscript, the henchmen give chase. Ian and Becky soon find they’ve been framed for crimes they haven’t committed, while Wilson’s hacking skills attract the attention of Arby and Lee. As the trio’s lives begin to fracture, civil servant Michael Dugdale’s world is also torn apart as he is blackmailed by The Network. Just as things are looking increasingly desperate for Ian, Becky, and Wilson, they meet an enigmatic stranger: Jessica Hyde.
Episode 2: Ian and Becky are forced to face the terrifying reality of life on the run. Jessica reveals that she is the daughter of the author of the Utopia manuscript, and that she has been on the run for most of her life. Ian and Jessica track down an undercover CIA agent, who directs them toward a source known as ‘The Tramp.’ Meanwhile, Dugdale is drawn deeper into The Network’s plot, learning that they have insiders in major government intelligence agencies. Grant finally joins the group, having left the manuscript with a girl he recently met named Alice.
Episode 3: The group feel the full weight of The Network’s power when Grant is framed for a mass shooting at his school. With nowhere else to turn, they are forced to make a new ally, an MI5 agent named Milner. Arby learns of Alice’s location, and a standoff ensues.
Episode 4: The group take refuge in a derelict manor house. Attempting to decipher the secret meaning of the manuscript, they learn that a global food manufacturer may be involved in the spreading of a new disease, and that they intend to market a cure that only works on specific genetic profiles or races. Meanwhile, Alice is on the verge of a breakdown following the death of her mother, and Ian and Becky’s relationship deepens. Dugdale’s attempt to blackmail The Network backfires. The group visit a man connected to The Network, intending to extract information, but Alice shoots him dead, believing him to be responsible for her mother’s death.
Episode 5: The group attempt to extract information from their new hostage, Letts, who reveals that The Network plans to use the vaccine for the Russian flu as a vector for ‘Janus,’ a engineered virus that will sterilize 95% of the human race, in order to avert an impending overpopulation catastrophe. Becky’s drug supplier tightens the screws, demanding the manuscript in exchange for future drugs, putting her in a dilemma. Ian, Grant, and Alice take the vaccine to Dugdale to provide him with ammunition against The Network, but Grant is arrested when Dugdale opts to phone the police.
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The 2020 Remake… just in time for covid vaccines!
The series was remade and released in September 2020. The new version, written by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, swaps in an American cast that includes Jessica Rothe, Rainn Wilson, and John Cusack. Both versions of the show have the same plot engine: A group of comic book fans discover an unpublished manuscript for a graphic novel that they believe holds clues about the future, shadowy forces are also looking for the same manuscript, and eventually the comic book fans uncover a global conspiracy. So far, so run-of-the-mill.
But the nature of that conspiracy plays very differently in 2020 than it did in 2013, and the results are catastrophic. (Spoilers for both versions of Utopia follow.) As the characters discover, the reason the comic book contains clues to things that haven’t yet happened is that it was drawn by one of the architects of a plan designed to stave off planetary collapse as the population rises and fossil fuels run out. Here’s the plan:
- Convince the general public that there is an outbreak of a deadly new virus. To sell the story, poison or otherwise kill people, then attribute their deaths to the phony virus.
- Once the fake pandemic is up and running and the public is terrified, announce that there is a vaccine that can defeat the virus.
- With the help of global elites, NGOs, and world governments, inject everyone on the planet with this “vaccine” as quickly as possible.
- Surprise! The vaccine is designed to permanently sterilize all or all but a certain percentage of the people who take it. Sit back and relax as the global population drops from 7.8 billion to about 500 million in a single generation, ushering in a new era of plenty.
