Breakout (1997 film)


Breakout is a single British television drama film written by Michael Stewart, first broadcast on BBC1 on 22 April 1997. Directed by Moira Armstrong, the film starred Neil Dudgeon and Samantha Bond as scientists Neil McFarlane and Lisa Temple, who join together to investigate a mysterious death. The film was writer Michael Stewart's second science-based TV project, following ITV's Bliss, which premiered in 1995. According to BFI records, the original working title for the film was "The Lab".
The film co-starred Dermot Crowley, Jasper Britton and Janet Dale; with Carolyn Pickles, Hugh Bonneville, Joe Swash and Benedict Wong also amongst the additional cast members. BBC Genome Project records list the original description for the film as; "When a rare illness strikes down three people near a scientific research site, doctors battle against time to discover if a genetically-engineered pesticide, designed only to affect insects, has jumped the species gap during field tests." Notably, the film has never been released on VHS or DVD.

Cast