MICHAEL
COLEFIELD (Jack Davenport)
Michael is an ordinary man plunged into
extraordinary circumstances. He's a reluctant recruit to the Squad and his
initiation reveals their secret world - so close to a normal law enforcement
agency and yet so alien. He's the conscience of the squad. Michael seems to be a
man driven by loyalty, but his motives are not entirely pure.
VAUGHAN RICE
(Idris Elba)
Vaughan is ex-army and perceives the squad's struggles as a war
- even if he does have very personal reasons for wanting to win this fight.
Untroubled by questions of morality, Vaughan's approach to the enemy is
ruthless.
Other squad members suspect Vaughan revels in his 'license to kill' - especially against an enemy with no human rights. But deep below there is a hidden tenderness which his protectiveness towards Angie increasingly unveils.
PEARSE HARMAN
(Philip Quast)
Pearse is a Catholic priest with connections to the Vatican.
As leader of the squad, he now has a power and status that the Church couldn't offer. Whereas his colleagues remain unconvinced by the religious elements of the job, for Pearse they're central. Or perhaps it's simply his main failing - the sin of pride.
ANGIE MARCH
(Susannah Harker)
Angie, the only female Squad member, is a doctor and
oncology specialist. Having lost a husband and a daughter to the enemy, Angie
has been with the squad since it was formed.
Angie is a survivor. Although haunted by her own ghosts, she gives almost no indication of the personal tragedy that she has to bear. She lives for two things - her work and her daughter.
Susannah Harker is a direct descendent of Joseph Harker, friend of Bram Stoker's and the inspiration for Jonathan Harker, the hero of "Dracula", a coincidence she says has a 'slightly spooky symmetry.'
Code Vs do not show in mirrors, photographs or videos. Their voices cannot be recorded or transmitted by phone. Image and sound can only be detected face to face.
They are immortal. They cannot be killed, only reduced to ashes (neutralized).
They can be neutralized by exposure to sunlight or by introducing carbon into the chest cavity (projectile, probe or explosive). Resulting immolation releases enough energy to start fires.
Code V ashes can be regenerated and must be kept secure.
They can be repelled by ultraviolet light (the radiation in sunlight) or by allicin (the chemical in garlic).
They can shield themselves from ultraviolet light with tinted glass.
They can be affected by polluted blood.
When they feed, the host wound heals over in minutes and can only be detected in ultraviolet light. The bite can be treated with lasers. The skin around the wound is burnt away leaving a small scar.
If untreated, a human becomes suggestible and develops aversion to sunlight.
There may also be an aversion to religious symbols. This may be psychological. The effect of religious symbols on Code Vs is unproven.
When drained to death, a human becomes a Code V.
No-one is forcibly recruited. They only take those who want to go.
Code Vs claim to have human-type emotions. This is unproven.
Day One: Michael (Davenport), a detective sergeant on a homicide squad, is unwittingly sucked into the shadowy battle between man and vampire when his best friend and partner, Jack (Moyer) disappears without explanation on the eve of his wedding. Michael is approached by Angie (Harker) and Vaughan (Elba), two agents supposedly assigned to help in the investigation of Jack's disappearance. But when Jack appears on Michael's doorstep claiming that Angie and Vaughan are actually members of "The Squad," a state-sanctioned vampire execution team out to get him, Michael begins digging deeper for information about the two mysterious agents. As the details surrounding Angie and Vaughan's pasts begin to unravel, Michael is forced to accept that things are not as they appear, including his best friend.
Later, while on another investigation surrounding the circumstances of a suspicious hit and run accident, The Squad, headed by priest Pearse Harman (Quast), picks up clues indicating the driver was a vampire (Villiers). It's later discovered that the driver was using his vampire powers to engineer profits on the London money markets and to finance vampire research -- specifically a clinic using human guinea pigs to test the effects of diseases and radiation on blood, the vampire food supply.
In the meantime, Michael, now a reluctant Squad inductee, is struggling with his new role and is under constant pressure from Jack's fiancˇe Kirsty (Brown) to reveal the truth behind Jack's disappearance. Despite Vaughan's warnings not to expose his loved ones to possible vampire targets, it looks like Michael might just give in.
DAY TWO
An unknown protector foils the attempted rape of a woman
(Gillespie) and The Squad suspects that it's a vampire. But why would a vampire
be protecting this woman?
After further investigation it's discovered that the woman's husband (Donald) committed suicide three years ago. On a hunch, Michael has his grave exhumed only to find that there is no body inside. Her vampire guardian is her husband.
Feeling ill and not quite herself, the woman is examined by Angie, and it's soon found that she's pregnant. However, the ultrasound scan shows a blank screen. Could it be that the baby she's carrying is a vampire hybrid? And if so, can The Squad allow it to live?
Meanwhile, Kirsty makes contact with Jacob (Lockyer), an investigative journalist who has heard rumors of The Squad's activities, and hires him to find out what happened to Jack.
Soon after, The Squad members find themselves at a loss for the truth when local school children become infected with the vampire virus. With no signs of vampire bites, but an adverse reaction to sunlight and religious symbols, it's unclear how the children became infected and more importantly, why these kids are now the vampires' targets.
It becomes clear that the vampires have masterminded a trial run of mass infection of the population -- using a pedophile named Oliver (Gilley) to incubate a form of the vampire virus that could be transmitted by close contact. Because Oliver has a rare disease that makes him allergic to sunlight, he's the perfect carrier. He infects 12-year-old Gary (Stuart), who goes on to contaminate the rest of his schoolmates.
In the meantime, Jacob's investigations are bringing him closer to Michael, not to mention Kirsty. But unknown to Kirsty, Jacob has crossed over and now she has become a vampire target.
DAY THREE
Angie has discovered that the vampires were testing synthetic blood on a human (Allen). With an alternative food supply to human blood, could the vampires be looking for peace?
Meanwhile, driven by concern over Kirsty's newfound relationship with Jacob, Michael agrees to meet her but fears that something about her has changed.
Jacob reveals to Michael that he's holding Kirsty captive -- but he's willing to trade -- Kirsty for the ashes of Dr. Robert March, Angie's husband. As the squad knows, Robert's ashes reside in the incarceration chamber with other exterminated vampires. As a hematology expert, Robert's services could be used to perfect the synthetic blood.
As the war between the squad and the vampires comes to a head, Vaughan questions the other squad members' allegiance to the cause. Have Michael's feelings for Kirsty clouded his judgement? Does Angie miss her husband so much that she'd risk the lives of millions? Has Pearse's (Quast) recent cancer diagnosis given him second thoughts of joining the other side? Only time will tell.