The Fall of the House of Gryffen (TV story)

The Fall of the House of Gryffen was the seventh episode of Series 1 of K9. It was significant for providing details about the circumstances under which Alistair Gryffen lost his wife and two children, an event that had hitherto only been teased in the first episode.

Synopsis
Darius, Starkey and Jorjie spend a very spooky night at the Gryffen mansion. June gives Jorjie permission to stay until a violent storm passes. Gryffen has been working on the Space-Time Manipulator and a bolt of energy starts up the machine and brings spectres from Gryffen's past into the mansion, causing mayhem. K9 sees the ghosts for what they really are and the group have to convince Gryffen before the youngsters' lives are drained away and the alien beings can take physical form.

Plot
As a storm rages, Darius and K9 play chess against Starkey and Jorjie, and lose. Jorjie gets a call from her mother who wants her home, but agrees to let her stay. Something shatters upstairs. Gryffen sends Starkey to investigate. The STM activates, and Starkey sees a boy for a split second. He tells Gryffen he was a "skinny blonde boy around seven or eight." Gryffen runs to look.

The others doubt what Starkey saw. Jorjie wonders why Gryffen ran off. Gryffen returns to say the storm is intensifying over the Channel. As he leaves, Starkey tells them years ago Gryffen and his family went on holiday and they were taken from him.

As the storm grows louder Jorjie predicts her mother will be calling again, which she does. When Drake asks who she's talking to, she hangs up, surprising Jorjie as that's her "trick". They hear scary giggling and Starkey suggests they investigate. Darius, obviously frightened, is the last to get up. As they leave, he closes the door. The giggling is heard again as the STM powers up. Gryffen suddenly hears a voice calling his name. As Starkey, Jorjie and K9 look around, they spot the boy and an equally odd-looking girl. K9 scans them and finds no signs of life. They are "non-corporeal entities". They vanish. K9 tells Starkey and Jorjie to go while he stands guard.

They spot the girl, who runs and then the boy, who also runs away, both giggling. As Jorjie searches, Darius appears, startling her. Starkey and K9 search. Starkey asks why K9 stays when he could go through the STM to some random place. K9 tells him that he stays for the same reason Starkey does. They are needed. Starkey again spots the boy, who runs away. K9 detects nothing. As Darius and Jorjie go on, Darius holds Jorjie's hand, which he calls "tiny" and "freezing". She says she's not holding his hand. Darius sees he has some strange slime on his hand.

As Starkey tries to find the boy, a mysterious hand grabs him. It's Darius scaring him, and Jorjie. They find the recording of Gryffen's family, K9 is annoyed at them ignoring him. Starkey and Jorjie recognise Gryffen's son and daughter as the children they saw. Darius doesn't believe it, saying they are Gryffen's children, Jacob and Mina. He says it's the last video taken of them. As the storm strikes again, K9 tells the kids to stop being so scared at the flashes. Darius recognises the voice of Eleanor, Gryffen's wife.

They find the children. Darius recognises them with a shock. K9 realises they only exist as light; Starkey reasons that if they are dead, they can't harm him. The children charge up energy and fire on Starkey, Darius and Jorjie, knocking them unconscious. K9 fires on them, but his photon beam has no effect, merely passing through them. K9 thinks they can only affect carbon-based life, but they disrupt his circuits, knocking him out as well.

Eleanor suddenly appears to Gryffen. She says he cannot touch her. She is too fragile. She tells him his children must complete a task before they join him to make him eternally happy. Darius and Jorjie are trapped on tables near the STM, which is absorbing energy. As Darius calls out for K9, he wakes up, locked in a closet with Starkey. He fails to unlock the door with his "Jimmy Key", which is covered in slime. K9 tells Starkey he needs to power his photon burst, before he tries to blow through the door. Darius and Jorjie call out to Gryffen. He tries to remember Starkey and K9, but his memories of them are being erased.

Gryffen goes into the STM room and tells the children to stop playing. When Jorjie and Darius call him, he asks who they are. Gryffen is in a trance. They try to wake him. K9 suggests to Starkey that with his attempts to retrieve them, Gryffen has warped Space-time into their shapes. He blasts the door. They go to the STM room, where K9 tells Starkey to go round the STM vortex while he distracts the children. Darius and Jorjie try to snap Gryffen out of it, but he is mesmerised by Eleanor.

K9's energy is depleted and he is disabled by the children. Starkey tries to stop Darius and Jorjie from being pulled into the vortex. K9 reactivates and warns Gryffen they are merely "echoes" of his family and Jorjie tells him that for them to fully materialise, they must absorb life force. K9 tells Starkey to get to Gryffen as he is the closest thing he has to a son. Eleanor tries to silence him, but he persists. Darius and Jorjie try to help Starkey convince him as well.

Starkey tells Gryffen that his family wouldn't want to harm people. This lets Gryffen see what they are. Eleanor refuses to accept this, but as the storm passes, she realises she and the children aren't wanted and they leave. Jorjie gets a call from June, who says she will pick her up. When Starkey asks Gryffen if he will be okay, he says that he will be as he was. The team manage to cheer themselves up by joking around.

Cast

 * K9 Mark 2 - John Leeson
 * Starkey - Keegan Joyce
 * Jorjie Turner - Philippa Coulthard
 * Darius Pike - Daniel Webber
 * Professor Alistair Gryffen - Robert Moloney
 * June Turner - Robyn Moore
 * Drake - Connor Van Vuuren
 * Eleanor Gryffen - Sarah McIntosh
 * Mina Gryffen - Rachel Everett
 * Jacob Gryffen - Joshua McIvor

Production crew

 * Writer - Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause
 * Director - Daniel Nettheim
 * Producers - Penny Wall, Richard Stewart, Simon Barnes
 * Executive producers - Jim Howell, Grant Bradley, Steve Robbins
 * Associate producers - Bob Baker, Paul Tams
 * Supervising producer - Dale Bradley
 * Co-Executive producer - Mark Blythe
 * With special thanks - Sam Tromans
 * Line producer - Pam Collis
 * VFX Director - David Napier
 * Series Production Designer - Jon Dowding
 * Episodic Designer - Adam Head
 * New K9 Design by - Paul Tams, Alex Kubalsky
 * Series Director of Photography - Ben Nott
 * Episodic Director of Photography - Tony O'Loughlan
 * Music by - Christopher Elves
 * K9 theme music by - Michael Lira
 * Editor - Patrick Stewart
 * Casting - Faith Martin and associates
 * Episodic casting - Lisa Maloney
 * Drama/Dialogue coach - Peter Kent
 * Story Producer - Greg Walters
 * Script Adaption - Michaeley O'Brien
 * Production Accountant - Pru Donovan
 * 1st Assistant Director - Peter McLennan
 * Script Supervisor - Sue Ketchington
 * Costume Designer - Joanne Thompson
 * Makeup Designer - Sharon Robbins
 * Puppeteer - David Pawsey
 * Location Manager - Charles Boyle
 * Sound Recordist - Ian Grant
 * B Camera Operator - Dan Maxwell
 * Gaffer - Steve Monk
 * Key Grip - Billy Harmer
 * Special thanks to - Space Furniture, Shredox, J. Barbour & Sons Ltd, Heath Williams at Firefly Lighting, Videopro
 * Safety Supervisor/Stunt Coordinator - Danny Baldwin
 * Transport Manager - Alister Ward
 * Unit Manager - Graeme Suhr
 * Post Production Facility - Cutting Edge Australia
 * Head of Post Production - John Lee
 * Sound Design - Warren Pearson

Story notes

 * For a reason as yet unknown, instead of airing on 17 April as scheduled, Jaws of Orthrus was broadcast and this episode aired on 12 June.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The story arc of the loss of Gryffen's family started in the first episode. (K9TV Regeneration)
 * Darius (with K9 on his team) plays chess against Starkey; K9's previous incarnation played this game in DW: The Sunmakers.
 * Gryffen questioning Starkey about the boy he saw is reminiscent of the Tenth Doctor questioning Donna Noble about the woman she saw in DW: Turn Left.
 * The Halloween lamps used by the team to walk through the House (as the lights are flickering) resemble Gravity globes. (DW: The Impossible Planet/The Time of Angels)
 * When Starkey finds his key covered in slime, he remarks "Always with the Slime!" He was squirted with Jixen tracking slime twice in K9TV: Regeneration.

Home video releases

 * This episode is featured in the Series One complete box set, released in Australia on 29 September 2010.
 * This episode is featured in a "vanilla" DVD called Alien Avatar, along with Jaws of Orthrus, Dream-Eaters, Curse of Anubis, Oroborus and Alien Avatar, released in Australia on 1 December 2010.
 * This episode was released along with episodes 1-12 as "K-9: Series 1; Volume 1" on 31 January 2011.