The Vanishing Man
Background

The Vanishing Man was written by Anthony Horowitz, a well respected writer who has written amongst others Crime Traveller. He has also written a number of children's books.

Vanishing Man revolves around a young pilot called Nick Cameron who because of his brother unwittingly smuggles in some weapons grade plutonium and gets caught in the process. Stuck in a police cell he protests his innocence, but the evidence is against him, and he goes to prison for 25 years. Whilst in prison he volunteers to take part in a secret experiment which helps protect the skin from the effects of the sun. Of course this is a cover-up and the experiments are really into invisibility.

After a series of painful processes Nick is released back to prison the process appears to have failed. Meanwhile Nick's solicitor Alice, has been fighting for his release and has finally come up with evidence to support his alibi, and his release seems assured. This news reaches those at the Institute (the place where the experiments were carried out) who panic slightly. They order the governor of the prison to have Nick killed.

As Alice arrives at the prison to see Nick about his appeal, the prison guards close in on Nick in the showers. Unfortunately Nick slowly starts to turn invisible whilst in the shower and manages to slip past the guards and escape in the back of Alice's car.

Now on the outside Nick proceeds to prove his innocence and try and find out what has happened to him. When Alice is kidnapped in order to get Nick back to he Institute (who have since realised that maybe their experiment wasn't a total loss) a rescue plan is devised.

Whilst devising the plan Nick realises that whenever he gets wet he turns invisible. The plan to save Alice goes well and Nick leaves with Alice taking a few old failed experiments with him! You now have a man in leather and on a motorbike which can all turn invisible when wet!

This is a very entertaining show which is billed as a comedy-thriller. It is extremely funny in places, and Neil Morrissey does a brilliant job playing a character who can turn invisible. Written in much the same style as Crime Traveller, we see a sort of will-they-won't-they relationship between Nick and Alice (much like Slade and Turner).

The show was a one off presentation which aired on the ITV network in early 1997. Although with an audience of 11 million in the UK, the hopes are high that the show will be given a series.