• Warning: Spoilers
    **** SPOILERS ****

    CHIMERA came out round about the same time as the BBC drama FIRST BORN which also dealt with the concept of genetically engineered apes , though to be honest they`re not really compatible since FIRST BORN was more of an emotional drama while CHIMERA is a straight up and down horror/SF thriller

    The plot goes something like this : A nurse turns up at a fertility clinic to start a new job but things aren`t what they seem . As the nurse is getting suspicions about the clinic , the staff , patients and eventually the nurse herself are murdered by Chad , a hybrid human . The nurse`s boyfriend tries to solve the mystery as to what happened to her

    Reading the above plot you might think this is a fairly entertaining thriller and it might have been but the story runs for four episodes and the above synopsis only covers the first one and a half episodes . As a matter of fact when the series was re-edited into a two hour teleplay the first hour is cut out plus another hour of running time and the story still makes sense which shows you how much padding there was in the first place

    After the opening episode we`re treated to sub plots like the secret service spooks wanting to keep everything under the raps and a couple of children befriending Chad who they call " Mister Scarecrow " . Strange how Chad seems to murder adults left right and centre but never harms children ? Oh as always in these type of stories we`re treated to an amiguous ending of lots of little Chads lying in incubators

    I guess ITV should be congratulated on trying to break the BBC`s monopoly on telefantasy but CHIMERA is very forgettable due to its over long running time and its cliches