The Plague Dogs

The Plague Dogs (1982) is a British animated drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Martin Rosen adapted Richard Adams' novel: two laboratory dogs — the weathered labrador Rowf and the gentle fox terrier Snitter — break out of a research facility and flee into the Lake District. John Hurt and James Bolam voice the leads, with Patrick Stewart lending cold authority to a government official.

Freedom turns out to be nothing like the dogs imagined. The hills are brutal, the farmers are hostile, and the tabloids have already decided the escapees must be carrying bubonic plague. A military hunt begins. Rowf can't understand why people treated him as equipment; Snitter still trusts that someone kind is out there — and that faith outlasts every practical instinct he has. Rosen doesn't soften any of it, which is exactly what makes the film uncomfortable in the best way.

Overlooked on release and rarely discussed alongside Watership Down — also based on Adams' work — this is arguably the bleaker and more urgent of the two. Stream The Plague Dogs (1982) online on iFILM.