Diels syndrome, also spelled as Deel's Syndrome is a degenerative neurological condition suffered by Becky Todd in both the original Channel 4 version of Utopia and its Prime Video remake.
Description[]
Diels syndrome causes the victim to have catastrophic seizures. It is invariably fatal and is passed on genetically, however, one can both control the syndrome and extend their lifespan by taking medication to treat it. In the Prime Video remake of the series, it was created by Jessica Hyde's father, one of the many viruses he was forced to create by Dr. Kevin Christie, or Mr. Rabbit. According to Christie, Becky Todd was infected when she was a school-child in Durham and went to see the school nurse about a sore throat, who gave her a spray containing the Diels syndrome virus. He tells her that Durham was when they were still thinking small: "give a small percentage of the population a fatal illness, and you make sure its genetic. See, that's the exciting part. You pass it down."
Apocrypha[]
In a deleted scene from "Talking Hurts," Becky meets with a man known only as Tallman who is a collector of last editions of comics. He offers her a large supply of the pills she needs to control her Diels syndrome in exchange for the Utopia manuscript. She, however, rejects the offer after realizing that he only wants to keep the manuscript behind a glass case inside of actually using it to do good. Enraged, he empties the pills into a fish tank. She then leaves, but he pursues her in a car chase, only for Jessica Hyde to wreck his car. Jessica Hyde then interrogates him, confirming that Becky did not accept his offer, before shooting and killing him.
Behind the scenes[]
- The spelling of the term is unclear. Many online sources covering the series refer to it as "Deel's Syndrome." Closed-captioning for the Prime Video version of the series, however, consistently refers to it as "Diels syndrome."