"Each day’s momentous. Every minute, every decision, every action is... historic. And I feel separated, you know? Do you feel that? That separation?"
Philip Carvel, also known as Anton, is a character in the British television series Utopia. He is a co-creator of the Network and the mastermind behind Janus.
Background[]
Born into a Romani family in Romania in 1939 or 1940, Philip and his family were interned at Belzec extermination camp by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was here that he was tattooed with the number B22259. Carvel was the only member of his family to survive extermination. At the end of the war, while still imprisoned, a five-year-old Carvel sabotaged an incinerator. Knowing that the bodies would instead be dumped in the nearby woods, he concealed himself in the pile, which was eventually transported to the woods, where he lay in wait for two days until he made his escape.
Not much is known about his history between the end of the war and 1974. He was relocated to England at some point - presumably as a refugee - and speaks perfect English. He was married to a Bulgarian woman named Brosca with whom he had two children: Pietre in 1972 and Jessica in 1974.
Series 1[]
Carvel is a shadowy figure most known as the writer and artist of The Utopia Experiments under the pseudonym Mark Dane. He is first mentioned by name by Jessica Hyde, who later reveals herself to be his daughter. She says that she never knew him, as he went mad due to Network torture when she was four. Carvel was committed to a mental institution while Jessica was raised on the run by Krystos. He allegedly killed himself after the completion of the The Utopia Experiments 2 manuscript. Jessica's primary motivation throughout the first series is to seize the manuscript because it contains information on what her father was truly like.
Both Jessica and Milner describe Carvel as the originator of Janus, alongside his mysterious partner Mr. Rabbit. Milner indicates to Ian, Becky, and Wilson that Carvel wrote a paper on eugenics "in which he advocated a human cull" and espoused views on racial purification.
After Arby reads the manuscript, he discovers that he is in fact Carvel's own son (and Jessica's elder brother), whom Carvel experimented on as a child and later abandoned. According to the manuscript, Jessica was similarly treated by her father. Her discovery prompts a breakdown and she begins acting rashly, amping up her mission to find and kill Mr. Rabbit at the expense of caution.
Series 2[]
Philip Carvel, 1970s.
In the 1970's flashback episode, Carvel meets Milner at a secret gala in 1974 held for the most influential politicians, businessmen, scientists and leaders in the world. She says that he must be an incredible scientist to be invited to the party. He appears surly and arrogant the whole time he's there, binge drinking and getting into arguments with other researchers. He picks a fight with a man purporting to have figured out a way to cause mosquitoes to go extinct with a weaponized fungus, M. anisopliae, to cure malaria. Carvel argues that half of the birds in the Arctic tundra will go extinct, the sporulating strains will only be able to manage 35% effectiveness at best, and the mosquitoes will out-evolve the fungus, adding, "Why would we want to cure malaria? Malaria's doing a great job. Leave malaria alone!" Milner is drawn to him after this outburst and they discuss what should be done about the impending human population crisis.
Shortly after, Carvel is brought into the fold of the Network in order to work on developing Janus in earnest. The other scientists on his team revere him, and Milner says that "they think [Carvel is] a god." Carvel devises a serum, which he names Janus, which will sterilize 90-95% of the human population, but he comes into conflict with Milner and the Assistant over whether or not they should select a specific part of the population to be spared. Carvel believes that they should isolate a specific race with superior characteristics to be spared the sterilization, while Milner and the Assistant insist that it must be random, with the Assistant calling Carvel's intentions "the Third fucking Reich."
Carvel has been experimenting on his son, Pietre, by injecting an unknown serum into chocolate raisins, which Pietre is fed, and exposing him to violence (the torture and killing of rabbits) in order to cause the child to have an adverse reaction to any form of violence. The experiments backfire, with Pietre showing a completely blunted affect as a result of, according to a doctor, "shock-like trauma." Brosca is aware something is wrong with her child, and correctly guesses that her husband "did something" to Pietre, which Carvel denies, insisting that she "take [her] pills." Despite their marital issues, Brosca becomes pregnant for the second time.
Carvel becomes close to Milner and acquainted with Milner's alcoholic husband Tom. After Brosca finally calls the police on Carvel, leading him to being placed into custody, Milner insists that Brosca is a liability. Carvel responds that Tom is more of a liability than Brosca, especially because Milner truly loves Tom while Carvel doesn't "feel like that about Brosca," only about Milner and the work they are doing together. In a separate scene, Tom tells Carvel that Milner is in love with Carvel's brain.
Brosca dies while giving birth to Jessica, and it is heavily implied Milner arranged for her not to survive childbirth. Carvel becomes extremely attached to Jessica from the moment she is born, neglecting his son entirely. He completes work on Janus but says he has made an "adjustment" to it and that they shouldn't use it. He twice attempts to expose Milner as the real Mr. Rabbit, but is foiled by the Network. Milner threatens him, saying that if he tries to destroy her again, Jessica will be tortured.
At the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (and Network lab), Milner has Carvel tortured by Mr Omida to reveal the location of Janus and the nature of the adjustment. He refuses to divulge any information, resulting in Mr Omida using a pair of pliers to remove all of the fingernails on his right hand. Carvel then tells Milner, "I'm ashamed of what I've done. And I'm scared of you. You will use it no matter what. Please don't hurt my little girl." Immediately after this, the evacuation alarm sounds and Carvel is abandoned, with Milner trying to find who sounded the alarm and Mr Omida heading off to commence his torture of Jessica. Within minutes, Krystos appears, frees Carvel from his bindings, and plants an explosive under a bench. Carvel manages to pursue Mr Omida through the bowels of the power plant and kill him with a scalpel to the chest before he is able to torture Jessica. Carvel then injects Janus into Jessica for safekeeping. On his way out of the facility with Jessica and Krystos, Carvel has a visual hallucination of Pietre, who reaches up his arms at his father, just as he did the last time Carvel saw him in person as a toddler, but Carvel abandons him once again.
Following the torture, Carvel is extremely dissociated and out of touch with reality. Krystos has him put into Shenley Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, in Hertfordshire under the name Mark Dane.