Strange World (2016) - Season 1 Episode 4 -

Investigative Journalist Alex Hannaford heads to South Australia to examine one of nature’s most terrifying phenomena: a creature plague. In 1993 the state’s rural communities were engulfed by hordes of mice which drove people from their homes and laid waste to farms. Alex’s investigation starts in Pinnaroo, on a farm that was at the very epicentre of the plague. Between June and November of that year, Steve and Ann Venning’s property was engulfed by mice. The ravenous rodents wiped out the couple’s seed crop, then started attacking their livestock and even invaded their home. At the height of the infestation, Steve and Ann tell him, they were trapping over 20,000 mice a day. Determined to uncover what triggered the plague, Alex discovers that the phenomenon has repeatedly hit the rural communities of Australia’s wheat belt and continues to the present day. There’s even a pattern to the plagues, which seemingly occur every ten to fifteen years. Determined to learn what’s triggering them, Alex travels to the state capital in search of expert help. There he learns that the plague mouse is an invasive species which, with few of the constraints that elsewhere in the world would keep numbers in check, has thrived in its new surroundings. Also that, as one of the world’s fastest breeding mammals, given the right conditions its numbers can reach plague proportions in just six months. But in seeking to determine what those conditions might be, Alex is alarmed by what he uncovers.