Thriller (UK TV series)
| Thriller | |
|---|---|
|
UK opening titles | |
| Created by | Brian Clemens |
| Starring | Various |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 43 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 63-67 Min. |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 14 April 1973 – 22 May 1976 |
Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.
Background
The series was created by Brian Clemens, who also scripted the majority of the episodes and storylined every instalment, and produced by John Sichel (the first 3 series), John Cooper (series 4) and Ian Fordyce (the final two series) for Associated Television (ATV) at their Elstree studios north of London. It evolved from Clemens' previous work, in particular two films of a similar style, And Soon the Darkness (EMI-ABP 1970) and Blind Terror (aka See No Evil (Columbia 1971). The latter shared plot similarities with the Thriller episodes "The Eyes Have It" and "The Next Voice You See". Original music, including the theme tune, was by Clemens' regular collaborator Laurie Johnson. Some of the storylines were based on episodes of The Avengers and later reused in The New Avengers that Clemens either wrote or produced. "The Eyes Have It" was based on The Avengers storyline for "Take Over" and "Murder In Mind" became The New Avengers story "Medium Rare". "The Colour of Blood" featured some elements from The Avengers storylines "Don't Look Behind You" and "The Joker".
The stories are often set in the English home counties "stockbroker belt", but most episodes, especially from the second season onwards, feature at least one American character, usually portrayed by an American guest star, in order to appeal to the American market. After originally being screened late night in the US under the ABC Wide World of Entertainment billing from 1973, in 1978 some episodes were retitled for US syndication and all had additional opening sequences shot, with new titles and credits. Since these were made without the original cast they often feature menacing figures seen only from the neck down. These replaced the original UK and US title sequence that featured a sequence of shots through a fisheye lens, bordered in bright red.
A particular trademark of the series' storytelling was to hook the viewer with a simple yet totally baffling situation, of the kind seen in films such as Les Diaboliques (1954). "Come Out Come Out, Wherever You Are" takes place at a creaky country house hotel where a female guest begins asking where her travelling companion has disappeared to. The owner claims there was no such guest with her upon her arrival last night. None of the other guests initially recall seeing her, and yet the hotel owner has a secret in his past that could well be causing him to lie. One episode, "Screamer" concerns a rape victim who murders her attacker only for the man to then be seen everywhere stalking her. Perhaps the most ingenious episode is the Dial M for Murder style "The Double Kill", in which a man hires a hitman to kill his wife, but makes a fatal error in his otherwise meticulous planning.
Other memorable episodes include "Someone at the Top of the Stairs", one of a handful of forays into the supernatural, in which two female students move into a boarding house and begin to notice that none of the other residents ever go out or receive any mail, and the well-remembered "I'm The Girl He Wants to Kill", in which a witness to a murder finds herself trapped in a deserted office block overnight with the killer and is forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with him to survive, there is barely any dialogue throughout its second half. Brian Clemens's own favourite episode, "A Coffin for the Bride" (US: "Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill") features a performance from a young Helen Mirren.
Following a worldwide audit during 2003-4, by the then copyright holders Carlton, almost all the original UK PAL fisheye titled 2" videotapes of Thriller were located and transferred onto modern digital tape by the British Film Institute with subsequent restoration work by BBC Resources. (One exception was the story "Nurse Will Make It Better". However this too exists in PAL/original format on the later 1" videotape format as a dub from the original master tape. This version was repeat broadcast on the satellite channel Bravo in 1996).
Episodes
Series 1 (1973)
Series 2 (1974)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Only a Scream Away | 26 January 1974 | Hayley Mills, Jeremy Bulloch, David Warbeck |
| Once the Killing Starts | 2 February 1974 | Angharad Rees, Patrick O'Neal, Gerald Sim, Michael Kitchen, Gary Watson |
| Kiss Me and Die (US title: The Savage Curse) |
9 February 1974 | Jenny Agutter, Russell Hunter, Anton Diffring, George Chakiris, Stephen Greif |
| One Deadly Owner | 16 February 1974 | Donna Mills, Jeremy Brett, Laurence Payne, Bob Holness |
| Ring Once for Death (US title: Death in Small Doses) |
23 February 1974 | Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Jayston, Barry Nelson, Janet Key, Thorley Walters, Victor Winding |
| K is for Killing (US title: Color Him Dead) |
2 March 1974 | Stephen Rea, Arthur White, Derek Francis, Gayle Hunnicutt, Christopher Cazenove, Peter Dyneley, Oliver Smith, Gilly Flower |
| Sign it Death | 9 March 1974 | Patrick Allen, John Arnatt, Francesca Annis, Moira Redmond, Edward Judd, James Bate, Alan Bennion, Jimmy Gardner |
Series 3 (1974)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| A Coffin for the Bride (US title: Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill) |
1 June 1974 | Michael Jayston, Helen Mirren, Michael Gwynn, Richard Coleman, Josephine Tewson, Arthur English, Tony Steedman |
| I'm the Girl He Wants to Kill | 8 June 1974 | Geoffrey Whitehead, Anthony Steel, Robert Lang, Tony Selby, Julie Sommars |
| Death to Sister Mary (US title: Murder is a One-Act Play) |
15 June 1974 | George Maharis, Jennie Linden, Robert Powell, Derek Fowlds, Windsor Davies, Leigh Lawson, Anthony Newlands, Norman Mitchell |
| In the Steps of a Dead Man | 22 June 1974 | Richard Vernon, Christopher Benjamin, Faith Brook |
| Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are | 29 June 1974 | Lynda Day George, Peter Jeffrey, John Carson, Colette O'Neil, Bernard Holley, Molly Weir, Kevin Brennan |
| The Next Scream You Hear (US title: Not Guilty) |
6 July 1974 | Richard Todd, Edward Hardwicke, Dinsdale Landen, Suzanne Neve, Belinda Mayne |
Series 4 (1975)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Screamer | 4 January 1975 | Pamela Franklin, Frances White, Jim Norton, Peter Howell, Wolfe Morris, Donal McCann |
| Nurse Will Make It Better (US title: The Devil's Web, US video title: Night Nurse) |
11 January 1975 | Diana Dors, Michael Culver, Patrick Troughton, Ed Bishop, Cec Linder, Andrea Marcovicci, Wendy Williams |
| Night is the Time for Killing (US title: Murder on the Midnight Express) |
18 January 1975 | Judy Geeson, Charles Gray, Jeffry Wickham, Duncan Preston, Edward Burnham |
| Killer with Two Faces | 25 January 1975 | Donna Mills, Ian Hendry, Roddy McMillan, Robin Parkinson |
| A Killer in Every Corner | 1 February 1975 | Patrick Magee, Don Henderson, Petra Markham, Eric Flynn, Joanna Pettet, Max Wall |
| Where the Action Is (US title: The Killing Game) |
8 February 1975 | Edd Byrnes, Ingrid Pitt, Trevor Baxter, George Innes |
Series 5 (1975)
Series 6 (1976)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Sleepwalker | 10 April 1976 | Michael Kitchen, John Challis, Robert Beatty, Ian Redford |
| The Next Victim | 17 April 1976 | T. P. McKenna, Ronald Lacey, Harold Bennett, Carroll Baker, Maurice Kaufmann, Martin Benson |
| Nightmare for a Nightingale (US title: Melody of Hate) |
24 April 1976 | Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Stephen Greif, Stuart Damon, Sydney Tafler |
| Dial a Deadly Number | 1 May 1976 | Gary Collins, Gemma Jones, Beth Morris, Cavan Kendall |
| Kill Two Birds (US title: Cry Terror!) |
8 May 1976 | Bob Hoskins, Susan Hampshire, David Daker, Stephen Yardley, Dudley Sutton, Gabrielle Drake, Christopher Ellison, John Bailey |
| A Midsummer Nightmare (US title: Appointment with a Killer) |
15 May 1976 | Brian Blessed, Tony Anholt, Freddie Jones, Joanna Pettet |
| Death in Deep Water | 22 May 1976 | Ian Bannen, Bradford Dillman, Suzan Farmer, Philip Stone |
References
http://www.markmcm.co.uk/blacknun/thriller/dvdreleases.html