I really liked this addition to "The Frighteners" series - that kept me guessing about where it was going right up until it's conclusion.
Arthur (John Normington) and Lucille (Alison Fiske) return home from a party and continue a fight that began in the car. Escalating in bitterness, Arthur eventually snaps and begins hitting and shaking Lucille, eventually breaking her neck and killing her. After a night of remorse and struggling to cope alone with his young son, Arthur comes to fear that his neighbour (Heather Canning), who was listening for their baby via a wired two-way baby monitor last night may not have switched the receiver off at her end, and heard the whole thing.
Another episode shot in black and white, due to an industrial dispute at the time, I didn't recognise any of the stars of this one, although I can see from IMDB that John Normington had a long and varied television career. Fiske and Canning too appeared in numerous projects. Oddly, this is the only credit that John Reardon (alongside his other episode, The Night of The Stag) which I reviewed earlier. All three actors give solid performances though and the direction is good enough, without offering anything too showy.
The plot of this one kept me guessing though. I assumed that perhaps it was going to lead to Arthur having to kill more, to cover up his crime, but instead when Miss Cobb (whom Arthur and Lucile disparagingly refer to as Miss Mouse) comes upstairs the plot goes a different way, which then reveals a third twist a little later into the episode. I think, in retrospect, I'd have like to have seen how the second twist played out, without the third but that's not to say that it doesn't take it into interesting places.
The series has been a mixed bag, but this was one of the good ones.
Arthur (John Normington) and Lucille (Alison Fiske) return home from a party and continue a fight that began in the car. Escalating in bitterness, Arthur eventually snaps and begins hitting and shaking Lucille, eventually breaking her neck and killing her. After a night of remorse and struggling to cope alone with his young son, Arthur comes to fear that his neighbour (Heather Canning), who was listening for their baby via a wired two-way baby monitor last night may not have switched the receiver off at her end, and heard the whole thing.
Another episode shot in black and white, due to an industrial dispute at the time, I didn't recognise any of the stars of this one, although I can see from IMDB that John Normington had a long and varied television career. Fiske and Canning too appeared in numerous projects. Oddly, this is the only credit that John Reardon (alongside his other episode, The Night of The Stag) which I reviewed earlier. All three actors give solid performances though and the direction is good enough, without offering anything too showy.
The plot of this one kept me guessing though. I assumed that perhaps it was going to lead to Arthur having to kill more, to cover up his crime, but instead when Miss Cobb (whom Arthur and Lucile disparagingly refer to as Miss Mouse) comes upstairs the plot goes a different way, which then reveals a third twist a little later into the episode. I think, in retrospect, I'd have like to have seen how the second twist played out, without the third but that's not to say that it doesn't take it into interesting places.
The series has been a mixed bag, but this was one of the good ones.