The Eyes Have It - Series 1, Episode 9, Saturday 9th June 1973

The story...

Three assassins enter a training centre for the blind which they intend to use to launch a missile attack from upon a visiting statesman. The only sighted member of staff is killed almost immediately but it is only much later that the students learn he is dead and of the terrible reason why the men are in the centre. They have to find a way to thwart the killers against all the odds.

Review

This is one of the best-remembered episodes and along with The Colour of Blood considered one of the stand-outs of the first series. I am less convinced - perhaps coming to it with such high expectations meant that it never quite lived up to its promise for me - but it is still a good episode and the ideas behind the story is undoubtedly inspired.

For a long time only the ITC movie version was available and this diluted the impact of the remarkable teaser by placing it after the titles. DVD releases then made the ATV version available and viewers were able to see it in its proper place. This teaser, as George Mullard is shot while Sally looks on smiling, unable to see what had actually happened, is one of the very best. The story premise of blind students at first unaware of assassins in their midst, and then later desperately trying to find them and stop them, is a great one. However I feel the story struggles to fill sixty five minutes and as a result moves very slowly. It's still good but maybe in need of a new story element to offer a different dimension.

Very unusually the heroes and heroines - the blind students - are not directly targeted by the villains. They are at some risk when they endanger the assassination attempt but otherwise the terrorists are content to just keep them out of the way, perhaps feeling that due to their blindness they couldn’t thwart the operation. The target of the assault - the statesman - is never seen. This is an unusual approach in Thriller but maybe if the blind students had been more clearly at risk the tension and power of the story would have been enhanced although that could also have it an uncomfortable watch.

Anderson (Peter Vaughan) forces Sally (Sinead Cusack) into the room with the other students

It's certainly very intriguing that we know very little about the terrorists or their target. We get to see the three assassins setting up their attempt and know they are ruthless but the rationale behind the assassination is never clear. The suggestion is that Jefferies is motivated by money while Moore represents the organisation and maybe has an ideological motive but much remains unexplained. What is clear, and works to great effect on screen, is that Jefferies and Moore are highly suspicious of each other. These sorts of divisions are rarely seen in drama where the impression is usually of villains having a common agenda and unity but are no doubt very realistic.

The mystery about the statesman is very effective as well. He is described as "a man of peace" but other than that nothing is known. It does seem a touch improbable that he would be visiting a small English town, particularly in a motorcade. Perhaps him visiting the blind school might have been a better option.

The acting performances are good, most obviously from Sinead Cusack as Sally. Peter Vaughan is in typically fine form as the terrorist Anderson. The cast generally is very strong with many familiar TV faces in action. The climax is sound but is rather over-extended.  TV reports are heard regularly in the episode and at the end and are rather wooden and unconvincing but maybe it was felt that they were needed to ensure the blind students were aware of what was happening at the event. In spite of this though the episode has made a huge impact on most viewers and will remain a popular favourite.